VANCOUVER, British Columbia (AP) - Eleven avalanche deaths in the British Columbia backcountry during the past several weeks have served as a strong reminder of the risks of enjoying Western Canada's vast and stunning outdoors.

With the risk of more avalanches high, ski resorts are scrambling to keep people inside their boundaries and the province is pondering fines for those who jump the ropes and venture out of bounds.

Now a researcher at Simon Fraser University at Burnaby, British Columbia, is trying to profile the thrill seekers who duck under resort ropes and head out into the wild country.

Pascal Haegeli says understanding this thrill-seeking group is key to mitigating out-of-bounds activity.

"We've observed the characteristics of the out-of-bounds skiers is quite different between different resorts," Haegeli told the Canadian Press. "And we think that we might be able to help ski resorts more specifically target their out-of-bounds crowd."

Haegeli, who is currently conducting research for the Canadian Avalanche Centre, says if a resort is dealing with an out-of-bounds crowd made up largely of beginners, simply improving avalanche awareness might be the best strategy.

But resorts dealing with seasoned pros that use resort facilities just to get into the backcountry have a steeper hill to climb.

"Traditional backcountry users, one of their main motivations has been being out in nature," Haegeli says. "Out-of-bounds skiers are more motivated with the athletic component of the sport."

Haegeli will hit the slopes all season to interview people who head out of bounds and says that for many, being different from the rest of the regular skiing crowd is crucial.

"We're hoping to get a better perspective on how out-of-bounds skiers actually think about risk," he says.

The avalanche risk in British Columbia remains high.

An American snowboarder who was caught in an avalanche last Thursday in northern British Columbia later died in a hospital.

Last week, three skiers and a snowboarder were banned for life from North Vancouver's Grouse Mountain after they knowingly ventured out of bounds and entered a dangerous, avalanche-prone spot.

Rescue crews were unable to go in after them, so the four men were guided to safety by a helicopter 45 minutes after they entered the area.

The group was billed for the full cost of the search, and their names have been circulated to all ski resorts in Western Canada.

On New Year's Day, 26-year-old Aaron Fauchon was snowboarding by himself on Whistler Mountain in an area marked out of bounds when he was killed in an avalanche.

The night before, on New Year's Eve, 37-year-old Steven Clark died after he ventured out of bounds on Blackcomb Mountain in Whistler and was also caught by an avalanche.

On Dec. 28, eight snowmobilers were killed near Fernie by a series of avalanches in the backcountry.

"These fatalities are very tragic events that probably could have been prevented if people were just more aware of what they were getting themselves into," Haegeli says.

The Canadian Avalanche Centre hopes to raise awareness about this issue with an annual public campaign that was launched Friday.

Spokeswoman Mary Clayton says the focus this year will be on education and youth.

"We know that there are always preventable accidents in the winters," says Clayton. "We're working very hard at finding other ways to reach people that need us and need our information, yet don't know that they need our information."

Clayton says many people who use the backcountry don't even know about the centre's forecasts, which are available for free online.

She says the centre's diligent forecasting and education makes Canada the envy of other countries.

"More than 5,000 people took our recreational avalanche course," she says. "We meet with our contemporaries, our colleagues in Europe and frankly they're astounded by our numbers."

Most areas in British Columbia remain at high risk of avalanches, except for the northwest region of the province.

Karl Klassen, a forecaster with the centre, says the high rating is a combination of a rapid, heavy load of snow that arrived in a short period of time and sits atop older snow layers.