Snowmobiler killed in avalanche while teen brother rides on next slope in Montana
A man died snowmobiling in the Montana mountains with his younger brother on New Year’s Eve, according to rescuers.
He was riding up a peak near Daisy Pass on Crown Butte on a southeast-facing slope at 9,800 feet on Saturday, Dec. 31, according to Gallatin National Forest Avalanche Center. The brothers, ages 21 and 17, were both from Washington, the center said in a news release.
The older brother was killed when he triggered the avalanche about 100 or 200 feet from the top of a steep slope, the center said.
He was swept 600 vertical feet — roughly the height of Seattle’s Space Needle — and was buried in 5 feet of snow, the center said. He was wearing an airbag pack, but it didn’t deploy.
Both brothers had shovels and probes but no avalanche beacons, officials said. Nearby riders went up to the avalanche slide just after it happened, noticed a buried snowmobile and started searching for the man. One person from the group went into Cooke City, near the Montana-Wyoming border, to notify search and rescue.
About an hour after the avalanche happened, officials tracked the buried rider with a probe line, the release said. They tried to revive him with CPR and an automated external defibrillator, to no avail.
“Our deepest condolences go out to the family, friends, and those involved,” Gallatin National Forest Avalanche Center said in the release.
The avalanche was about 2 to 4 feet deep, 500 feet wide and 600 feet vertically, the release said. It broke on “weak snow near the bottom of the snowpack.”
It’s a clear indicator that the snowpack is still capable of producing “large and dangerous” avalanches, the Friends of the Gallatin National Forest Avalanche Center said on Facebook.
Officials urged skiers, snowmobilers and others participating in snow sports to be especially cautious.
“Slides can break on weak layers in the lower snowpack, within the snow that’s fallen over the last week (particularly where it has been wind drifted) or on a weak layer buried just beneath it,” the friends of the center wrote on Facebook. “Continued patience (avoiding avalanche terrain) and adherence to safe travel protocols (riding one at a time, carrying rescue gear, and watching your partners for a safe spot) are the best ways to manage these concerns.”
Officials investigated the avalanche and determined it broke between 1.5 to 4 feet deep “on a layer of sugary, faceted snow below a very hard slab.” Avalanches of recently wind-drifted snow can be easily triggered and can be large enough to bury a person, break trees or destroy a car. The avalanches can be “especially dangerous if they push you into hazards like trees, rocks, or over cliffs,” the Friends of the Gallatin National Forest Avalanche Center said.
A man was killed in an avalanche in Colorado on the same day, McClatchy News previously reported.
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