Avalanches kill 4 backcountry travelers in 3 Northwest accidents
WINTERSPORTS -- Although details are still being gathered, officials report that one person was killed and another injured in an avalanche near the Mount Baker ski area on Sunday.
The Northwest Avalanche Center says this is the second avalanche death in Washington in the past four weeks, and at least the seventh avalanche death in the U.S. in the last week.
Avalanche warnings were issued for moderate to considerable danger the Cascades going into the weekend.
The Seattle Times reports authorities do not know if the Mount Baker group was on skis, snowshoes or snowboards in backcountry area on the north-facing flank of Mount Herman.
Scott Schell of the Northwest Avalanche Center says the body of the victim has not been recovered. Search-and-rescue crews plan to return to the area today to continue their search.
The area is not accessible from a ski lift so officials believe the victims walked their way uphill. It is not known if they were carrying transponders, which can signal a person’s location in the event of an avalanche. Schell says someone in the party called 911.
In Montana on Saturday, a snowmobiler died in an avalanche in Flathead County.
The Flathead County Sheriff’s Office says the avalanche that killed a 33-year-old Kalispell man y near Swede Creek in the Whitefish Mountain Range near Olney.
Three snowmobilers were riding together when one of them triggered the avalanche, burying two of them.
One was able get free, but the third was found dead after being dug out.
In Wyoming on Sunday, two skiers died while a companion lived in an avalanche that hit the Rock Springs area just outside the south boundary of Jackson Hole Mountain Resort.
The slide occurred soon after 2 p.m. in the popular out-of-bounds area, where “be prepared” signs warn people leaving the resort that they are facing increased danger.
Mike Rheam, a forecaster for the Bridger-Teton Avalanche Center, said the group “didn’t have any avalanche gear or equipment.”
The area, crossed by a cliff band, is known as hazardous to local skiers.
“We’ve had fatalities in this area in the past,” Rheam said. “People who aren’t familiar with the terrain … it gets steeper and the avalanche breaks over them … they were carried over the cliff.”
