Montana avalanche kills snowmobiler

KALISPELL, Mont. – Two snowmobilers from Washington state were caught in an avalanche that killed one of them, officials in northwestern Montana said.

The Flathead County Sheriff’s Office said the slide occurred at 4 p.m. Monday about 12 miles east of Kalispell in the Lost Johnny drainage of the Flathead River’s South Fork.

Charles John Dundon III, 33, of Connell, Wash., triggered the slide as he rode his snowmobile across an open slope, Undersheriff Jordan White said. Dundon and another man were caught in the slide, but the second man wasn’t buried.

After searching for Dundon, the second man rode out to Hungry Horse, where he called 911.

The victim was located using the signal from a transceiver he was carrying. His body was recovered and transported out of the area late Monday night.

Dundon is the fifth person to die in an avalanche in Montana this winter.

On Tuesday, the West Central Montana Avalanche Center upgraded the avalanche danger to “high” in the Rattlesnake, southern Swan and southern Mission mountains above 5,000 feet. The center said the ski patrol at Snowbowl is reporting that ski cuts are producing dangerous slab avalanches.

The avalanche danger in the Bitterroot Mountains will be raised to “high” once snow starts falling, the avalanche center said.

In southeastern Montana, the Gallatin National Forest Avalanche Center rated the avalanche danger as “high” on wind-loaded slopes steeper than 35 degrees in the Bridger, Gallatin and Madison ranges, the Lionhead area near West Yellowstone and the mountains around Cooke City.

By 6 a.m. Tuesday, 7 to 9 inches of new snow had fallen throughout southwestern Montana.

“Today is not a day to trifle with the snowpack,” the center said in its report. “It’s ornery and getting more dangerous as more snow falls and wind blows.”