Avalanche kills two snowmobilers

Mon., Jan. 16, 2006

Associated Press

KALISPELL, Mont. – The bodies of two snowmobilers were recovered Sunday, a day after they disappeared in an avalanche west of Glacier National Park.

Flathead County Undersheriff Mike Meehan confirmed the deaths of the man and woman swept up in the avalanche Saturday. He identified them as Christopher Schmalz, 21, and Danelle Bloom, 22. Names of their hometowns were unavailable, the sheriff’s department said.

A third snowmobiler escaped the avalanche and alerted authorities, Meehan said.

The Flathead Search and Rescue and Nordic Ski Patrol searched until around dusk Saturday and resumed the search Sunday morning.

The Daily Inter Lake of Kalispell reported the man, who was equipped with a beacon intended to help locate him, was found dead Saturday, but his body could not be removed immediately. The woman, who did not have a beacon, was found Sunday, according to the newspaper.

The search party consisted of about 30 people, some of them at a base camp, and several dogs.

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