Woman dies skiing out-of-bounds at Crystal Mountain

CRYSTAL MOUNTAIN, Wash. – The ski patrol at Crystal Mountain says it found a woman’s body after she was killed in an avalanche while back-country skiing outside the resort.

Ski patrol director Kim Kircher says the woman was a 64-year-old Seattle resident who had been skiing at Crystal for 50 years. She parked in the resort’s lot Wednesday before ski-touring, alone, up a ridge, where she was caught in the avalanche.

Kircher said the avalanche appeared to have occurred on Wednesday afternoon, and that when two members of the ski patrol saw evidence of it Thursday morning they traversed over to check it out. They found the woman’s hand and backpack sticking out of the snow.

The victim’s name was not immediately released.