Snowmobiler killed by avalanche in remote area northwest of Cle Elum

CLE ELUM, Wash. – A 45-year-old Kirkland man died Saturday after he and another man were caught in an avalanche while snowmobiling in the Hawkins Mountain area, about 27 miles northwest of Cle Elum, the Kittitas County Sheriff’s Office said in a news release Sunday.

Mike Albertson and the second man were hit by the avalanche just after noon Saturday. Other snowmobilers in the remote area located the second man quickly because his head and arm were visible, the news release said. Albertson, however, was completely buried; it took snowmobilers at the scene a half-hour to find him. Efforts to revive him were unsuccessful.

Undersheriff Clayton Myers said additional details about the second man, including his name or whether he knew Albertson, were not available.

Responders tried to recover the body Saturday by helicopter but were hampered by the weather. Search and rescue ground teams recovered it Sunday morning.