Avalanche near Easton buries snowmobilers, killing 1

EASTON, Wash. – An avalanche has killed a 32-year-old Seattle-area man who was snowmobiling with four friends in the Central Cascades.

The Kittitas County Sheriff’s Office says Joseph Simenstad, from Issaquah, died Sunday afternoon in an avalanche that also buried his wife and others.

Five snowmobilers from Western Washington were eating lunch at the base of a slope in an area near Stampede Pass, about 60 miles southeast of Seattle, when the slope above them broke away.

The avalanche fully buried three of them, and partially covered the other two.

The sheriff’s office says Simenstad suffered extensive injuries and couldn’t be revived. His wife suffered minor injuries. Another man was unconscious when he was dug out but was revived.