March 6, 2004
A Washington man snowmobiling with six other people lost his life this morning in an avalanche about 1 ½ miles off the Pack River park on the west side of Jeru Peak between 11:45 a.m. and noon.
Someone at the scene notified emergency personnel at 12:40 p.m., informing a Boundary County Sheriff’s dispatcher that CPR was in progress. A Med-Star medical helicopter was called in, but returned to Spokane when it was announced that the victim had died.
According to Forest Service enforcement officer Lee Taylor, the victim, whose name has not been released pending notification of next of kin, and another rider were “highmarking” on a 50-degree slope overhung by a cornice.
The victim was riding his snowmobile up the slope when the avalanche was apparently triggered by the rider turning to go down, and it hit the victim as he was turning, sending him four- to five-hundred feet down the slope and burying him under his sled beneath approximately five feet of snow.
Taylor said the rider was carrying a beacon, but it took those in the area about 15 minutes to free him. At about the same time, a second avalanche buried three snowmobilers nearby. All three were rescued and none were injured. About a month earlier, three Montana snowmobilers were caught in an avalanche in the Cow Creek area; they, too, managed to free themselves safely.
According to Taylor, the unstable snow conditions were prime for avalanche activity, and the two riders should not have been riding where they were.
In addition to Forest Service personnel, members of Boundary Search and Dive Rescue were called to the scene, along with Big Sky Ambulance from Sandpoint. A medical team went to the scene by snowmobile to treat bystanders for shock.