Cooke City Avalanche Death

[RevKev]

Copied from the GNF Avalanche Center Web Site.... AVALANCHE FATALITY: COOKE CITY

I am saddened to report that an 18 year old male snowmobiler from Minnesota died in an avalanche on the northwest face of Crown Butte outside Cooke City yesterday. The victim was on the slope when another rider likely triggered the slide, possibly remotely. Neither he, nor anyone in his party of seven, was wearing a beacon. Cooke City Search and Rescue located him with a probe pole under six feet of debris near the toe of the avalanche about 2+ hours later. Our sincerest sympathies go out to the family and friends of the victim.

This is the fifth avalanche fatality in Montana and the fourth in the last 18 days.

Mark and Eric are investigating the avalanche today and will write a full report later in the week.

 

[willey]

Very sad to hear.

Get training. Use the right safety equipment. Insist your riding buddies do the same! Accidents still happen, but you can greatly increase your chances of coming home safe if you build the skills and tools needed to be smarter safer mountain riders!

 

[skiroule]

This is indeed a tragedy. It turned what might have been the trip of the year (or even a lifetime) into a nightmare. I can’t imagine how helpless the survivors felt without equipment that might help locate the victim. Survival chances have to be almost nil under those circumstances.</SPAN>

There have been a number of victims from the Midwest this year. As Willey said, get all the training you can, carry the essential gear, and be familiar with its use. Almost as important is knowing the limits of your ability and comfort zone. We all like to push it to be better mountain riders but we also need everyone to come back to tell great stories of their mountain riding experience.</SPAN></SPAN>