..Be aware
Visit www.jhavalanche.org for daily updates on avalanche conditions in the region.
LANDER — A Minnesota man died after being buried in an avalanche Monday on Togwotee Pass.
Jack Lee Loxtercamp, 35, of Villard, Minn., was caught in an avalanche about three-fourths of a mile east of Dry Lake in an area known as Drag Race Hill, according to a media release from the Teton County Sheriff’s Department.
Teton County Coroner Kiley Campbell said Loxtercamp was buried about 20 minutes before members of his guided tour found his body. He died of asphyxiation.
It was the second avalanche fatality in Wyoming this year and the first in Teton County, said Bob Comey, director of the Bridger-Teton National Forest Avalanche Center.
Loxtercamp was with a party of 10, according to the release.
The Bridger-Teton Avalanche Center said Loxtercamp triggered a medium-size slide while highmarking on Grouse Mountain.
The avalanche danger rating Monday for the Togwotee Pass area was moderate, the second lowest on the five-level danger scale.
The soft-slab avalanche was on a steep — about 38 degrees — slope, Comey said.
A cornice along the top was up to two feet deep, Comey said.
Loxtercamp was the second rider to go up the slope, Comey said. Loxtercamp was the only person caught in the slide. It was mostly new snow that slid on a hard crust, Comey said.
He was buried four to five feet deep, Comey said.
Using transceivers and probe poles, Loxtercamp’s party located him in 20 minutes, the release said. It took another three to four minutes to dig out his body. He was unresponsive when found.
Members of the party and four Bridger-Teton rangers, who arrived about 4:20 p.m., conducted CPR on Loxtercamp for about two hours. He was pronounced dead at 4:55 p.m., the release said.
Most avalanche fatalities occur when the danger rating is moderate, or one step up at considerable, Comey said.
Backcountry users should remember to always evaluate terrain and slopes, no matter the avalanche rating for the day.
“Most slopes are stable, but this was a perfect, very steep, very active avalanche path that hadn’t slid,” he said.
Read more: http://trib.com/news/state-and-regi...259-5656-bd03-fe699f260d22.html#ixzz1npeU5nYV
Visit www.jhavalanche.org for daily updates on avalanche conditions in the region.
LANDER — A Minnesota man died after being buried in an avalanche Monday on Togwotee Pass.
Jack Lee Loxtercamp, 35, of Villard, Minn., was caught in an avalanche about three-fourths of a mile east of Dry Lake in an area known as Drag Race Hill, according to a media release from the Teton County Sheriff’s Department.
Teton County Coroner Kiley Campbell said Loxtercamp was buried about 20 minutes before members of his guided tour found his body. He died of asphyxiation.
It was the second avalanche fatality in Wyoming this year and the first in Teton County, said Bob Comey, director of the Bridger-Teton National Forest Avalanche Center.
Loxtercamp was with a party of 10, according to the release.
The Bridger-Teton Avalanche Center said Loxtercamp triggered a medium-size slide while highmarking on Grouse Mountain.
The avalanche danger rating Monday for the Togwotee Pass area was moderate, the second lowest on the five-level danger scale.
The soft-slab avalanche was on a steep — about 38 degrees — slope, Comey said.
A cornice along the top was up to two feet deep, Comey said.
Loxtercamp was the second rider to go up the slope, Comey said. Loxtercamp was the only person caught in the slide. It was mostly new snow that slid on a hard crust, Comey said.
He was buried four to five feet deep, Comey said.
Using transceivers and probe poles, Loxtercamp’s party located him in 20 minutes, the release said. It took another three to four minutes to dig out his body. He was unresponsive when found.
Members of the party and four Bridger-Teton rangers, who arrived about 4:20 p.m., conducted CPR on Loxtercamp for about two hours. He was pronounced dead at 4:55 p.m., the release said.
Most avalanche fatalities occur when the danger rating is moderate, or one step up at considerable, Comey said.
Backcountry users should remember to always evaluate terrain and slopes, no matter the avalanche rating for the day.
“Most slopes are stable, but this was a perfect, very steep, very active avalanche path that hadn’t slid,” he said.
Read more: http://trib.com/news/state-and-regi...259-5656-bd03-fe699f260d22.html#ixzz1npeU5nYV
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