Backcountry skier killed in Jewel Basin avalanche
A backcountry skier hit by an avalanche in the Jewel Basin Hiking Area on Wednesday, Feb. 1, was found dead by search parties the following day.
The body was located about 1 p.m. on Thursday and flown out by a Red Eagle Aviation helicopter after it finally was able to reach the site. Search-and-rescue personnel were unable to reach the site of the avalanche on Wednesday, and about a foot of snow fell overnight in the Swan Mountain Range.
"Conditions continue to be hazardous up there," Flathead County sheriff Chuck Curry said Thursday. "We've triggered several smaller avalanches ourselves."
Authorities had not released the name of the victim as of Thursday afternoon.
According to the skier's brother, who called for help from Camp Misery on Wednesday about 2 p.m., the two men were on a ridge in the Swan Range between Twin Lakes and Wildcat Lake shooting photos when the avalanche occurred. That's in the north end of Jewel Basin, about three miles southwest of Strawberry Mountain.
"There was a party of two in there," Curry said Wednesday night. "One person was swept down the slide, the other was not."
The ALERT helicopter was dispatched with search-and-rescue personnel about 2:30 p.m. on Wednesday, but it was held back because of weather and mountainous terrain.
Rescue crews attempted to get to the area from the Hungry Horse Reservoir side and from Camp Misery, at the end of the road to Jewel Basin. The avalanche reportedly occurred about 2.5 miles by trail from Camp Misery.
"It's a fairly difficult area to reach," Curry said on Wednesday. "We can get to Camp Misery by snowmobile ... but from there on it's pretty much skis and snowshoes."
According to Flathead National Forest public affairs officer Wade Muehlhof, the missing skier was wearing an emergency transmitter.
About 35 people from North Valley Search and Rescue, Flathead County Search and Rescue, the Flathead Nordic Ski Patrol and the Forest Service responded to the call. Members of the missing skier's family were on the scene at the Foothills Road parking area, where search personnel staged for the trip up to Jewel Basin.
According to a SNOTEL automated snow gauge at Noisy Basin, near Camp Misery, the snow depth was 64 inches.
The Glacier Country Avalanche Center on Jan. 31 rated avalanche danger above 5,500 feet as "considerable," especially on steep, open slopes that have been wind-loaded by recent snow. Natural avalanches were possible, the center's advisory said, and human-triggered avalanches were likely. The area of the avalanche is over 6,000 feet.