The number of people killed late last week and early this week in Western avalanches fed by a series of snowmaking storms has grown to three with the death of a snowmobiler in Wyoming.
Nicholas Bringhurst, 31, of Springville, Utah, was on a snowmobile in the LaBarge Creek area when he was caught in an avalanche Sunday, authorities said. Local first responders became aware at 2:15 p.m. through an alert from his GPS device, they said.
Wyoming’s Bridger-Teton Avalanche Center, citing a citizen’s report, said a “snowmobiler triggered an avalanche on a small but steep slope above LaBarge Creek that resulted in a fatality. The individual was buried approximately 2 feet deep.”
A friend pulled Bringhurst from the runout zone and then administered CPR, but he ultimately died, the Lincoln County Sheriff’s Office said in a statement Monday.
The Lincoln County coroner’s office will determine the exact cause and manner of death, the office said. The death added to the weekend’s previous toll of two in Western avalanches.
In Washington state, the bodies of Paul Markoff, 38, of North Bend, and Erik Henne, 43, of Snoqualmie Pass, were pulled from an avalanche’s aftermath Saturday morning near Longs Pass, in the mountains of northern Kittitas County, authorities said.
The pair were part of a party of four using two snowmobiles in the area when they were caught in an avalanche about 4 p.m. Friday, the Kittitas County Sheriff’s Office said in a statement.
With the help of search-and-rescue volunteers, sheriff’s crews used snowmobiles and winter backcountry equipment to take the two survivors out of the area but could not recover the dead that night because of the dangerous conditions, the office said.
Three avalanche search dogs and a helicopter crew helped remove the bodies and get them to the Kittitas County coroner for a conclusive cause and manner of death, the sheriff’s office said. A ground team recovered the party’s snowmobiles, it said.
The sheriff’s office said the National Avalanche Center sent representatives to analyze the incident.
Excluding the Washington deaths, the center’s season tally of avalanche deaths in the United States so far this winter season stood at four Monday night: Sunday’s death in Wyoming and another in the state on Dec. 20, as well as two deaths in California on Jan. 5 and Dec. 26.
A few other snow enthusiasts survived avalanches in the West over the weekend as conditions for descending waves of snow worsened with relatively deep and fresh powder, windswept cornices and an incoming stretch of sunny days that have the potential to take down walls of snow.
A series of typical, eastbound winter storms from the Pacific piled up early in the winter season and were supercharged by atmospheric rivers that draw precipitation from tropical climes and are known to produce inches of rain and feet of snow in the West.
Sixty-five percent of the Central Rockies are covered by snow, with an average depth of nearly 9 inches, according to National Weather Service data posted Monday. Some areas report more than 9 feet of snow, the data show.
The weather service forecasts “well above average temperatures” for Montana, Wyoming, the Dakotas, Colorado, Nebraska and Kansas throughout the week thanks to a high-pressure ridge, according to a forecast discussion Monday. That may not bode well for the endurance of natural snow formations.
At the same time, more snow was forecast for Washington state this week as the Pacific continues to churn counterclockwise rotating winter storms.
The weekend included a non-fatal avalanche Saturday that dropped when a skier may have caused a wind slab to envelop him and then sweep up a member of his party who tried to come to his aid, according to the Colorado Avalanche Information Center.
The skier dislocated a shoulder when he grabbed a tree in an attempt to stop, the center said, but he and his potential rescuer ultimately made it to safety.
The center said Monday on Facebook that the danger may be subsiding but added, “We’ve had several close calls reported in the past three days.”
On Friday in the Moab region of Utah, a snowmobiler was partially buried after likely having triggered a slab to come down, according to a Utah Avalanche Center report submission.
Meanwhile, officials in Juneau, Alaska, have advised residents near a known slide path to evacuate as warming weather and rain have increased the likelihood of descending slabs of snow, along with the possibility of flooding, according to a city statement.
The Alaska Department of Transportation & Public Facilities said Friday that numerous large avalanches had already been detected in the region.
Officials in Alaska advise residents of avalanche-prone communities pack go bags with important documents, as well as canned food, water, blankets, medications, pet supplies, flashlights and batteries.
The National Avalanche Center advises snow enthusiasts to check weather and avalanche forecasts before they trek to their destinations and, if they are proceeding to mountain snow, to take along helmets, avalanche beacons, avalanche airbags, collapsible avalanche probes and small shovels.
