Body of skier retrieved from Idaho backcountry after avalanche that forced rescue of 2 other men
MULLAN, Idaho — Authorities in Idaho on Friday located and recovered the body of a man who was caught in an avalanche while backcountry skiing, along with two other men who had been rescued the day before.
The two men were located after authorities received a GPS alert shortly before 3 p.m. Thursday about a possible fatal avalanche accident near Stevens Peak, close to the Montana border, the Shoshone County Sheriff’s Office said in a statement on Social media.
Authorities established communication using a GPS texting device with the two men. After a search of the area, the pair were located and transported for medical care, the sheriff’s office said. One of the men suffered a broken arm, KREM-TV reported.
A conversation with the rescued men led authorities to believe that the third man in the ski party had died at the avalanche site. After the search was postponed overnight, the body of the third skier was found Friday afternoon, the sheriff’s office said.
The deceased man was identified by the Shoshone Sheriff’s Office as Corey J. Zalewski.
The rescue of the two men and the search for the third in subzero temperatures involved personnel from sheriff’s offices in Shoshone, Kootenai and Spokane counties, the U.S. Air Force and other regional emergency services.
The avalanche area was several miles southwest of Lookout Peak Ski Area and more than 90 miles from Missoula, Montana.
The area had been warned of avalanche danger for several days due to snowfall and high winds that have created unstable conditions on high, steep slopes.
The Idaho Panhandle Avalanche Center warned that avalanches caused by human activity are “likely to continue” in steeper terrain.
Another avalanche in central Idaho left two vehicles stranded on Highway 21 Thursday evening, along an infamous stretch of road called “avalanche alley.”
Boise County Sheriff Scott Turner said the people inside were unharmed and that they managed to climb out the windows of their car and use a cell phone to text 911. The region has limited cell service, which can make it difficult to get help.
“We encourage people traveling through the backcountry to use some of the other technologies, like the satellite Garmin devices,” he said.
The winter has been unusually dry until this week, which has led to a lot of pent-up demand from winter vacationers, Turner said. But conditions are dangerous for recreationalists and rescuers, he said.
“Earlier Thursday we had a bunch of snowmobiles tied up, and the rescue crew really had a hard time getting them out because there were avalanches coming down the trail and road,” Turner said. Still, everyone got home safely, he said.
“We encourage everyone to stay in the lower elevations this weekend,” he said.
The avalanches in Idaho came a day after California reported its first U.S. avalanche death of the season. An avalanche ripped through a section of expert trails at Palisades Tahoe Ski Area near Lake Tahoe Wednesday morning, trapping four people and killing one.
A second avalanche struck the same area near Lake Tahoe on Thursday, but there were no casualties.
In February, three members of a New York mountain climbing club were killed in an avalanche on a remote mountain peak in Washington state’s Cascade Mountains.
Three climbers in Alaska’s Denali National Park were killed in two separate incidents on the same day in May. One caused an avalanche while skiing in the park’s backcountry and two others were swept away as they prepared to climb a peak known as Moose’s Tooth. Their bodies were not found.