An experienced cross-country skier was killed Friday after being caught in an avalanche in Idaho, officials said.
The skier, who was not identified, was traveling on Donaldson Peak in Idaho’s Lost River Range with another experienced backcountry skier, the Sawtooth Avalanche Center said.
A skier triggered the slope collapse while descending toward where the two were going to ski, officials said. He was caught in a small avalanche, which triggered a second, larger avalanche.
The second skier used a satellite communications device to call for help before skiing down the avalanche path. She used a rescue transceiver and a probe boom to locate the first skier buried under about five feet of snow.
Courtesy of Sawtooth Avalanche Center
She dug it up with a shovel before performing CPR. Search and rescue teams evacuated him, but he did not survive, authorities said.
This man’s death is the third this week after two skiers killed after avalanche in the mountains outside Salt Lake City on Thursday. A third skier survived, authorities said. Two snowmobilers in Idaho and Washington died after separate avalanches in March.
This winter, the number of avalanche deaths in the United States stands at 16, according to the Colorado Avalanche Information Center. That’s fewer than the average of about 30 people killed by avalanches in the United States each year.
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