MISSOULA — It was an afternoon of snowmobiling that turned deadly when an avalanche buried three men, killing two of them, northwest of Seeley Lake on Wednesday.
Missoula County Sheriff's Deputy Bill Burt said, "This has kind of shaken the foundation of everything I thought I knew pertaining to avalanches."
He says the three snowmobilers that needed rescuing near Seeley Lake on Wednesday were all expert riders. He noted, "It’s an area that I wouldn’t have expected to slide, I’ve been in there dozens of times."
Jade Green, 24 years old, and Lowell Grosvold, 26, both of Anaconda, were found dead near Lake Dinah after being swept in an avalanche. They were riding with another man who was able to free himself and call for help.
Deputy Burt said, "In both cases they had super good family structure, just incredible good people."
One victim was found buried under four feet of snow, and was found by the survivor within minutes.
Deputy Burt explained, "He’s looking for two of his friends, and he only has an idea of the location of one of them, so he’s working pretty frantically through pretty difficult conditions, and even though it’s only four feet that’s an awful lot of snow to remove and it’s heavy snow and it’s going to take a long time for just one person to do that."
The third rider did not have a beacon. He was buried under approximately nine feet of snow and was found with a probe.
Deputy Burt said, "It was the removal of the equipment and the people that perished in this incident that was difficult."
Crews were working in high wind conditions and snowfall, and eventually lost daylight.
About a dozen search and rescue crew members from Seeley Swan and ten from Missoula searched for the men. Missoula County SAR Chief Joe Blattner says crews are prepared to respond in an avalanche.
He said, “We train all the time for these types of calls. We’re always on snowmobiles and skis in the winter time and we’re taking avalanche awareness and avalanche safety courses. It’s something we keep up on because these types of calls do happen in our area.”
(1st REPORT, JANUARY 1st, 3:43 pm) Search and rescue (SAR) crews have been dispatched after receiving a report that several people got caught in an avalanche in the Lake Dinah area several miles northwest of Seeley Lake.
Three people were snowmobiling when they were caught in the avalanche at about 2:15 p.m.; one person managed to escape and call for help.
The Missoula County Sheriff's Office said in a Facebook post that Seeley-Swan SAR, Missoula County SAR and their SAR K9’s, along with MESI and Seeley Fire are staging an operation to search for the two people.
The Sheriff's Office added a few hours later: "Search and rescue crews are making their way to the avalanche affected area, but weather conditions are extremely tough. The National Weather Service has predicted that search conditions through this evening into tonight will include wet snow and windy conditions. Wind speeds are expected to reach up to 60 miles per hour. The wet nature of the snow will result in compacting accumulation, but an additional 6 to 10 inches of snow are expected tonight with 1 to 3 inches on Thursday. Please keep these folks in your thoughts as they head up into tough conditions."
We will update you as we get more information.
