BY KAREN BOSSICK
A snowmobiler was rescued near Smiley Creek this past weekend after being buried for 15 minutes.
Sawtooth Avalanche forecasters said the snowmobiler and three others were riding in the headwaters of the Salmon River on the Smiley Creek side of Galena Summit on Saturday, Jan. 4, when they triggered a 900-foot-wide avalanche.
The avalanche started several hundred feet above them on a northeast aspect near 9,300 feet in elevation. The 4-foot-deep avalanche buried one of the riders. He deployed his airbag as he was carried through the trees.
The other riders found him and dug him out in 15 minutes. He was alert when he was evacuated to the hospital for evaluation.
Another avalanche over the weekend had deadly consequences just east of the Idaho-Wyoming border.
One skier was killed and another injured after a group of four backcountry skiers triggered a snowslide while climbing a mountain 20 miles east of Grand Teton National Park in Wyoming. A large slab of snow five feet thick near the summit of the 10,400-foot mountain broke off and slid, burying the deceased skier and partially burying the other.
The avalanche danger in the Galena Summit and Eastern Mountains was rated considerable on Tuesday. It was rated moderate in the Smoky and Sawtooth Mountains and the Soldier and Wood River Mountains.
INTRO TO AVALANCHES PRESENTATION TONIGHT
Friends of the Sawtooth Avalanche Center will hold an Intro to Avalanches Presentation at 6 p.m. tonight—Wednesday, Jan. 8—at the Liberty Theatre in Hailey. The presentation will introduce the Know Before You Go platform and discuss how to travel safely in and near avalanche terrain.
The presentation will be followed by Intro to Avalanches Field Days on Saturday and Sunday. Participants must have attended a Friends’ introduction to Avalanches presentation. There is a suggested $50 donation to the Friends of Sawtooth Avalanche Center to cover instructor costs. Donations can be made at https://www.sawtoothavalanche.com/
The first field day will start at 9 a.m. Saturday, Jan. 11, at the SNRA Headquarters employee parking lot. The second will start at 9 a.m. Sunday, Jan. 12, in the same location.