CHEYENNE, Wyo. (AP) — Three snowmobilers were swept to their deaths in a mile-long avalanche in the mountains of the Caribou-Targhee National Forest near the Wyoming-Idaho state line, authorities said Saturday.
Lincoln County, Wyo., officials said the three victims were among four snowmobilers caught by the snow slide Friday afternoon near Alpine in the Dead Horse Creek area of the Snake River Range. Sgt. Shane Tindall said the fourth person walked out and used his cell phone to call for help.
The slide was about 100 yards wide and a mile long. The survivor, Wade Clark, 53, of Soda Springs, Idaho, told authorities that the snowmobilers had dropped off a ridge line and into a draw when they saw the snow slab breaking away.
"They tried to outrun it and they didn't make it," Tindall said.
Tindall identified the victims as Robert Clark, 48, and Scott Smith, 45, of Soda Springs, and Bob Tiechert, 55, of Grace, Idaho. Wade and Robert Clark were brothers, he said.
Tindall said rescue workers set off explosive charges to reduce the risk of a second slide before attempting to recover the victims. Relatively warm temperatures and sunny skies contributed to the avalanche danger by warming the rocks and melting the snow on the south-facing slope, he said.
Rescuers were able to reach the buried bodies about two and a half hours after the slide, Tindall said. The men were under about 3 feet of snow and had come to rest about 50 feet from their snowmobiles. Wade Clark managed to survive by keeping a hand above the snow, enabling him to dig out when the slide settled, Tindall said.
"Here we kind of look at it as a slide is deadly no matter what," he said. "Just the weight of the snow coming down and the speed. It doesn't take much to overwhelm you. It was heavy, wet snow that came down."
The avalanche danger was listed as moderate when the fatal slide occurred.
"That generally means that slides can be triggered by manmade activity, such as snowmobiling, heavy weights and stuff like that," Tindall said.
It's been a deadly avalanche season in the region as at least nine snowmobilers and one skier have been killed in Wyoming, Montana and northern Utah.
Tindall, himself a snowmobiler, said Idaho residents make up a large number of the people venturing into the backcountry near Friday's accident in western Wyoming.
"This is prime beautiful country back here," he said. "A lot of places to see, a lot of things to do. You can have a blast getting out a snowmobile. There's just too many places to go and not enough time to do it."