Two perish in New Year's Day avalanche

SEELEY LAKE – A New Year's Day ride took a fatal turn when three snowmobilers from Anaconda were trapped in an avalanche near Lake Dinah, in the southern Mission Mountains west of Seeley Lake. While one was able to free himself and called for help, Jade Green, 24, and Lowell Grosvold, 26, were buried and perished in the slide.

According to Missoula Avalanche's Preliminary Report of Lake Dinah Avalanche Accident released Jan. 3, around 2 p.m. Wednesday, Jan. 1 one of the riders was stuck on the hill. One of his friends rode up to help and then the third came to assist. When the third rider parked next to the other two, the avalanche was triggered and swept all three riders downslope, partially burying one rider and fully covering both of the riders and all three snowmobiles.

At approximately 2:15 p.m. Missoula County Dispatch received a call from an individual who said he had been snowmobiling in the Lake Dinah area when he and two other riders were got caught in an avalanche. The caller indicated he was able to free himself but the two others were still buried along with all three sleds.

Missoula County Sheriff's Captain Bill Burt said the caller told Dispatch that he had a general idea where one of his friends, who was wearing an avalanche beacon, was located and he was actively digging. The caller disconnected the call to conserve battery until he found his friend.

Based on the cell phone coordinates from the call, Seeley-Swan and Missoula County Search and Rescue responded while Seeley Lake Fire Department staged for medical support. Two Bear Air was also dispatched but was unable to get close to the area due to poor visibility.

Burt said after more than 30 minutes of digging, the survivor found Green who was buried around four feet deep. After attempting CPR for more than five minutes, he called 9-1-1 back.

While volunteers with Seeley-Swan and Missoula Search and Rescue were enroute, seven riders, who were in the area, rode in to assist. Burt said Seeley Lake residents Shane Kesterke and his 17-year-old son Isaac where first on the scene. They led in Curtis Friede, Leland Bartlett, Mark Myre, Scott Rhodes and Kyle Huestis. Huestis is a new member of Seeley-Swan Search and Rescue and had just completed an avalanche training course.

Burt said the group spent a little bit of time assessing the avalanche, looking at the head of it and looking for objects on trees. The group made an educated guess to start searching based on where the survivor had last seen Grosvold and the avalanche's flight area.

"The most miraculous thing about the discovery of Lowell was they found him on their very first probe attempt," said Burt.

Grosvold was not wearing a transmitter and was buried nine feet deep. He had deployed his avalanche airbag, something he had just received for Christmas. Sadly several hours had passed and he was also deceased when he was located.

Both men were recovered before dark. All three men, their snowmobiles and rescuers were off the mountain by 12 a.m. Jan. 2. The survivor did not need medical assistance.

Twelve search and rescue crewmembers from Seeley Swan and 10 from Missoula assisted in the efforts along with the citizens. Burt said the citizens' help was instrumental in the recovery because not all of the SAR volunteers were capable of riding into the area and removing the snowmobiles was very difficult.

On New Years Day, the area was under an avalanche warning issued by the West Central Montana Avalanche Center. According to Missoula Avalanche's Preliminary Report, the avalanche was a soft slab triggered by snowmobilers on an east-facing slope at 6,740 feet in elevation. The average slope was 35 degrees and peaked at 38 degrees at the crown. The slab triggered on a layer of buried surface hoar and near-surface facets. The slide traveled 560 feet downslope. The crown was 100 feet across and three feet deep. The debris averaged five-six feet in depth.

Burt, an avid backcountry snowmobiler, said in a press conference, "This has kind of shaken the foundation of everything I thought I knew pertaining to avalanches."

This wasn't a place that Burt would have expected to slide.

"I've recreated in this particular area on dozens of occasions," he said adding the area is commonly traveled by backcountry riders. "There are a lot of anchor points - trees and rocks, big rock outcroppings. I think this really caught all three of them off guard and likely would have caught any of us off guard."

Burt categorized all three Anaconda riders as experts.

"They knew what they were doing and all three were very, very good riders," said Burt.

Burt continued, "You can study avalanches, you can have all the equipment, all the education and training in the world but the bottom line is avalanches are unpredictable. It's a risk every time you are out in the backcountry and there is snow in the mountains."

Burt advised one way to further mitigate the risks of avalanche becoming fatal is to travel in groups and spread out when riding.

"In this case we were very fortunate that one of them was able to get out or we may not have found them until spring," said Burt.

Burt added that the survivor did everything right. The first thing he did was check to see if he had cell service. When he did, he called 9-1-1 to get additional help coming. Then he put his avalanche beacon into search mode and started to dig.

"He was cool, calm, collected and did a good job communicating with dispatch but kept his priority on working towards helping his friends," said Burt. "Unfortunately just one guy couldn't get to them in time."

Burt continued, "These guys weren't doing anything wrong, they weren't in an area they shouldn't have been in and it wasn't an extremely high avalanche area. It was just a perfect storm for this event to take place."

In their press release, the Missoula County Sheriff's Office wrote, "Please keep [the families and friends of these two men] in your continued thoughts and prayers. We would also like to thank the search and rescue volunteers and assisting personnel who braved the elements last night to recover the bodies and bring the survivor to safety."

Anyone who would like to support the families can make donations through the Anaconda Snowmobile Club, 45 Fire Lane, Anaconda, MT, 59711. If a check is sent, please note in the memo "For the families of Jade and Lowell." The Club will also be holding fundraisers for the families in the near future that will be announced on the "Anaconda Snowmobile Club" Facebook page.