Reas Peak, Idaho – On Saturday, January 20, 2018 a snow biker was caught, buried, and killed in an avalanche near Reas Peak in the Centennial Mountains in the Caribou-Targehee National Forest in Fremont County near Island Park, Idaho.
The victim’s companions found the man after roughly 40 minutes using avalanche transceivers. According to the GNFAC, the victim was “buried deeply” and resuscitation efforts were unsuccessful. Authorities were notified about the avalanche at 14:25 and rescuers responded. The victim was declared dead on the scene.
According to PostRegister.com, “Avalanche danger in the Centennial Mountain Range, including Mount Jefferson, Reas Peak and Sawtelle Peak,” was rated HIGH on the morning of January 20. The Centennial Range (where this incident occurred) is outside of the standard GNFAC avalanche forecast. According to the GNFAC, the Centennial Range has a similar snowpack as Lionshead outside of West Yellowstone – an area that received an avalanche warning after “Heavy snow has fallen onto a weak and unstable snowpack.” The avalanche danger rating of High on 20180120.
The January 21, 2018 GNFAC avalanche forecast posted the following, “Yesterday afternoon a snowmobiler was caught, buried and killed in an avalanche south of Reas Peak on the Caribou-Targhee National Forest near Island Park, Idaho. The rider was located with a beacon and buried deeply. His group and others tried unsuccessfully to resuscitate him. We will post more information as it becomes available.”
This is the second avalanche fatality near Reas Peak in Idaho this season. On January 10, 2018, another snowmobiler died in an avalanche on Reas Peak in the Centennial Mountains of Idaho. Read more about this incident here.
We will try to update this post when more information is available.
UPDATE 1/22:
- USNews.com identified the victim as 46-year-old Raymond John Moe of Missoula, Montana. They report that Moe was “riding a motorized snowbike about five miles from the Blue Creek trailhead” when the avalanche occurred. They note that Doug Chabot says the avalanche was 600 feet wide and 2.5 feet deep.
- Missoulian.com reports that “Moe and another rider had gone about 15 feet off the trail up the side of the drainage when they triggered an avalanche about 200 to 300 feet above them.” Moe was the only person who was buried in the slide.
- Multiple sources state the victim was on a “motorized snowbike.”
UPDATE 1/23:
- The GNFAC wrote the following on the 23 January 2018 avalanche forecast: “On the afternoon of Saturday, January 20, four snow bikers (motorized) were riding southeast of Reas Peak (9,298’) in the Centennial Range in Idaho. The group was riding along a trail near a creek bed below 500-700’ high slopes that were greater than 35 degrees steepness. Two bikers rode up 15’ from the bottom of the slope when it released, catching and burying one. The group had rescue gear and located the victim quickly. The victim’s head was 6’ from the surface and CPR was initiated but unsuccessful. The avalanche was estimated to be 600’ wide, up to 2.5’ deep, and 2-300’ slope distance. It is classified SS-AMu-R2-D2-O. Photo of crown, burial location, Google Earth; news article.”
UPDATE 1/25:
- The GNFAC released their full avalanche accident report. It can be found here.
See Also: Global Avalanche Accidents 2017/2018
Read more about the avalanche on Reas Peak in the Centennial Mountains of IDaho from the following sources:
Information in this post was found using Google Translate. There may be errors in this information. Please use the sources listed above to verify all facts.
