Winter accidents, avalanches continue

By NATASHA COLLINS For the Chronicle

Search-and-rescue crews were called out again Sunday when a 39-year-old man injured his knee in a snowmobiling accident on Two Top Mountain near West Yellowstone.

The man’s snowmobile hit a tree, according to Sgt. Jason Jarrett, head of Gallatin County Search and Rescue. The man was taken to Bozeman Deaconess Hospital. Details of his injuries were not available at press time.

That accident came on the heels of two search-and-rescue calls involving avalanches Saturday, heightening awareness of the need for caution when snowmobiling or skiing in the backcountry.

“This year we have weak, unstable snow near the ground and this is causing problems everywhere,” Doug Chabot, director of the Gallatin National Forest Avalanche Center, said Sunday. “Weak snow leads to avalanches.”

The first avalanche Saturday was a 150-square-yard slide near Big Sky triggered by snowmobilers. A North Dakota man who was buried under 6 feet of snow was dug out by his friends and taken to the hospital by ambulance. He was released from the hospital Sunday morning in stable condition, Jarrett said. He would not release the man’s name.

The second rescue Saturday came after an unidentified Bozeman skier triggered two slides on the west side of the Bridger Mountains. He was not injured, but he was trapped and missing a ski. He called for help and was airlifted out by helicopter.

The Bozeman skier reached the top of the mountain via Bridger Bowl ski area’s new Schlasman chairlift, which gives properly equipped skiers relatively easy access to backcountry skiing on Gallatin National Forest land. Every skier using the lift must have an avalanche transceiver; a partner and a shovel are also highly recommended.

While the access is a dream come true for many expert skiers, Doug Wales, Bridger Bowl’s marketing director, reiterated that the ski area has no responsibility for what happens on Forest Service land, nor does it maintain or patrol those slopes.

“It’s an individual’s decision,” Wales said.

Before the Schlasman lift opened, skiers had to hike, albeit illegally, to backcountry ski areas. Now there is less effort necessary to access such risky terrain.

“The ease of accessibility has changed ... people were doing it before, now its just legal,” he said.

Many ski resorts in the Rocky Mountains have made similar arrangements with the National Forest Service, Wales added.

Even though Bridger Bowl is not liable for accidents on Forest Service land, the ski area realizes that it has a responsibility to educate the public of the risks involved in backcountry skiing, Wales said. “We aren’t naive to concerns, that’s why we’ve been proactive.”

Like Bridger Bowl, the Avalanche Center advocates for safety education. The organization’s Web site provides daily avalanche reports, schedules of avalanche-safety workshops, weather reports, accidents reports and online tutorials.

“There are some very basic rules to stack the deck in your favor,” Chabot said. Those rules include: never ski alone, only allow one skier on the slope at a time, carry a shovel and rescue gear and check the advisory of the slope you plan to ski.

For more information visit www.mtavalanche.com.

Natasha Collins can be reached at natasha@dailychronicle.com

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