Avalanche kills skier in Wyoming, 3rd such U.S. fatality in recent days: "Not a normal year"

A backcountry skier in Wyoming was killed after triggering a 50-feet wide avalanche, authorities said this week, marking the third U.S. avalanche death in recent days.

The victim was swept into a gully and through brush and trees, then remained buried for about 15 minutes before being found by a companion in the mountains south of Alpine, Wyoming, on Sunday afternoon, according to the Bridger-Teton Avalanche Center. The incident occurred in Prater Canyon, officials said.

The victim was identified by the Lincoln County Coroner's Office as 41-year-old David Rice, Cowboy State Daily reported.

Teton County Search and Rescue said Tuesday it responded with a helicopter and short-hauled the two skiers out of the backcountry, but one of the skiers did not survive.

The group said it responded to multiple calls for rescues over the past several days, including four times in just a few hours, after a "significant storm created dangerous avalanche conditions throughout our region."

"This is not a normal year, so please be extra conservative in your backcountry decision-making," Teton County Search and Rescue said in a social media post.

The incident followed an accident at a California ski resort that killed one person and injured three others.

Authorities in Idaho on Friday located and retrieved the body of a man who was caught in an avalanche while backcountry skiing with two other men who were rescued the previous day.

The two men were located after authorities received a GPS alert of a possible fatality in an avalanche near Stevens Peak close to the Montana border shortly before 3 p.m. Thursday, the Shoshone County Sheriff's Office said in a statement posted on social media.

Authorities established communications using a GPS texting device with the two men. Following a search of the area, the pair were located and transported for medical care, the sheriff's office said. One of the men suffered a broken arm, CBS affiiate KREM-TV reported.

A discussion with the rescued men led authorities to believe the third man in the skiing party had perished at the avalanche site. After the search was postponed for the night, the body of the third skier was located Friday afternoon, the sheriff's office said.

The deceased man was identified by the Shoshone sheriff's office as Corey J. Zalewski.

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• avalanche
• Wyoming