Avalanche buries skier near Lookout Pass

LOOKOUT PASS — One skier suffered a compound fracture after being partially buried in an avalanche Wednesday on the Montana side Lookout Pass.

According to Kevin Davis, director of the Idaho Panhandle Avalanche Center, three skiers were skiing in the backcountry of the St. Regis Basin about two miles east of Lookout Pass when an avalanche struck and partially buried one of the skiers.

He said two of the avalanche center’s forecasters were out assisting with the rescue efforts, and he will know more when they return.

The other two skiers were able to dig out the buried skier — who suffered a compound bone fracture. Details of the injury and where the skiers were from were not available at 5 p.m.

Shoshone County Sheriff Mitch Alexander said his office was not involved in the search, but as of 4:30 p.m. he had learned that rescue crews were still about 10 minutes from reaching the skiers.

Davis said the avalanche center issued a warning earlier today.

“We haven’t had a lot of precipitation until that last storm came in,” Davis said. “Now we have a heavy load on a weak snowpack...The avalanche danger went from very low to very dangerous pretty rapidly.”

The warning cautions that both human-triggered and natural avalanches are likely on slopes steeper than 30 degrees.

It will be active through 5 p.m. Thursday.

The warning includes the four northern counties of Idaho.