Kalispell man recounts rescue

Five snowmobilers who went to investigate an avalanche they heard Saturday afternoon north of Olney saved a man's life.

Five snowmobilers who went to investigate an avalanche they heard Saturday afternoon north of Olney saved a man's life.

Jim Jacobs and four of his friends were about a half mile away when snow from Red Meadow Peak crashed down on three other snowmobilers. Jacobs and his friends didn't know anyone was in its lethal path.

According to Jacobs, it was "a thunderous roar," and "an insanely huge" sheet of snow that crashed down on Danelle Bloom, 22, Christopher Schmalz, 21, and Dan Kenfield, 30, all of Kalispell.

"Let's go check it out," Jacobs and his friends decided.

What they saw was an avalanche 10 times greater than any they'd seen in the area before.

"I've never seen it like that," he said.

And then, they saw two helmets on the snow. People had been buried.

With Jacobs was Mike Rogers, Travis McDowell and Joe Morton, all of Kalispell, and Nathan Tamblyn of Lolo.

They flipped their transceivers to "receive" in case someone beneath the snow was wearing a similar device.

Someone was.

Kenfield's beacon was activated, leading Jacobs' group to the place he was buried.

Kenfield later told sheriff's deputy and search-and-rescue coordinator Tom Snyder that the avalanche carried him between 80 and 100 yards, settled, and the world went quiet. The snow settled again, cementing itself around him, making it hard to breathe, Kenfield told Snyder. He banged his head against the snow, making an air space, and than spat to get a sense of which direction he had landed. Above him, he could hear people walking, Kenfield told Snyder.

Jacobs and his group followed Kenfield's transceiver beeps and started digging.

"We could hear him screaming" beneath the snow.

They unburied his head from beneath six feet of snow after about 10 minutes, Jacobs said.

As soon as he could talk, Kenfield frantically told the group to look for Bloom, his girlfriend, and Schmalz, his cousin, Jacobs said.

All the while, the rescuers were concerned about another slide coming down.

"You could hear it drop," he said of the settling snow around them.

Jacobs' group was well-equipped, with snow probes and transceivers.

While Jacobs stayed and dug out Kenfield, his friends looked for the other two victims. When Kenfield was free, he and Jacobs helped.

Kenfield had been free for about a half hour when Jacobs put him on a friend's snowmobile. With dry clothes on, Kenfield was able to ride a snowmobile with Jacobs about 20 minutes to the North Fork Road, where Jacobs could call for help and Kenfield, probably in shock, could get attention, Jacobs said.

During the ride, Jacobs tried to calm and reassure Kenfield.

Schmaltz, who also was wearing a transceiver, was found beneath about 8 feet of snow on Saturday; he did not survive the ambulance. Rescuers the next day found Bloom, buried beneath about 10 feet of snow. She had no transceiver.

On Monday, Jacobs was still trying to come to grips with the situation that was thrust upon him and his friends.

Rescuers credit the group with saving Kenfield's life.

"They are the only reason he is alive," Snyder said.

Jacobs said they did what they had to.

"I think any snowmobiler would have done the same."