No injuries in 'minor' avalanche
The Daily Inter Lake
Snowslide was in Canyon Creek drainage area
No one was injured Saturday when a small avalanche in the Canyon Creek drainage buried a section of groomed snowmobile trails running between the North Fork Road and the summit of Big Mountain.
The slide occurred about three miles north of the trail head and about seven miles east of Fiberglass Hill, where an avalanche last winter killed two people.
About 10 to 15 people were snowmobiling in the vicinity of the slide path when the avalanche occurred at about 5 p.m. Saturday, said Flathead County Search and Rescue Team coordinator Jordan White. One snowmobile - but no people - was buried, the rider reported.
"It was a very minor slide on a road-cut embankment," White said. "Right now it seems like a fairly small event."
White estimated that the slide was 15 feet wide, 10 feet long, and dumped about 4 feet of snow on the trail. It was the first avalanche Flathead County authorities responded to this year.
But avalanche danger is expected to increase throughout the weekend and into next week.
"It's anticipated that avalanche danger will increase over the next couple of days as temperatures rise and wet, heavy snow is dumped on top of the loose dry snow already there," White said.
On Saturday, the Glacier County Avalanche Center rated the avalanche danger between 5,500 feet and 7,500 feet as moderate and the avalanche danger below 5,500 feet as low.
The North Valley Search and Rescue team was dispatched to confirm that no one was injured, White said.
The North Valley Search and Rescue team also responded to a trail off Trumbull Canyon Road at about 4 p.m. Saturday after a 7-year-old girl was hit by a snowmobile.
The girl reportedly fell off the back of a snowmobile and then was run over by a snowmobile following hers. She was with at least one family member when the incident occurred.
The girl - whose name was not released - was transported to the trail head by private snowmobile, where she was met by Search and Rescue Team members and paramedics with Three Rivers EMS.
She was taken via ambulance to Kalispell Regional Medical Center, where she was listed as stable. Medical personnel continued to evaluate her condition Saturday evening, according to a hospital spokeswoman.