Fatal avalanche started at ridgetop cornice

Mark Albee and his brother Iain knew the avalanche risk was high and were attempting to avoid danger by staying high on the Swan Crest, but they unknowingly skied over a cornice, triggering an avalanche that killed Mark Albee on Wednesday.

The body of the 42-year-old Bigfork man was recovered by search-and-rescue personnel Thursday at about 12:30 p.m.

“They had been up on the ridge and they knew the avalanche conditions were significant,” said Flathead County Undersheriff Jordan White, who was involved with the recovery effort. “They had some crown fractures along the cornices on the ridge. They were trying to stay on the ridge to stay out of danger and they didn’t realize that they were on a cornice and that would be really easy to do.”

The cornice, a wind-loaded snow ledge, fractured and started an avalanche that carried Albee several hundred feet down a steep east-facing slope between Wildcat and Twin Lakes in the Jewel Basin. White said Albee’s brother probably was no more than a few feet away but escaped the collapsing cornice. Both men were highly experienced in backcountry travel with many years of experience in Jewel Basin during the winter.

White said the brother attempted to descend the slope but could not do so safely, so he skied back to his vehicle to call for help.

“He knew if he went down there was a likelihood of triggering another avalanche,” White said. “It would literally take a couple of hours to get down there safely. He figured the best decision was to get out and call for resources. He also knew that the likelihood of being able to survive an avalanche of that magnitude would be limited.”

The avalanche was triggered at an elevation of 7,100 feet. It had a vertical drop of about 500 feet, and a run of 600 feet long and 200 feet across.

The avalanche was reported at about 2 p.m. Wednesday. The ALERT helicopter was dispatched but could not reach the site because of low cloud cover. A ground response was launched, but that also was complicated by weather.

“The complicated part for us was the incoming storm system,” White said.

North Valley Search and Rescue, the Flathead Nordic Ski Patrol and Flathead National Forest personnel were staging from the Hungry Horse Reservoir side of the Swan Range, attempting to reach the site through the Wounded Buck drainage.

Flathead County Search and Rescue staged from Camp Misery, the main access to the Jewel Basin. But as darkness fell there was heavy snowfall.

“By then the snow was dumping so much that we were in near-zero-visibility conditions,” White said.

While more than a foot of snow fell on the Swan Mountains, the search was suspended Wednesday night with plans to resume in the morning with the same strategy.

White was able to get to Wildcat Lake by helicopter at around 9:30 a.m. Thursday, but cloud cover prevented the helicopter from reaching the avalanche site until about 11:30 a.m. With more people arriving by snowmobile, there were 10 searchers at the site around noon.

White said the search initially was concentrated on slide debris at the toe of the avalanche, where searchers were able to pick up sporadic, weak signals from the transceiver beacon Albee was wearing.

“But there was nothing we could lock onto,” he said.

The searchers then turned their attention to a smaller debris deposit about 150 feet upslope.

“There we received a strong beacon signal and we were guided right to the victim and he was under about five feet of snow,” White said.

Albee’s body was recovered and transported out of the area by helicopter. More than 60 responders were involved with the search effort.