Like many of Glacier’s waterways, Avalanche Creek has a deadly past

Charles Green was working as a Civilian Conservation Corps supervisor in Glacier National Park in 1941 when he was called to retrieve a body from Avalanche Creek. In his book “Montana Memories, Volume IV” he describes the gorge in all its beauty and danger.  

“A half mile up from the campground the creek enters a gorge with solid rock walls up to 30 feet high, and the water roars down through this canyon to level out at the campground,” Green wrote.  

His memoir includes a search and rescue call for a North Dakota woman who fell into the creek while hiking with her nephew. She reportedly had walked out on a log to take his photo, which proved a deadly mistake. 

“If this was true, it was a case of suicide, for no lumberjack would have attempted such a feat with two peaveys and shod with caulked boots. She of course fell into the swirling water, and it was our job to find her body,” Green recalled. 

Glacier National Park spokesperson Gina Icenoggle said that while most visitors understand dangers or have an instinctual fear of getting too close to obvious hazards, many are unfamiliar with the strength of mountain streams and rivers.  

Icenoggle said there have been four fatalities at the location since the park opened, not including the death detailed in Green’s book. Two of those deaths occurred in 2023 and 2024.  

On July 6, 26-year-old Siddhant Vitthal Patil from India was presumed dead after falling into Avalanche Creek, according to authorities. Friends and onlookers saw him fall into the creek, go underwater and resurface briefly before being swept up by the current and into the gorge. Searches continue for Patil, but so far have proven unsuccessful, according to Icenoggle. Park officials believe his body may be trapped under submerged obstacles, like logs or rocks.  

On May 22, 2023, 28-year-old Atheer Abdulrahman Alquahtani fell off a rocky overhang into Avalanche Creek and was swept into the gorge. She was a University of Kansas student visiting the park. 

According to park officials, she was spotted in the creek near the bridge along the Trail of the Cedars by bystanders who waded into the water to pull her out. Alquahtani was pronounced dead at the scene. 

During Montana’s spring and summer, snow runoff causes creeks and rivers to run at a high level. This is on full display in Avalanche Creek, which is close to the trail in some areas and can be easily accessed by hikers. 

The depth of the water can be deceiving, Icenoggle said, as it takes just six inches of fast moving water to sweep an adult off their feet. Once in the water, it can be difficult to impossible to self-rescue. 

At Avalanche, it’s a combination of the velocity of the water, a large drop and huge boulders throughout the gorge that make it especially deadly. Icenoggle said the park’s waterways are filled with hazards like waterfalls, eddies, fallen trees and rocks. The speed of the water throws people against these while they tumble down the river, inflicting potentially severe or fatal trauma, which results in losing consciousness and subsequent drowning.

People can also get trapped under rocks, logs or other objects under the water.

“Add to that the cold temperatures of Glacier’s waters, and fatigue and loss of fine motor coordination set in rapidly,” Icenoggle said in an email. 

But there have been successful rescues at the gorge. A Daily Inter Lake article from Sept. 1, 1938, detailed an incident where a woman identified in the newspaper as Miss K. Hobbs fell above the falls at Avalanche Gorge. She was carried over the falls when two men, Ned Opp of Kalispell and Rae Armstrong of Somers, jumped in to get her.  

Armstrong had medical training from the Army and attended to Hobbs until help arrived. She left the incident apparently relatively unscathed, according to the newspaper account.  

Another Daily Inter Lake article from Sept. 27, 1999, detailed a rescue of a Whitefish woman who fell into the gorge. Forty-year-old Ann Mary Norton was just approaching the stream to test how cold the water was when she slipped and fell in, according to then Chief Ranger Steve Frye. Norton pulled herself up on a log jam after a stick caught her shirt when she was swept into the gorge.  

Cold and wet, but alive and uninjured, Norton was eventually rescued from the gorge after putting on a harness and being lifted out using a system of pulleys and ropes.

There are signs and some safety barriers near the gorge, but that only goes so far. Icenoggle said park officials attempt to mitigate some hazards when possible but can’t address them all, as there is also a responsibility to keep the park wild.

"Human behavior also plays a role, and decision-making is involved regarding whether or not to observe warning signs when posted,” Icenoggle said. 

Avalanche Creek is far from the only place in Glacier National Park that has these conditions. In the 111 years since Glacier was established, there have been 66 drownings, 36 of which resulted in people falling into swift water, according to Icenoggle. 

The majority of drownings occur in the most accessible areas, she said, like Upper McDonald Creek, which has taken 12 lives, the most out of any waterway in the park.  

Reporter Taylor Inman can be reached at 406-758-4433 or by emailing tinman@dailyinterlake.com. 

    Avalanche Creek rushes through the gorge near the start of the Avalanche Lake trail in Glacier National Park on Thursday, July 11. (Casey Kreider/Daily Inter Lake)
 Casey Kreider   

    Avalanche Creek rushes through the gorge near the start of the Avalanche Lake trail in Glacier National Park on Thursday, July 11. (Casey Kreider/Daily Inter Lake)
 Casey Kreider   

    Visitors take photographs of the gorge from the footbridge over Avalanche Creek at the start of the Avalanche Lake trail in Glacier National Park on Thursday, July 11. (Casey Kreider/Daily Inter Lake)
 Casey Kreider