Avalanche rescue dog Crystal sensed something there Saturday, as did the dog accompanying Kimbrough on Sunday. There's probably 25 or 30 feet of debris there. Not much snow is needed to bury someone under fatal depths in a gully, making such areas particularly hazardous. The bottom is full of trees. If you didn't get buried in the gully, one of those trees is going to have your name on it.
Rescuers believe the avalanche slammed Wheeler into a tree, possibly causing fatal injuries.
Since 1980, backcountry skiers have led the way in dying in North American avalanches, followed by mountaineers. But last winter, snowmobilers accounted for nine of the 11 avalanche deaths in the United States. Buried snowmobilers have a better chance of survival than skiers because they wear helmets and face masks that create air pockets, Kimbrough said. They are searching for the body of Richard Scothern, who presumably died Saturday with his friend Devon Wheeler when their snowmobiles triggered an avalanche on Ben Lomond Peak. The slide left a long mantle of jagged snow in the gully where Wheeler's body and snowmobile were found Saturday.