Two skiers were killed in Wyoming is separate avalanches on Sunday. The victims were the first two people die be killed in an avalanche this winter.
According to the Associated Press, Elizabeth "Liza" Gray Benson, 28, of Jackson, was backcountry skiing when an avalanche sent her crashing into a tree, killing her instantly. Nick Gillespie, a 30-year-old Grand Teton National Park seasonal employee also got caught in an avalanche on Survey Peak. He died due to injuries caused by the slide.
Benson was with four people, one of which was a doctor when the accident occurred. Her fellow skiers called emergency crews for help but the doctor found that Benson was already dead.
Gillespie was also with people who tried to resuscitate him. The attempts were unseccessful, so they carried his body back to the backcountry patrol cabin and had to spend the night. They weren't able to make a phone call to authorities until late and night and rangers couldn't fly into the area until the next day.
Crews were working Monday to recover the bodies of Benson and Gillespie.
The avalanche warning level was low on Sunday morning but it rose slightly in the afternoon at 9,000 and 10,500 feet, which meant that there was a risk for a human to trigger an avalanche. The avalanche danger remained higher at middle and high-elevations on Monday in the Tetons area.
The Tetons recently had snowfall after a period of dryness and cold, making the new snow unstable as it was on top of old snow. The danger is especially high on the west side which received up to 18 inches of snow.
This article is copyrighted by Travelers Today, the travel news leader
