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Avalanche Kills Skier Outside Cooke City

An avalanche in southwestern Montana killed a skier over the weekend.

Park County Sheriff Scott Hamilton says 55-year-old Christopher Peterson of Ketchum, Idaho died Sunday while skiing with six other people on Henderson Mountain outside Cooke City.

Alex Marienphal is an avalanche specialist with the Gallatin National Forest:

"We had considerable avalanche danger yesterday with considerable snow over the weekend," Marienphal says. "The group had skied the slope several times and when the last skier came down, the avalanche broke. It ran through trees, which were likely what caused trauma to the victim."

The other skiers dug Peterson out within 15 to 20 minutes, but  he couldn’t be resuscitated. Sheriff Hamilton says that probes and an avalanche transceiver helped the skiers find Peterson.

Conditions remain dangerous on Henderson mountain, and Marienpahl strongly recommends that all skiers check avalanche conditions in their area, travel with a partner, and carry an avalanche beacon, a shovel and a probe.

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