Island Park Offers Snowmobiling Adventures, but Pay Attention to Avalanche Dangers
UPDATE, Jan. 22: The Fremont County Sheriff's Office and Fremont County Search and Rescue says a snowmobiler has died after being caught in an avalanche near Island Park. The agencies remind recreationists to use extreme caution, pay attention to weather bulletins, and avoid the backcountry until conditions improve. Currently, they say, avalanche conditions are extremely dangerous. Another snowmobiler was caught in an avalanche in the mountains near Island Park on Jan. 10.
Original story
ISLAND PARK, Idaho (KLIX) – If you’re looking for a place to ride your snowmobile this season, you might consider areas near Island Park, one of the state’s premier snowmobiling adventures.
With more than 950 miles of trails, the area “offers a wide variety of snowmobiling styles,” according to Visit Idaho.
Just be sure if you go that you use extra caution due to avalanche danger.
A number of trails had been groomed as of Wednesday, said Collette Wilkes, secretary of the Island Park Chamber of Commerce, including Two Top, Twin Creek, Raised Pass, Meadow Creek, Big Screens Loop, Chit Creek, Stamp Meadow, Slat Rock and Box Canyon.
“We got another 8 inches to a foot-and-a-half of new snow recently,” she said, “and so the mountains have a good couple of feet.”
She cautioned, however, saying: “The snow we got yesterday was very heavy, very wet.” And so, she urged, snowmobilers and other recreationsists need to use extra caution and pay attention to bulletins.
An avalanche occurred late Wednesday afternoon on Jefferson Mountain in the Centennial Mountain Range. A group of snowmobilers were riding together when the avalanche occurred and one man became lost. Rescuers found the man’s snowmobile but are still searching for the man.
The man didn’t have a beacon with him, Wilkes said, which alerts would-be rescuers of a lost person's location.