Man airlifted to hospital following snow incident in Island Park - East Idaho News
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Man airlifted to hospital following snow incident in Island Park

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The following is a news release from Fremont County Search and Rescue. File photo

ISLAND PARK — Around 4:00 p.m. Tuesday, Fremont County Sheriff deputies, Island Park Ambulance and Fremont County Search and Rescue responded to a man who fell when a cornice sluffed off between Mount Jeferson and Sawtelle Peak in the Centennial Range west of Island Park.

A cornice is an overhanging mass of hardened snow at the edge of a mountain precipice.

A male snowmobiler walked out on a cornice when it broke and he shot over a 60 foot cliff and then off another 100 foot cliff, riding the cornice approximately 400 feet down from the ridge where he was standing. His riding party scanned the debris field and spotted him sitting on the snow waving his arms. They rode around to the bottom where he was.

He appeared to be having breathing difficulties and was coughing up blood. Air Idaho Rescue from West Yellowstone, Montana arrived on scene but was unable to land near the victim. The pilot chose a safe landing zone about 1/4 mile away.

The subject’s riding party was able to transport him to the helicopter, and he was med-evacuated to Bozeman. Fremont County Search and Rescue assisted the party bringing one of their sleds with broken handle bars down to Shotgun and loaded it in a pickup.

They helped the rest of the party bring the subject’s snowmobile back from the scene. Both sleds ended up at Base Camp, Stamp Meadows parking lot. The extent of the individual’s injuries was not known at the time of this press release.

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