Idaho emergency teams rescue 2 men from deadly avalanche near Stevens Peak

Emergency response crews in Idaho rescued two men who were caught in an avalanche, while a third man is believed to be dead, officials said early Friday morning.

The Shoshone County Sheriff’s Office initiated a rescue effort at approximately 2:53 p.m. Thursday, when its office received a Garmin GPS alert of a possible fatality following an avalanche near Steven’s Peak, in Shoshone County, Idaho, close to the Montana border, officials said.

The men were rescued from an area several miles southwest of the Lookout Peak ski area and more than 90 miles from Missoula, Montana.

"We were able to establish communications with two of the individuals through a GPS texting device. Through this communication we were able to locate two of the three males and started a targeted search near their last known location. We located the two males and we were able to bring them back to retrieve medical care," the Shoshone County Sheriff’s Office said.

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The Shoshone County Sheriff’s Office organized a rescue effort with the United States Air Force, the Kootenai County Sheriff’s Office, Silver Valley Search and Rescue, and the Silver Mountain Ski Patrol assisting the effort.

According to the Shoshone County Sheriff’s Office, a third man who was caught in the avalanche is believed to be dead at this time and search efforts to locate him have been called off. Authorities will begin an effort to retrieve his body starting Friday, Jan. 12.

"While debriefing the two males, we received information causing us to believe the third male was deceased at the site of the avalanche. Due to this information, we have concluded our search efforts for the safety of all those involved for this evening," the office said.

Authorities did not release the names of the victims at this time.

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The area had been under an avalanche danger warning for several days and authorities did not say what the three people were doing in the area. It has high, steep slopes and was being affected by snowfall and high winds at the time of the avalanche, officials said.

Stevens Peak is a popular destination where people to climb, hike, and cross-country ski, according to a skiing enthusiast website. 

The avalanche came a day after the first U.S. avalanche death of the season was reported in California.

Four people were trapped after an avalanche descended at the Palisades Tahoe ski resort near Lake Tahoe on Wednesday morning. One person was killed.

A second avalanche struck the same area near Lake Tahoe on Thursday without any reported casualties.

The Associated Press contributed to this report.