Avalanche area reopened

By RICHARD HANNERS

Whitefish Pilot

The Canyon Creek snowmobile trail and skiing terrain below Flower Point and Skookoleel Mountain were reopened to backcountry users on Jan. 18.

The Flathead National Forest had closed the area after an avalanche killed two skiers on Jan. 13. David Gogolak, 36, of Whitefish, and Anthony Kollmann, 19, of Kalispell, died at the scene, just beyond the northeast border of Whitefish Mountain Resort.

Forest officials were concerned about safety hazards to recovery personnel while a search continued for additional skiers who might have been buried under the deep snow that covered the snowmobile trail.

Flathead County Sheriff Mike Meehan suspended the search for further victims on Jan. 16 because of continuing safety hazards and because no missing-persons reports had been filed.

The ski resort provided a groomer on Jan. 15 to assist search personnel. The groomer removed layers of avalanche debris so the searchers' 12-foot long probes could reach closer to the bottom of the pile. Search dogs were also used, but no additional victims were found.

The sheriff's office tracked down owners of vehicles parked for more than a day at the ski resort and other locations around the valley, but vehicle owners were accounted for. Sheriff's personnel also contacted tourist-related businesses across the valley, but no missing persons were reported.

Deputies escorted two snowmobilers who were eyewitnesses to the incident back to the scene on Jan. 16 to re-interview them. Marty Olson and Maynard Denna were adamant more victims were buried under the avalanche debris.

The two eyewitnesses claimed they saw two skiers climbing the snowmobile trail herringbone-style and then removing their skis to boot-pack the rest of the way up to the ski resort.

Olson and Denna claim they saw the two skiers hit by the avalanche, but the two skiers they saw may have been Gogolak and his brother-in-law, Todd Wharton.

Wharton was completely buried by the avalanche but was able to dig himself out. Gogolak's body was not recovered for about four hours.

Kollmann, who was skiing at the top of a slope nicknamed Fiberglass Hill by locals, suffered severe trauma after the avalanche drove him through a grove of trees. He died about an hour and a half after the slide was triggered.