CHELAN COUNTY, Wash. — A 19-year-old Mercer Island man was likely killed in a glissading, or sliding, accident Saturday afternoon, Chelan County Sheriff Brian Burnett said.
The accident happened below the summit of Aasgard Pass between Colchuck Peak and Dragontail Mountain and was first reported at 5:01 p.m.
A satellite text message had been relayed to the Washington State Department of Emergency Management's duty officer stating there had been an accident in which a man had fallen into a hole and disappeared under the snowpack. GPS coordinates were included in the message, but no other information was available.
Chelan County Sheriff's Office search and rescue coordinators began notifying mountain rescue members to respond.
A Lifeflight medical helicopter was available to help with a check of the coordinates in the Aasgard Pass area. A helicopter equipped with a hoist was requested from the state, and the Snohomish County Sheriff's Office SnoHawk-10 helicopter helped with the search and rescue effort, but all attempts to find the man in the hole, which ran well below the deep snowpack, were unsuccessful.
Search efforts were suspended due to darkness at about 8:30 p.m. The search will continue on Monday morning.
The victim's name is being withheld pending notification of next of kin.
The initial report is that the 19-year-old was with one other person as they were both trying to glissade down the snow field from the summit of Aasgard Pass to the glacier area below.
According to the sheriff’s office:
Glissading is the act of intentionally descending down a steep slope in a controlled slide on a person's feet or buttocks. It routinely involves the use of an ice-axe or similar device to assist in controlling the slide.
Glissading is a high-risk activity due to the unforeseen dangers, such as holes or crevasses, in the snow path.
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