Authorities have identified a snowmobiler killed in a Wyoming avalanche as a 41-year-old Elko man.
The Lincoln County Sheriff's Office said Tuesday that Brandon Jones was killed on Friday after the avalanche overtook him as he was riding on a slope in the Salt River Range southeast of Afton, Wyoming.
Jones was able to deploy a balloon-like airbag that’s intended to help people survive avalanches, but was partially buried with a leg sticking out, authorities said.
It took 10 to 15 minutes to unbury him, officials reported. It was one of the first avalanche fatalities in the U.S. this winter.
The Bridger Teton Avalanche Center said Jones was with about five other people when the avalanche occurred.
A professional snowmobiler and a snowboarder were killed last year in the same region along the Idaho-Wyoming border.
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