UPDATE

Brother of Flathead ski victim recalls avalanche

Posted: Feb 7, 2012 9:40 AM by Dax VanFossen

COLUMBIA FALLS - The brother of a man who died last week in an avalanche in the Jewel Basin area near Bigfork talked about the incident on Monday. Reporter Dax VanFossen sat down with Iain Albee who was by his brother Mark's side when the snow gave way.

"I mean I had three hours to myself, for the worst ski out of my entire life, knowing the questions. That I was going to have to call my mom and you know, call my brother's wife Delilah, those were the hardest things," Albee recalled.

Iain Albee and his brother Mark have been backcountry skiing almost their entire lives together. They were both experienced and Iain was actually buried in an avalanche before. But on February 1st, the snow gave way for Mark and Iain can't get the picture out of his mind.

"Whoof...And I leaned forward, just a little bit, and as I'm doing that, I'm looking back and my skis are in the air, and all I see is blocks, and basically the place is just gone. And I go to turn to my left and Mark should be about right there, and even that area is gone [and] Mark's not there," Albee recalled.

Iain tried frantically, but safely, to get to his brother. "The whole time I'm basically like, 'he's dead, I can't deal with this, he's dead'. I just [tried] to be safe [and] do the best I can to get there without killing myself."

Mark had fallen over 800 feet to the bottom of the mountain and Iain remembered the trip back to get help.

"Did I do enough? Could he be alive? I mean, I've seen avalanches before and people have lived through crazy stuff, but I just didn't think it was possible, and basically I just thought about having to tell my mom and my brother's wife about it," Albee recalled.

Flathead County Sheriff Chuck Curry told us that Mark and Iain did everything right and that no one could have foreseen what happened.

Iain Albee said that in the end he hopes that in some small way, his brother's death can serve to educate people about avalanches, and backcountry recreation in the winter.