Third body buried by Idaho avalanche identified as Minnesota woman

Published 9:25 pm Friday, January 10, 2020

KELLOGG, Idaho. — Authorities have released the name of the third person found buried by an avalanche at an Idaho ski resort.

The Shoshone County Sheriff’s Office said searchers in a helicopter spotted the body of 33-year-old Molly Hubbard of Minneapolis at Silver Mountain Resort on Thursday.

Authorities said she was the skier reported missing Wednesday by a family member, which prompted an extended search after Tuesday’s avalanche. The sheriff’s office said her body was recovered Thursday afternoon by searchers with specialized equipment from a private aviation search and rescue company.

Email newsletter signup

“Again our deepest condolences go out to all family and friends that have been affected by this tragic event,” the sheriff’s office wrote on Facebook.

The avalanche killed two other people, Carl Humphreys, 58, of Liberty Lake, Washington, and 46-year-old Scott Parsons of Spokane Valley, Washington, and injured four, authorities said. Resort officials said on Facebook there have been no other people reported missing.

The avalanche came after the ski resort in the Idaho Panhandle received heavy snow and resort crews used explosives the morning of the slide to try to reduce avalanche threats on Wardner Peak, where all of the runs are rated as difficult.

During the winter of 2018-19, 25 people died in avalanches in the United States, The Spokesman-Review newspaper reported.

The Idaho Panhandle Avalanche Center will investigate the cause of the avalanche, the resort said.