BOZEMAN — Search and rescue teams have recovered the body of a Bozeman man who died in an avalanche southeast of Big Sky.
Gallatin County Sheriff Brian Gootkin said Thursday a helicopter carried search and rescue personnel to the site where 46-year-old Burton Kenneth Gibson was buried under 5 feet of snow Wednesday afternoon.
Two 19-year-old men who were with him were able to find him using avalanche transceivers, but CPR efforts failed. Darkness and difficult terrain prevented officials from recovering Gibson’s body Wednesday night.
Forest officials say the men were snowmobiling in the Onion Basin area of the Hyalite Porcupine Buffalo Horn Wilderness Study Area, which is off-limits to snowmobiles. There was an avalanche warning in the area as well.