Avalanche claims snowboarder on Togwotee Pass

JACKSON, Wyo. (KIFI)-UPDATE: According to the Bridger Teton Avalanche Center, the snowboarder jumped off a prepared jump onto a steep creek bank.   The slope failed and he was deeply buried at the base of the bank.
The snowboarder has been identified as seasonal Jackson resident, 31-year-old Michael McKelvey.

ORIGINAL STORY: Teton County Wyoming Search and Rescue were called to help a male snowboarder shortly after noon Thursday. 

The man was fully buried by an avalanche on Togwotee Pass. 

Several rescue team members were already in the area doing snowmobile training and were on the scene within 10 minutes.  Another snowmobile team and helicopter short-haul team flew to the scene.

The man was located and crews attempted resuscitation while he was transported to a waiting ambulance, then flown to Eastern Idaho Regional Medical Center.   The man did not survive the trip.

It was the second fatality in western Wyoming in two days.