Woman killed in Snoqualmie Pass avalanche identified
Apr 15, 2013, 5:01 PM | Updated: 5:12 pm
Hikers found Joy Yu's dog, 8-year-old Blue, on Sunday. The animal is now back with Yu's relatives, said Cindi West with the King County Sheriff's Office. (Twitter: Cindi West)
(Twitter: Cindi West)
The King County Medical Examiner’s Office identified a woman who had been killed Saturday in one of two avalanches near Snoqualmie Pass.
Joy Yu, 55, was snowshoeing with her dog when she was caught in the avalanche on Red Mountain. The examiner’s report said Yu suffocated under the snow.
A group of a dozen snowshoers who were also caught up in the avalanche dug Yu out of five feet of snow and tried to keep her warm. It took rescuers hours to carry her on a sled down the mountain, where she was pronounced dead.
Hikers found Yu’s dog, 8-year-old Blue, on Sunday. The animal is now back with Yu’s relatives, said Cindi West with the King County Sheriff’s Office.
A hiker from another group, 60-year-old Mitch Hungate from Kent, is still missing.
Crews called off the search for Hungate on Monday morning. “Conditions are too dangerous for Search and Rescue personnel,” according to the King County Sheriff’s Office.
The search may resume on Tuesday.
The first avalanche hit three experienced hikers trying to reach the summit of Granite Mountain off of I-90 at exit 47.
Sgt. Katie Larson, with the sheriff’s office, said the hikers were about five feet apart from each other and didn’t see any signs of the avalanche until the snow was already giving way beneath their feet. By downloading information from one hiker’s GPS tracking device, Larson said they determined that hiker was swept 1,279 feet, reaching a speed of 53 miles per hour.
“It came out of nowhere and swept them away very quickly,” said Larson.
The Associated Press contributed to this report.
