Man dies on glacier

MATANUSKA GLACIER -- A Loveland, Colo., man died Sunday after accidentally driving his rented snowmachine into a crevasse on Matanuska Glacier.

Michael Yount, 43, and his wife Christine Yount were reportedly on a snowmachine tour of Matanuska Glacier as part of an anniversary celebration. According to information from the Alaska State Troopers, the couple was following Glacier Park Lodge tour guide Bill Stevenson at about 4:20 p.m. when Yount veered approximately 40 yards off the established trail.

Yount ran into a mouland -- a hole made by sitting surface water that, in winter, is typically empty -- but did not make it across the hole.

"The snowmachine made it to the other side of the mouland, but didn't quite make it out," said Colby Coombs, director of the Alaska Mountaineering School in Talkeetna. "[Yount] fell off the back and the machine fell on top of him."

Three guides and 10 students from the Alaska Mountaineering School were taking a glacier travel and crevasse rescue class nearby on the glacier, Coombs said, and heard the snowmachiners call for help.

Caitlin Palmer, Coombs' wife and also a director at the school, said the class was learning about several aspects of glacier travel -- some of which they put into practice when assisting in the rescue.

"They were learning about roping in and ascending out of a crevasse," Palmer said. "And if someone was injured in a crevasse, how to get that person out from above."

Coombs said the class was working near the toe of the glacier, and he suspected the snowmachine tour group was up-glacier of the class when the incident happened. The group set to work after reaching the area, Coombs said.

"First they had to get the snowmachine out," Coombs said, "and that required a lot of effort."

Ropes were hooked to the machine and the two remaining snowmachines were used to help lift the snowmachine out. At that point, Coombs said, instructor Erik Mize lowered himself into the mouland to check Yount's condition. Coombs estimated Yount was about 16 feet down in the mouland, and had fallen in head-first. Mize was not able to find a pulse, Coombs said.

Several other agencies responded, including Lifeflight, the Alaska Mountain Rescue Group and Alaska State Troopers, and they helped recover Yount's body. Yount was pronounced dead a short time later. Trooper spokesman Greg Wilkinson said the body has been taken to a funeral home.

Coombs said Monday those taking the glacier travel class would be given a chance to attend a debriefing about the incident. He said the accident highlighted the unpredictable nature of glaciers.

"If there was a lesson to be learned, it's that you should think twice before traveling on a glacier with a snowmachine," Coombs said.