Jason Haines of Kuna Idaho was killed last month after being buried in an avalanche while riding a Snowbike near Cascade Idaho. The accident took place on December 15 near West Mountain.
Ross Meyer and his buddy Jason had been riding snow bikes together for years. “We started riding Snowbikes together about the same time,” says Meyer. “It’s pretty cool to go places that really humans should not be, you know, in the middle of winter and that also makes it dangerous.”
On December 15, Ross and Jason went to one of their favorite motorized snowbiking spots to explore the slopes on West Mountain near Cascade — but things took a turn for the worse.
“I noticed there was a slide when I saw it break out of the corner of my eye… all the snow beneath [me] turned to like quicksand, and my bike disappeared beneath me,” says Meyer. The pair of riders had been caught in an avalanche.
“When it broke, Jason was behind me, so I didn’t see what happened to him,” recounted Meyer.
Ross says he was forced into a tree, damaging his bike but leaving him on the surface of the snow.