IDAHO FALLS, Idaho (AP) — Authorities on Saturday recovered the body of a competitive snowmobiler who was buried in an avalanche in southeastern Idaho.
Robert Kincaid, 46, of Victor, was riding with a group of about 10 people in the Austin Canyon area when the slide happened Friday, according to the Bonneville County Sheriff’s Office. One rider went for help while the others started searching for Kincaid, whose body was found about 2 1/2 hours later.
Poor weather and rough terrain hampered deputies’ and a search-and-rescue team’s efforts to recover the body.
Investigators said Kincaid was wearing an avalanche beacon, but it wasn’t activated at the time.
Bonneville County sheriff’s deputy Judd Aeschbacher, who responded to the scene, told the Jackson Hole News & Guide in Jackson, Wyoming that Kincaid triggered the avalanche.
“They were going to head out, and Rob was the first one,” he said. “It’s a chute they use to get out of the canyon they were in, and he was the first one to go.”
Kincaid had competed in the Jackson Hole World Championship Hill Climb at Snow King Mountain and was a regular in races across the West with the Rocky Mountain States HillClimb Association, the newspaper reported. He competed at the X Games in Aspen, Colorado in 2015, finishing 16th in the snowmobile HillCross.
