A tragic incident unfolded in the Wyoming mountains on Sunday afternoon as a 31-year-old man from Utah lost his life in an avalanche while snowmobiling. Nicholas Bringhurst, hailing from Springfield, Utah, was engulfed by the cascading snow near La Barge Creek, located in the western part of the state.
The Lincoln County Sheriff’s Office reported that at 2:15 p.m., they received a distress signal from a Garmin InReach device, indicating an injured individual in the vicinity. Swiftly, they coordinated with the Air Idaho response team to address the emergency.
Upon arrival, first responders discovered that Bringhurst had been swept away by the avalanche. His friend, demonstrating quick thinking and determination, managed to locate and dig him out from the snow, immediately beginning CPR in a desperate bid to save his life.
Despite these efforts, the Sheriff’s office conveyed in a statement that, tragically, Bringhurst succumbed to the injuries sustained during the avalanche. His untimely death marks a solemn reminder of the unpredictable dangers posed by nature, especially in mountainous regions.
‘Bringhurst’s friend had located and unburied Bringhurst and initiated CPR,’ the office said in a statement.
‘However, Bringhurst died as a result of being caught in the avalanche.’
Lincoln County Coroner Dain Schwab responded and took Bringhurst’s body. The Coroner’s Office is yet to release his official cause of death.
Bringhurst’s social media shows he had been snowmobiling for years. He shared a photograph of his new vehicle in October 2021, alongside another image of himself and his wife on their wedding day, with the caption: ‘Two new women in my life’.
Nicholas Bringhurst (pictured with his wife), from Springfield, Utah, was caught in the freak natural disaster as he rode close to La Barge Creek in the west of the state
Bringhurst’s social media shows he had been snowmobiling for years. He is pictured above in a photograph shared by one of his heartbroken friends, who said he was ‘a hell of a good rider’
His penultimate Instagram post shows him attempting a flip on the snowmobile, before crashing softly into a large pile of powdery snow as his friends laughed.
Bringhurst also posted photographs of himself and friends enjoying kayaking, white water rafting, fishing and hiking in beauty spots across the Midwest.
His heartbroken wife, Lauren McBride Bringhurst, paid tribute to her late husband on Instagram with a photograph of him rowing a boat through the mountains.
‘My Nick. My best friend. My forever summer fling. My husband. My mooring. My home,’ she wrote.
‘I’ll miss you forever. In winters, in summers, the mountains, the desert, at the crest of every wave, every snowflake and powder turn, each confluence, the sunrises and sunsets, the galaxies I’ll be looking for you.’
The snowmobiler’s friend Jayce Richins also remembered him as ‘one of the most friendly, funny, courteous, and just all around great people out there’.
Bringhurst’s social media shows he had been snowmobiling for years. He shared a photograph of his new vehicle in October 2021, alongside another image of himself and his wife on their wedding day, with the caption: ‘Two new women in my life’, as shown in the screengrab above
His heartbroken wife, Lauren McBride Bringhurst, paid tribute to her late husband on Instagram
Lincoln County Sheriff’s Office released the image above alongside their statement confirming Bringhurst’s death. They said first responders found Bringhurst ‘caught in an avalanche’
Richins added that they had rode their snowmobiles together ‘all over’ McCall in Wyoming and ‘a little bit in Utah’.
‘He was a hell of a good rider, first person to stop and help if someone was stuck, and always had something funny to say and a nickname for everyone,’ Richins wrote.
It comes after two men were killed in an avalanche in Washington state just two days before.
A group of four men were snowmobiling near Longs Pass trail on Friday, when the avalanche swept them away at around 4pm local time.
‘One tourer was not buried, one was partially buried and injured, one was fully buried and killed, and one was fully buried and is presumed dead,’ the Northwest Avalanche Center said in a statement on Saturday.
The Kittitas County Sheriff’s Office identified the victims as 38-year-old Paul Markoff and 43-year-old Erik Henne, and the coroner’s office will determine their cause of death.
The two survivors, Ian Laing and Patrick Leslie, used a Garmin satellite device to send a distress call to rescuers, per the sheriff’s office.
Four men recreating in the backcountry snow near Longs Pass in the mountains of northern Kittitas County were caught in an avalanche on Friday
A Garmin satellite device is a small, portable GPS used in emergencies. It has an SOS feature that lets users call for help if they are injured or don’t have cell service.
Emergency responders raced on snowmobiles to the secluded, snow-covered site and rescued the two survivors Friday evening.
But when responders tried to recover the bodies, dangerous conditions in the snow prevented them from continuing.
Rescue teams in helicopters, along with trained avalanche search dogs, were deployed the following morning to recover the victims’ lifeless bodies.
The chopper airlifted the two deceased men while the ground team recovered the personal items scattered in the snow.
