WEST YELLOWSTONE, Mont. (AP) — A Minnesota man died in an avalanche while he was snowmobiling about 19 miles north of West Yellowstone in Montana.

Gallatin County officials say 40-year-old Weylon Wiedemann of Pine City, Minnesota, was caught in the avalanche late Tuesday afternoon on the west side of Sage Peak, in the southern Madison Range.

The Gallatin National Forest Avalanche Center says Wiedemann triggered the slide and was buried under 3 feet of snow. Fellow riders dug him out in 12 to 15 minutes, but he died at the scene.

The mountains around West Yellowstone got 2 to 4 feet of snow late last week.

In 1983, Lt. Col. Jeff Cooper, retired USMC, was working on a pistol and caliber he felt would replace the .45 auto that had served the military and civilians alike for over 70 years.

He would refer to the caliber as the “Super Forty.” He had Domaus and Dixon Incorporated design the pistol, which was called the Bren Ten and was inspired by the CZ-75.

As often happens, production of the pistols was delayed by several problems. Domaus and Dixon went bankrupt and Cooper had to look for another pistol manufacturer.

On April 11, 1986, eight FBI agents in Miami, Florida, got into a shootout with two heavily armed bank robbers. Although the two bank robbers were eventually killed, when the dust settled, two of the agents were dead and five were seriously wounded, ending their careers in the FBI.

It is often referred to as the “Miami Massacre.” The most incredible thing about the shootout is that both bank robbers were shot several times early on in the fight by .38 S&W rounds, 9mm rounds, and 12-gauge shotgun rounds, but continued to kill and wound the FBI agents.

The FBI did a lot of soul searching for answers after the terrible loss to their ranks that day. The FBI turned their attention to why the initial bullets that hit the robbers didn’t stop the fight.

They also asked Colt to supply them with several of their Delta Elite 1911s in 10mm. The performance of the 10mm auto rounds were impressive in the FBI tests. A 175-grain bullet left a 5-inch barrel at 1,290 feet per second and had 649 foot-pounds of energy at the muzzle, while a 180-grain bullet left the same 5-inch barrel at 1,300 feet per second and produced 708 foot-pounds of energy at the muzzle.

The FBI purchased a large order of Smith & Wesson Model 1076 pistols in 10mm and issued them to their agents. Eventually, the FBI was instrumental in reducing the size and power of the 10mm cartridge and it became the .40 S&W. The FBI Hostage and Rescue Team and the FBI Special Weapons and Tactics Team are still issued the 10mm auto.

The Danish military issues Glock 10mm autos to their Arctic unit, the Slaederpatruljen, as a defense against polar bears. I know what you are thinking, and I would rather have a .300 Weatherby Magnum if I were going to visit polar bear country.

Today, civilians in the western United States are showing an increased interest in the 10mm auto for carrying in the backcountry, and there are a lot of fine pistols to choose from. Colt, Kimber, Glock, Sig Saur, Smith and Wesson and Dan Wesson all produce 10mm auto pistols, just to name a few.

The 10mm auto not only hits hard, it recoils more than the .45 auto it was designed to replace. Folks with small hands will have a problem controlling the piece unless strict attention is given to the proper two-handed grip of the pistol. Ammunition is sold as mild, medium and heavy loads. Even the mild loads shoot flatter and recoils harder than the .45 auto.

Buffalo Bore sells loads for the 10mm auto that produce 1,100 to 1,200 foot-pounds of energy. They claim that their loads are safe in good quality firearms, but I’m a little skeptical.

The slide on several of the 10mm pistols will start to come back a little before the round exits the muzzle. Buffalo Bore says they are safe but recommends installing a stronger spring if you notice it happening to your pistol. I’m assuming a 20- or 21-pound spring might work, but I am leery of going over the original pressure specs of any cartridge in a semi-auto pistol.

I think the 10mm auto is here to stay. There are enough people who really like the round and can shoot it well, so I think we will probably see more people carrying them in the backcountry in the next few years.

Smokey Merkley was raised in Idaho and has been hunting since he was 10 years old. He was a member of the faculty of Texas A&M University for 25 years. There he taught orienteering, marksmanship, self-defense, fencing, scuba diving and boxing. He was among the first DPS-certified Texas Concealed Handgun Instructors. He can be contacted at mokeydo41245@hotmail.com.

An avalanche reported near West Yellowstone on Tuesday evening caught at least one person.

According to Gallatin County Search and Rescue Cmdr. Jason Jarrett, members of the West Yellowstone search and rescue team are responding to the avalanche that had reportedly trapped one person.

The person was out and Jarrett said search and rescue members were getting to the scene. Jarrett did not know the extent of the person’s injuries.

An exact location of the avalanche, which was reported to dispatch around 5 p.m., was still being determined, Jarrett said, but a caller said it was in the Cabin Creek area north of West Yellowstone.

A variety of ski and snowboard lessons will be held at Pebble Creek Ski Area in Inkom throughout the month of January.Sessions for the Little Star, Super Star, and All Stars programs are scheduled to begin Jan. 6 and 7.The January Junior Boarder progra…

SALT LAKE CITY (AP) — Utah avalanche experts are warning backcountry skiers to be extra cautious due to a thin early season snowpack that is the lowest in four decades.

The Salt Lake Tribune reports that a weather gauge near the top of Little Cottonwood Canyon east of Salt Lake City shows that fewer than 50 inches of snow had fallen by Jan. 1. That’s the lowest total for that date since 1977.

Drew Hardesty, a forecaster with the U.S. Forest Service’s Utah Avalanche Center, says the thin early season snow can quickly become weak, sugary-like snow that breaks.

Nobody has died in an avalanche this winter but Hardesty is warning backcountry skiers to use extra caution.

Hardesty says avalanche deaths exceeded the yearly average of 2.8 in each of the last three winters when the snowpack was less than 100 inches by Jan. 1.

___

Information from: The Salt Lake Tribune, http://www.sltrib.com

JACKSON, Wyo. (AP) — A 35-year-old Utah man has died in an avalanche in southwestern Wyoming.

Officials with the Bridger-Teton Avalanche Center say Brennan Walpole of Spanish Fork, Utah, was with a group of 15 to 18 riders when the slide was triggered at about 1 p.m. Friday.

Avalanche Center Director Bob Comey tells the Jackson Hole News & Guide that the group was able to dig Walpole out of the snow after 8 to 10 minutes, but he was unconscious. They began CPR, sent an emergency alert using a satellite messenger and a search and rescue responders arrived by 3 p.m. Walpole was flown to the hospital in Idaho Falls, Idaho, where he died.

Two other snowmobilers were partially buried, but escaped without injury.

KALISPELL, Mont. (AP) — Two snowboarders were killed in separate weekend accidents in northwestern Montana.

Flathead County Sheriff Chuck Curry says 22-year-old Conner Heidegger of Rollins died Saturday when he intentionally jumped off a cliff while boarding out of bounds near a ski area near Lakeside. Curry says Heidegger and his friend had been snowboarding at Blacktail Mountain and were heading toward their vehicle when they spotted the cliff.

Also Saturday, 28-year-old Scott Robert Hornstra of Alberta died at Whitefish Mountain Resort after falling into a tree well — an area with little or no snow around a tree.

Curry says Hornstra’s friends reported him missing when he did not meet them at the bottom of a run. His body was found at about 2 a.m. Sunday.

BOISE, Idaho (AP) — Kayakers discovered a body along the Greenbelt near the Diversion Dam off Highway 21 in Boise, Idaho.

KBOI-TV reports that the Ada County Sheriff’s Office says the body was found shortly before 3 p.m. Saturday about 100 yards east of the dam.

It appears the man had been deceased for several days.

His personal belongings were found nearby along the Greenbelt.

Detectives found no obvious signs of foul play. The investigation is ongoing.

LA BARGE, Wyo. (AP) — A group of more than 20 people stopped and helped rescue elk that plunged through the ice on a frigid reservoir in western Wyoming.

The rescuers began using chain saws and other tools to cut the ice to reach the elk Friday morning at Palisades Reservoir. The ice proved too thick — up to 2 feet (less than a meter) — so they lassoed the elk to help them to shore, Wyoming Game and Fish Department biologist Gary Fralick said.

They saved about a dozen cow elk and calves after about 45 minutes, the Casper Star-Tribune reported .

“Without that many people helping, many more elk would have died,” he said. “People were trying to pull elk out of the water while people were sawing through ice to make a pathway to the shoreline. It was a big team effort to try and get them out of the ice.”

Two exhausted calves were taken by backhoe to a nearby elk feedground. The calves were later seen standing up.

About 30 elk fell through and died at Palisades two years ago. Fralick said it was the first time in 25 years with the department he could remember so many elk being saved.

Last weekend in Thaiwoo, China, Jaelin Kauf, who grew up skiing at Grand Targhee Resort, racked up the two World Cup mogul podiums necessary to receive a bid for the 2018 Winter Olympics in PyeongChang, South Korea.

Although the U.S. women’s mogul team is fiercely competitive and in China five U.S. women packed the top ten in the first event, the 21-year-old is now guaranteed an Olympic spot.

“It’s so huge to be able to accomplish a goal as big as the Olympics. It’s honestly a dream come true and I’m so happy I can start to focus now on making the best of it,” she said.

Kauf, who started her ascendancy on the mogul world stage in 2016, took fifth at this season’s first World Cup in Ruka, Finland and has only gained momentum since. On Dec. 21, she netted her first World Cup win in standard moguls. She has taken several podiums in dual moguls, but single or standard moguls is the only mogul event featured in the Olympics. Kauf took second by a slim margin on Dec. 22 and retained the overall World Cup leader’s jersey.

“Jaelin introduced herself to the world this week,” said U.S. Ski Team head mogul coach Matt Gnoza during an interview with U.S. Ski and Snowboard. “It’s great to see all the work she put in during the prep period pay off. She proved she’s one of the fastest mogul skiers and, with this week’s performance, she has proven that she can dominate in both singles and duals.”

Kauf came back to the states after a few hectic weeks of travel and will have four events in North America in January, first in Calgary, Alberta, then two in Utah. The pre-Olympic season will finish up in Tremblant, Quebec. She said she’s very happy to be staying on this continent for the next month, as long flights to Europe and Asia can take a toll on athletes. Even better, a large Teton Valley support group is planning to make the trek south to Deer Valley on Jan. 10 and 11 to cheer her on.

Immediately after landing on the tarmac in Salt Lake City, Kauf returned to Teton Valley for a short stint of relaxation and family time before the next set of World Cup events.

“The welcome here at home has been incredible and everyone is wishing me good luck and congrats. It’s amazing,” she said. “Everyone is so proud and I feel so lucky to come home to Teton Valley.”