A bad decision by back country snow-boarders this weekend could have ended tragically. 31-yr-old Sam Hoerr from Illinois and his group left for the back country in white out conditions. Hoerr took a wrong turn and became lost.

Fortunately he got out safe, but Jackie Skaggs, at Grand Teton National Park, says high avalanche danger could have put everyone at risk.

“Luckily Sam had the presence of mind to keep working his way out of the canyon and he didn’t get avalanched so it had an happy ending, but definitely in those kind of conditions it could have been so much worse.”

Skaggs says they knew he was without  emergency provisions to get him through had he been stranded over night.

She says most local back country users know that avalanche danger peaks during blizzards and immediately following storms like the one that hit on Saturday.

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