LEAVENWORTH, Wash. — The three people killed in an avalanche on Colchuck Peak near Leavenworth on Sunday, Feb. 19, were identified Wednesday.
The victims are Seong Cho, 54; Jeannie Less, 60; and Yun Park, 66. Recovery efforts for the victims are now based on avalanche and weather conditions, according to the Chelan County Sheriff's Office.
No rescuers were sent to the avalanche scene on Wednesday.
Survivors told the Chelan County Sherriff's Office of Emergency Management that the slide occurred around 1 p.m. on Sunday.
County officials provided KING 5 with more details Wednesday on how the three victims died.
"It's kind of a really steep shoot between the rocks on Colchuck Peak," said Sgt. Jason Reinfeld with the Chelan County Sheriff's Office.
Reinfeld said it started with a small slide triggered by one of the climbers that sent three climbers below down the mountain.
"And when the snow slid, they slid through this rocky chute, about 500 feet vertically," said Reinfeld.
He said that slide did not leave them buried in snow, however; rather, they suffered traumatic injuries on the way down which led to their deaths. Then, subsequent avalanches complicated the recovery of their remains.
The group was not traveling with avalanche beacons or outreach devices, as someone was forced to climb back down and notify rescuers of the incident.
"About an hour later, there were three more avalanches that came through," said Reinfeld. "And two of the victims haven't been seen since those avalanches came through, so we can't confirm their location right now."
He said his office's goal is to locate the three victims and bring them back "as soon as possible," so that the Park, Lee and Cho families can have closure.
But as winter weather persists, he said, "we don't want to put anybody else in the same danger."
Because of this, they are prioritizing safety as avalanche conditions remain dangerous.
He said they are waiting until they get the go-ahead from representatives of the Northwest Avalanche Center (NWAC), who went up to the peak Wednesday to assess the hazards.
"It's dependent on what we get back from the NWAC representatives who went up there, as well as when we can get some air resources in there to take a look," Reinfeld said. "I don't have a timeline. It's just right now there's too many unknowns."
Reinfeld said it's possible it could take weeks, but is hopeful the recovery mission will happen successfully before then.
Avalanche danger was "moderate" above and near the tree line and "low" below the tree line in the east central Cascades for most of the day Sunday, according to the NWAC. However, danger was expected to increase throughout the day as a multi-day storm entered the region, and avalanche danger was forecasted to be "high" above tree line Sunday evening into Monday.
One person who participated in the rescue said conditions were not suitable for mountaineering that day.
Craig Gyselinck with Chelan County Mountain Rescue said "bad weather" was headed toward them and they "only had hours" before it got worse.
"Due to weather systems coming through, it was an absolute terrible weekend to be in the mountains," said Tyler Severy with the Washington Mountain Rescue Association.