Mt. Moran Avalanche Claims Two

JACKSON, WYO. An avalanche on Sunday on Mt. Moran, Wyo. claimed its second life late Tuesday night. According to the Jackson Hole New and Guide, Stephen Adamson Jr. died at 10:34 p.m. on Tuesday, May 19 at the Eastern Idaho Regional Medical Center in Idaho Falls. Jackson resident Luke Lynch, 39, died in the Sunday avalanche.

Mt. Moran from Jackson Lake. The Sickle Couloir drops from looker's right of the summit ridge. [Photo] Tyler Cohen

Mt. Moran (12,605 ft.) from Jackson Lake. The Sickle Couloir drops from looker’s right of the summit ridge. [Photo] Tyler Cohen

Adamson, a 42-year-old attorney at the Jackson Hole-based law firm Gonnella Adamson, served on the board of the Center for the Arts and was a trustee of the National Museum of Wildlife Art, both in Jackson. He is survived by his wife, Sara, and their two children.

Adamson was critically injured in an avalanche on Sunday on the Sickle Couloir, a notable steep descent on Mt. Moran (12,605 ft.) in Grand Teton National Park. He was ascending the 3,100-foot line with Zahan Billimoria, an Exum Mountain Guide, Brooks Yeoman, a local teacher, and Luke Lynch when a shallow sluff broke loose above the party, sweeping Adamson, Yeoman and Lynch roughly 500 feet over rock and ice. Lynch died at the scene.

The family and friends of Luke Lynch celebrated his life on Tuesday morning at The Snake River Ranch near Wilson, Wyo. According to the Jackson Hole News and Guide, Lynch started the Wyoming chapter of the Conservation Fund in 2006, where he most recently worked as State Director, and served on several advisory boards and councils throughout Wyoming. He is survived by his wife, Kathy, and their three young sons. The Community Foundation of Jackson Hole has established the Luke Lynch Memorial Fund to raise money for Lynch’s favorite causes.

For more on the accident, read the Jackson Hole News and Guide’s report here.

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