Industry News
A body recovered near Mt. Baker last Sunday is believed to be 24-year-old Bellingham resident Vitaliy Datskiy. Datskiy was reported missing back in January after failing to meet his friends at the bottom of the lift. He was last seen going under a rope that marked a danger zone in the Panorama Dome area. Although Datskiy was riding in-bounds, more than 50 inches of snow fell in the area since that Friday. The Northwest Avalanche Center had rated danger “high” in the North Cascades that weekend, making search and rescue immensely difficult and hazardous.
“Ski patrollers did an immediate search which was followed by about two dozen volunteers and members of the Whatcom County Sheriff’s Office search and rescue team searching the area until after dark in heavy snow and high winds.”
According to the Bellingham Herald, the body recovered from the north cliffs of the Panorama Dome on Sunday is believed to be Datskiy. His family was on site when the body was found, and an autopsy was scheduled for this week. Last Sunday, the Bellingham Mountain Rescue Council posted on Facebook that they had finally found closure for the friends and family of Datskiy.
