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BIGFORK- A tragedy in mountainous terrain near Jewel Basin has a Flathead Valley family in mourning after search crews located the body of a skier caught in Wednesday afternoon's avalanche.

Flathead County Sheriff Chuck Curry says that search and rescue efforts were futile Wednesday night as heavy snow made it impossible to see the avalanche slide.

Searchers headed back into the Wildcat Lake area Thursday at around 10 a.m. and the Flathead Valley man's body was pulled from the path of the avalanche around 1:15 Thursday afternoon.

Crews from North Valley Search and Rescue, the Nordic Ski Patrol and the Flathead County Search and Rescue used snowmobile's, snow shoes, skis and other means in their search effort.

"Definitely, weather did not help our effort, we're happy that we're able to bring this to a conclusion today, even though it's a very tragic event. But the weather played a big factor in stretching from yesterday into today," Curry said in an interview.

The man's name and other information is expected to be released on Friday.