Overview
- The Oregon snowmobiler was killed Jan. 5 when a slide struck as his group returned from Castle Peak near Truckee, California.
- The five-person party was described as experienced and equipped with avalanche transceivers, which they used to locate and dig him out.
- An off-duty Truckee Fire medic arrived around 2:19 p.m. and led CPR, but Thomason was pronounced dead at the scene.
- Thomason lived in Bend and co-owned Thomason Auto Group, leaving behind his wife and three daughters, according to family and local reports.
- The Sierra Avalanche Center reports multiple recent incidents, including this fatal burial, and cautions that wind-loaded slopes at all elevations remain hazardous.