Sheriff hopes recovery of skier brings closure

More information has been released about Saturday’s recovery of the body of a Whitefish doctor who went missing while backcountry skiing in February.

Flathead County Sheriff Chuck Curry told the Inter Lake on Monday that Dr. Jonathan Torgerson’s body was found a couple of hundred yards off Canyon Creek Road in a backcountry area accessible from Whitefish Mountain Resort’s Flower Point area.

Torgerson was last seen Feb. 17 backcountry skiing in the same area.

Curry said he hoped the recovery would help the doctor’s family gain some peace and closure. He said he spoke with Torgerson’s wife Saturday.

“She was very appreciative of the continued efforts,” Curry said. “We were really, really happy we could bring him home to the family. The not knowing is what can be very difficult.”

While the search was scaled back as snow depths increased through the winter, the efforts continued. Rescue workers scoured the area by foot, ski, snowmobile and helicopter. There were more than 20 searchers involved in Saturday’s recovery.

A search dog from Colorado ultimately made the discovery at the bottom of the avalanche path, Curry said.

“He was in an area that had a cursory search previously, but transceivers didn’t get a hit off his beacon,” Curry said.

Curry said it did not appear that Torgerson suffered any traumatic injuries.

Curry thanked all of the volunteers who contributed “countless hours in this ongoing search to bring Dr. Torgerson home to his family.”