By Katie N. Johannes
Bellingham Herald
Jacqueline P. Eckstrom’s parents were devastated to learn that their 21-year-old daughter – their only child – died in an avalanche near Mount Baker Ski Area sometime between Friday and Saturday.
“She was wonderfully energetic,” said her aunt, Mary Kay Morgan, the only family member able to talk about Eckstrom, a student at Western Washington University.
Eckstrom, who grew up in Shoreline and Seattle, died while snowshoeing between Artist Point and Table Mountain, just southeast of the ski area.
Her two companions, Greg Bachmeier, 22, and Laurie Ballew, 21, survived and were doing well Sunday, said Whatcom County Search and Rescue coordinator Mark Jilk.
St. Joseph Hospital officials listed Ballew in fair condition in the critical-care unit Sunday. Earlier reports said she suffered hypothermia and frostbite. There was no listing for Bachmeier.
The group of WWU students set out on their outing about 9 a.m. Friday, when temperatures were in the high 20s and 10 inches of new snow was forecast for the day, Jilk said. He gave the following account of the accident and rescue effort:
About 11 a.m., they were standing on a switchback turn of the summer road between Artist Point and Table Mountain when they were buried by the slide.
After being buried for nearly 24 hours, Bachmeier was able to dig himself out and call for help.
Two backcountry skiers heard him yelling and hurried over. One of them skied two miles to the ski area to tell Mount Baker Ski Patrol members what had happened before returning to the avalanche area with the other skier, “at considerable personal risk,” to look for the two girls, Jilk said. Rescue crews also went to the scene.
Ballew was found alive under three feet of snow on the final switchback of the Artist Point Road.
Bachmeier and Ballew could not be reached for comment Sunday.
‘Lots of friends’
In her immediate family, Eckstrom, who went by the nickname “JP,” is survived by her parents, Donald and Jean Eckstrom.
“We’re all really close,” Morgan said. “She’s especially close to her mom and dad.”
Eckstrom had lots of friends “in many walks of life,” Morgan said, and never did anything halfway.
“She was passionate and had a zest for life. She loved people and they loved her,” Morgan said, stumbling to find words to describe her niece.
Eckstrom was a senior at Western where she was studying communications. She had talked about pursuing a career in social services so that she could help young people, Morgan said.
The Shorewood High School graduate loved to play hard, Morgan said. She especially loved to play disc golf, a Frisbee game.
Eckstrom was working in the new recreation center at Western as an aide at the rock-climbing wall, and she worked at a summer camp as a counselor the past few years, Morgan said.
Morgan said she believed Eckstrom had only tried snowshoeing a couple of times.
In a conversation with her mother a couple of days ago, Eckstrom had said she was looking forward to Christmas.
She spent a quarter in Spain last year, and it was the first time she had missed the big family Christmas gathering at her grandfather’s house.
“She missed it and was so looking forward to it this year,” Morgan said.
Reprinted by permission.
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