CRYSTAL MOUNTAIN, Wash. -- Friends on Saturday discovered the bodies of a trio of snowboarders buried in an avalanche last December near Crystal Mountain.

The snow has melted just enough that the friends found the bodies of 26-year-old Kevin Carter, 29-year-old Devlin Williams and 41-year-old Philip Hollins midday Saturday.

The men’s bodies were found in their sleeping bags in the Union Creek Basin at an elevation of 5,400 feet.

Last December, the snowboarders disappeared while hiking to a backcountry shelter.

Searchers said it appears the men sought shelter in a tent to ride out a terrible storm. They set up the tent in the middle of big cedar trees on a 25-degree slope. Then an avalanche came and snapped the trees, burying the men in their sleeping bags.

“If you had done that a hundred times those trees probably would have protected you and you would probably have been OK. So, it just speaks to the immense volume of snow that came down in that avalanche cycle,” said Paul Baugher who heads Crystal Mountain’s ski patrol.

Baugher has searched several times for the men, but in the initial days of searching a winter storm hampered the effort.

Six months later, friends and family will now have some closure.

The men’s bodies have been prepared to be airlifted out of the area Sunday.