The expedition that found the bodies of three Seattle snowboarders killed in an avalanche in December started with a simple blog post from a stranger.

Two weeks ago, the thoughts of Chris Willis, an avid backcountry skier, turned to the three men who were lost near Crystal Mountain. The snow was beginning to melt, and he wondered whether any recovery attempts had been made.

So Willis, 50, a construction engineer from Gig Harbor, posted on, an online community for backcountry hikers, skiers and snowboarders, asking about rescue efforts.

He learned from the snowboarders' families and the Pierce County Sheriff's Department that no groups had searched for the bodies since the men were presumed dead in December, although a best friend to one of the men had continued to search all year.

Willis also received enthusiastic responses, mostly from people he didn't know, offering their help in the search. Buoyed by the group's generosity, Willis picked a meeting place and time for anyone who wanted to help.

Shortly before 8 a.m. Saturday, 12 volunteers set out to find the bodies of Kevin Carter, 26, Devlin Williams, 29, and Phillip Hollins, 41. Aside from Williams' girlfriend and Hollins' best friend, the volunteers knew the men who had died only through brief meetings on mountain trails.

"A bunch of strangers basically got together to work together," Willis said. "The backcountry skiing community is very tight, and what we do is inherently dangerous, so we come to trust and care for all the people who do what we do. We really felt we were trying to find our brothers."

Although they were prepared to look for days, their search lasted only three hours.

Early Saturday afternoon, Willis said, he heard over his radio that the tip of the men's tent had been found. Much of the snow in the basin where the men camped had melted, so the group gathered at the site was able to dig out the bodies. Willis remained on the ridge above, where he was able to use his cell phone to call the Sheriff's Department.

"It was one of those rare occasions when everything seemed to go correctly," Willis said. "I don't know why, but everything worked out."

From the ridge, Willis also called Williams' parents to let them know their son's body had been found.

"It was a difficult call to make, really to deliver bad good news," Willis said.

The Sheriff's Office couldn't send a helicopter until Sunday, when it took the bodies from the mountain to the Pierce County Medical Examiner's Office.

Hollins' mother, Sally, said news of the recovery was more difficult to face than she expected.

"I didn't think it would be as hard now as when they were first lost, but it is," she said. "He's still my first-born son, and they aren't supposed to die before you do. But he died doing what he loved."

Hollins said the families have not yet seen the bodies and have no plans for a memorial service, since one was held in December.

Gary Brose, the owner of Fleetfoot Messenger Service in Seattle, where the three men were messengers, said their former co-workers and friends are also struggling to cope.

"A lot of people who work here are upset again, and they should be," he said. "It's hard to deal with it again after we've already done it once."

Even though they didn't know the snowboarders personally, the other 10 members of the search team were also moved.

"A lot of us were surprised at how emotional we all became," Willis said. "There were many tears shed by all of us. We're all hard-bitten mountain men and girls, but all of us at one stage broke down."

When the search was over, the team returned to the blog. One poster, Joe Schaaf, summed up the expedition.

"There is a sense of bonding that may never be spoken by the searchers, but forever felt by me," he wrote. "I have now made several lifelong friends in one day that would have taken me a lifetime to make."