The Adventure Life with Steve Casimiro: A Bad, Bad Week for Avalanches

Mourners at a candlelight vigil in Sparwood, B.C., which lost eight young men to slides.

By West Coast Editor Steve Casimiro

Seven Canadian snowmobilers are dead and one is missing and presumed dead after a series of avalanches hit their group in the backcountry near Fernie, British Columbia, Sunday. Also on Sunday, a snowmobiler died near Hart's Pass, Washington, and on Monday a 15-year-old Utah boy was killed snowmobiling in the Uinta Range. A Lake Tahoe skier is dead from a slide at Squaw Valley on Christmas Day. A Wilson, Wyoming, man perished in a slide in-bounds at Jackson Hole on Saturday. And Monday morning, with the resort closed for avalanche control work, an avalanche crashed into Jackson’s mid-mountain Couloir restaurant, causing severe damage and knocking workers about, including a patroller who was partially buried. There were no deaths or serious injuries in Monday's slide, but it was a gnarly punctuation to a hellacious week. The season total for North American avie fatalities stands at 18--and it isn't even New Year's.

Although early season slides are not uncommon, the rash of in-bounds incidents--a woman was killed in Snowbird, Utah, on December 14--is rare, and the Canadian accident is the biggest recreational tragedy since 1991, when nine skiers died in a slide at Canadian Mountain Holidays helicopter skiing operation. But this has been a year with unusually high instability in the snowpack: The intermountain west was hit with snow in early November, followed by a long stretch of cold, clear weather, which created   unconsolidated, "faceted" snow--sugary crystals that don't bond well to others. A cold November rain followed, which froze into a slick, icy layer, creating a tilted hockey rink on which subsequent storms have been sliding. The instability has been widespread, widely documented, and well communicated.

Indeed, Sunday's advisory from the Canadian Avalanche Centre said, "There have been extensive reports of both natural and human-triggered avalanches up to size 3 initiating in the recent storm snow and stepping down, in many cases pulling things out to ground. Avalanche professionals are describing the conditions as "spooky". These are large, dangerous avalanches that could easily kill a person." The hazard was labeled "considerable".

The Canadians either didn't hear the conditions or ignored them. Part of a group of 11 from the small mining town of Sparwood, they were riding in the Flathead Valley backcountry near Harvey Pass when they were beset by their avalanche nightmare. One of the sledders became mired in deep snow. Two other riders came to his rescue, but all three were caught and buried in a slide. Eight more snowmobilers came to the rescue but all 11 were covered in a second slide. Three were able to dig themselves out but before they could flee yet another avalanche fell, burying one of the men. Finally, the three escaped, made the difficult decision to head for help rather than search further, and looked back to see a fourth slide fall on the site.

Rescuers weren't able reach the buried men until Monday and then were delayed by continuing hazard. Seven bodies were found during the day, but the search for the eighth was suspended at 3:30. It's schedule to resume today. Early reports said the snowmobilers wore avalanche transceivers, but authorities later said they were SPOT satellite emergency beacons. Regardless, the riders were apparently, and sadly, more enthusiastic than experienced.

Such was not the case with Dave Nodine of Wilson, Wyoming, who was a veteran backcountry rider. Nodine was wearing a transceiver on Saturday even though he was skiing in-bounds at Jackson with no plans of going O.B.--the Tetons had received several feet of snow over Christmas and conditions were sweet within the ski area. But despite patrol's morning avie control, the dumping snow and winds created newly formed slabs. Indeed, at 1:17, a chute known as Alta 2 slid and patrol moved to close the Toilet Bowl/Paintbrush/Tower 3 area, which has a similar aspect. They didn't get there in time: At 1:25, Nodine and a friend were caught by a slide in Toilet Bowl that broke six to eight feet deep at the crown. The friend wasn't buried, but Nodine was swept under eight feet of snow. Thanks to his transceiver, ski patrol had him out in less than 10 minutes, but they were unable to save him.

 The November rain crust, deep unstable snow know as depth hoar, lots of heavy new snow on top...just when it seemed things couldn't get worse, they did: Another storm rolled through the west on Sunday, bringing more precip and dramatically warmer temps, which further destabilized the snow. As the Bridger-Teton National Forest avie forecast put it, "Dense slabs up to six feet in depth lie upon persistent weak layers of faceted snow and slick rain crusts. Strong winds and new snow will continue to load these unstable slabs. ... Large dangerous avalanches are likely to release naturally and can be triggered by the weight of a single human."

Only the lowest, easiest Jackson slopes were open yesterday morning as the patrol ran its control routes on the upper mountain. They bombed the Headwall area, which rises above the resort's new Couloir restaurant and upper gondola station, which triggered a slide in the lower half of the Headwall. They then placed a four-pound charge onto a section called White Spider and a second, larger slide released, sweeping onto the bench where Couloir sits and into the restaurant itself. Windows were blown out, chairs sent flying. No guests were on site because the mountain was closed, but 20-some workers were there. One patroller was partially buried, five other suffered scrapes and cuts.

In the aftermath, the ski patrol spent the afternoon blasting the bejesus out of the slopes, including lowering a hundred-pound bomb into Tower 3 Chute, and helicopter bombing runs are scheduled for this morning. The Tetons are seeing an aerial assault--the highway department closed Teton Pass at 8 a.m. to conduct heli-based control missions. If not unprecedented, the chopper work is sure as heck rare. And Jackson's OB gates, which provide access to the backcountry, have been closed upon request of the national forest, from which the ski area leases its land. As if anyone in their right mind would head out of bounds.

But you never know. I took a peek at the Teton Pass webcam late Monday afternoon. With nearly every slope for miles around sitting like a loaded gun, there in the summit parking lot were three backcountry boarders, either heading out or coming back.

Comments

[Quản lý Nhân sự]

It's illegal to run. If you run it during the spring, summer or fall you will get in trouble.

[beat maker]

It's called accident because it's unexpected. No one is to blame for this except that we are all grown ups and it's our responsibility to take care of ourselves.

[angry woman]

if a avalanche happened in my city i would very mad,if something happened to my city i would call the weather channel and leave a mean massagges