avalanche deaths 2006-07

[stefan]

check out the avi report if you want more details on what happened

LINK to UAC accident report on snowbasin skier on 2/18



Avalanches Claim Six Lives This Weekend
February 19th, 2007 @ 5:00pm

Avalanches claimed the lives of six people in Utah and its neighboring states over the weekend. Two of the slides happened along the Wasatch Front, in Wasatch and Weber Counties. And another avalanche hit in Central Utah, which killed a snowmobiler there.

Avalanche forecasters says the danger will remain for several more days. And conditions are likely to get worse before they get better. Officers say 44-year-old Michael Pendleton from Richfield died Saturday after being buried under eight feet of snow in a slide near Signal Peak on Cove Mountain.

A 17-year-old Massachusetts boy was killed yesterday in a slide while skiing out of bounds near Snowbasin ski resort. So far, the boy's name has NOT been released. Authorities say 16-year-old Zachary Holmes from Farr West died in a slide on Saturday near Tower Mountain in Wasatch County.

A Utah man was killed in an Idaho avalanche while snowmobiling on Saturday. Deputies say 26-year-old Nicholas Gus Steinmann from Ogden died in the slide near Palisades Peak. The bodies of two snowmobilers--who were caught in an avalanche on Saturday--were found on Sunday southeast of Helena, Montana.

Search and rescue teams located two missing snowmobilers this morning. Summit Dispatch was contacted late last night that Bruce Christy and Richard Gill were lost in the Lyman Lake area of Summit County. The men were in contact with their family as well as command throughout the search. They were found around 11:00 a.m. and both men were in good condition.


In the last few days, there were at least 30 avalanches in Utah, all triggered by humans. Drew Hardesty, Utah Avalanche Center: "We have met the enemy and the enemy is us. Even though you may have all the preparations and all the rescue equipment gear, it's just that self-discipline to avoid those steep avalanche prone slopes. "

While skier deaths are declining, the death curve for snowmobilers and boarders is rising. Officials say this is due in part to access. More people have more powerful machines, meaning they can get to many different, otherwise inaccessible, areas.

To stay safe, avoid slopes steeper than 35 degrees, and ALWAYS check the avalanche forecast before you go out.


Mass. teen dies in Utah avalanche
By Associated Press


SALT LAKE CITY - The Sunday death of a 17-year-old Massachusetts skier brought Utah

[Ross]

My parents thought the kid killed near Snowbasin was me.

[gonzo]

It's time to get out of the backcountry:

http://www.avalanche.org/~uac/archiv...2_advisory.htm

11 days in a row with human triggered avalanches, with four deaths, just in Utah. I've lost count of the number of avalanches this year that only partially buried people.

If Bruce Tremper (whose book is indispensable) is staying off the steep slopes, that should be a good indication to everyone to stay off the steep slopes. It's bad out there.

[stefan]

yup, damn persistent weak layer

i agree the book is excellent. one thing i like about the book is that it's quite repetitive ... all of this information needs to be heard over and over, and with a reinforced, reiterated interconnected web from the different angles the book covers. one can never learn/understand/be reminded enough about the snow when skiing in the backcountry. unfortunately a book can only get you so far ...

folks need to be wise in the backcountry and not neglect the seriousness of the information that utah is very fortunate to be provided by the experts who make it available. on the otherhand you have ski areas like, the canyons, which by design have the effect of enticing folks to get into the backcountry because of ease of access and ease of return without hiking. they were seriously warned against the problematic placement of the lift on 9990 by avalanche experts including the cpn, but they ignored it. until they annex into the controlled region of the ski area, it's likely there will always be issues there.

i believe in having open boundary policies at ski areas, but believe it needs to be done intelligently, and CLEARLY only those who are prepared/knowledgeable should feel it reasonable to go. i am afraid we need a regular trickle of deaths to keep reminding the naive about how serious the backcountry can be at the wrong times. [but we really shouldn't!]


anyhow, i'm sure you know about them, but if you don't or for anyone else, a few useful links for all reported avalanches,accidents and photos in the wasatch and uinta mtns are ...

AVALANCHES
http://www.avalanche.org/~uac/Avalan...eList06-07.htm

ACCIDENTS
http://www.avalanche.org/~uac/Accide...dents06-07.htm

PHOTOS
http://www.avalanche.org/~uac/photos/Images06-07/


these are listed in the *SKI LINKS* sticky which ALWAYS sits as the top thread of this section, for clickability ease ...

http://uutah.com/forum/viewtopic.php?t=5220

and i'll be adding some more useful links when i get around to it

[stefan]

Big Cottonwood Canyon avalanche victim identified
The Salt Lake Tribune
Article Last Updated: 02/22/2007 12:38:28 PM MST

Posted: 10:24 AM- The body of a 37-year-old skier was recovered this morning from Big Cottonwood Canyon.
Vegard Lund, of Stavanger, Norway, apparently died Wednesday in a 400-foot-long, 100-foot-wide avalanche near the top of Gobbler's Knop, at about 10,800 feet elevation.
His would be the fourth avalanche death in Utah in less than a week.
Searchers earlier today discovered tracks running along a ridge and into a basin, then ending at a fracture and a "fairly significant slide," said Salt Lake County Sheriff's Lt. Paul Jaroscak.
That discovery was made from the air, because the danger was still too great to send people in, he said.
Avalanche control was later performed in the area, and four people were sent in on foot after searchers detected the signal from an avalanche beacon, according to Brett Kobernik, a spokesman with the Forest Service Utah Avalanche Center.
Shortly after 10 a.m., sheriff's Sgt. Todd Griffiths announced Lund's body had been found. Skiers were dispatched to retrieve the body because the wind was too strong for a helicopter fly to the site.
Lund had last been seen around 1:45 p.m. Thursday.
He and a married couple he knows took off from the Butler Fork trailhead at 9 a.m. Wednesday and split up in the afternoon. Lund said
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he was heading toward the north face of Gobbler's Knob, sheriff's Lt. Rod Norton said.
The trio was supposed to meet back at the trailhead at 4 p.m., but Lund never showed up. The couple called 911 about 6:40 p.m. The search began about 7:45 p.m. Wednesday using snowmobiles and two helicopters, the Salt Lake County Sheriff's Office reported.
High winds have prompted the Forest Service Utah Avalanche Center to request a backcountry avalanche warning for the mountains of northern and central Utah, according to the National Weather Service.
Avalanche danger is expected to rise from considerable to high on any slope with recent wind deposits steeper than 30 degrees, according to the service. A snow storm forecast for Friday means the avalanche danger will last through the weekend.

[gonzo]

...you have ski areas like, the canyons, which by design have the effect of enticing folks to get into the backcountry because of ease of access and ease of return without hiking...

You mean this sign doesn't scare people off?

That's like a lesson in reverse psychology. It just makes people (or at least me) want to do it more.

The few times I have been in the backcountry were off the 9990 lift. In fact, the ease of access into Dutch Draw is the main reason I bought a Cherry Picker pass again this year.

I'd like to think that I'm smart about going in the backcountry. I always check the Avy Report beforehand; I take a shovel and a beacon, and try not to ski alone. I also try to let plenty of "volunteer stability testers" (to use Bruce Tremper's terminology) hit the slopes before me.

[stefan]

http://www.sltrib.com/news/ci_5287043

Another skier dies in avalanche
By Russ Rizzo
The Salt Lake Tribune

Rescuers Thursday recovered the body of a 37-year-old Norwegian man who died in an avalanche in Big Cottonwood Canyon the day before. It is the fourth avalanche death in six days, and weather forecasters are warning skiers of an elevated avalanche danger through the weekend.

Vegard Lund, a former University of Utah graduate student who lived in Stavanger, Norway, was close to the top of the 10,200-foot peak of Gobblers Knob when he triggered an avalanche that swept him 400 feet into a grove of trees, said Sgt. Todd Griffiths, search and rescue coordinator for the Salt Lake County Sheriff's Office. The impact with trees likely killed Lund, Griffiths said.

Two Norwegian friends skiing with Lund
did not realize anything was wrong until Lund failed to meet them at the trailhead at 4 p.m. He had split from them to ski in a different area, Griffiths said. About an hour and a half later, with no sign of Lund, they called police.

If Lund survived the initial avalanche, there was little hope for him. Rescuers were able to spot the snow slide Wednesday night using night-vision equipment on a hospital helicopter, but the avalanche danger was too high for them to land or hike up, Griffiths said.

"There was a pair of ski tracks going in [to the snow-slide area] and none coming out," said Lt. Jon Fassett with the sheriff's office.

Rescuers from Wasatch Powderbird Guides, a private ski touring company, flew a helicopter over the area Thursday morning and detected Lund's avalanche beacon signal from above. By 10:30 a.m. members of Wasatch Backcountry Rescuers - a collection of area ski patrol guides who volunteer on their off time - and the sheriff's search and rescue team found Lund.

High winds prevented a helicopter from landing, so rescuers brought the body down on skis.

Lund studied mechanical engineering at the University of Utah from 1998 to 2000, according to the school.

Three others died in avalanches in the past week. They include:
* Zachary Holmes, 16, of Farr West, who died Saturday snowmobiling in the Tower Mountain area near Heber City in Wasatch County.

* Michael Pendleton, 44, of Richfield, who died Saturday snowmobiling near Signal Peak in Sevier County.

* Brian Schwartz, 17, of Topsfield, Mass., who died while skiing in the backcountry near Snowbasin ski resort Sunday.

During the 2004-2005 season, eight snowboarders, skiers, snowshoers and snowmobilers died, making it the deadliest ski season in Utah history since the U.S. Forest Service Utah Avalanche Center began keeping records in 1951.

The number of avalanche deaths this week easily could have been higher, said Brett Kobernik a forecaster with the Utah Avalanche Center.

"I've visited a number of close calls," said Kobernik, who visited about 10 human-triggered avalanches around Salt Lake City, Ogden and Provo this week. "We are lucky we aren't dealing with more fatalities right now."

The slope Lund apparently attempted to ski is the kind forecasters warn about, Kobernik said.

"Northeastern facing, more than 30 degrees, high elevation," Kobernik said of the northeast slope of Gobblers Knob. "This is the perfect slope if you're looking for an avalanche."

Kobernik said the avalanche was 250 feet wide and 18 inches to 2 feet deep on a 36-degree slope. It triggered other avalanches that totalled 800 feet in length, he said.

Bruce Tremper, director of the Utah Avalanche Center, said he expected more avalanches to come this weekend. Strong winds up to 50 mph, with gusts up to 80 mph, started Wednesday night and will continue through Thursday night, and a foot of snow is expected today, increasing the danger of natural and human-triggered avalanches, Tremper said.

Tremper said he worried that a sunny forecast for Saturday could mean more skiers will be willing to take risks in the backcountry. He advised skiers to stay off slopes greater than 30 degrees.

"A foot of fresh snow, sunny skies, and a high avalanche danger - that's a bad combination," Tremper said. "There's just a lot of people who aren't going to be able to resist."

[stefan]

LINK to UAC accident report on Gobblers Knob 2/21

note: 04/05 is the deadliest avalanche season in utah since 1951 (8 deaths/many close calls)

[Brian in SLC]

and apparently this is now the deadliest avalanche season in utah since 1951

Thought the 04/05 season had 8 fatalities?

-Brian in SLC

[stefan]

you know brian, i am not sure what the hell i was writing, momentary lapse of reason? ... fixed it, thanks ... yes, it was 04/05 as the deadliest, ... the year of the southwest flow craaziness, heavy snow but good skiing, lots of it ... i think my last day was july 2.


let's see what were those fatalities were in 04/05

1st ~ was at twin lakes pass, en route out of wolverine. sad part was when the partner thought he went the entire slope, only later realizing he was caught midslope in the trees
2nd ~ uinta mtns snowmobiler
3rd/4th ~ were the snowshoers in mineral fk
5th ~ was snowmobiler in choke cherry area (near mt. pleasant)
6th ~ snowboarder in ephriam cyn
7th ~ the infamous dutch draw (canyons backcountry)
8th ~ the whiskey hill (huntsville) snowmobiler

many close calls too

do you remember these snowmobilers on bountiful peak? guy is high marking and when he nears the top the whole slope goes. guy at the bottom is filming and then he realizes that it's coming for him, tries to get on his snowmobile but instantly he's buried. his partner who triggered the avi, and is not buried, then uses his beacon and no shovel to rescue him.

the camera was burried in the snow, but was later recovered by the guys(?) and some members of the uac. the footage was still intact. saw it on the news. would love to find it (any ideas?). boy, the way the slab fractures into enormous chunks, belittling the snowmobile is mind-blowing

and of course there was andy rosenberg surviving the slide on superior (crazy stuff, went to high school with that guy) the footage of that is startling.

i sincerely hope this year doesn't match that year