Two skiers triggered the larger slide, a slab avalanche on a slope in the Tower 3/Toilet Bowl area that was previously skied and received avalanche reduction activity from the Jackson Hole Ski Patrol. The slide buried the two victims, including one unidentified 31-year old Jackson-area local who was found under seven feet of debris. He was pronounced dead despite being buried for only approximately ten minutes before being located by the Jackson Hole Ski Patrol using transceivers and probes. The other skier was swept up in the debris but rescued after he was buried only up to his neck.
Unstable layers deep in the snowpack have precipitated large avalanches across the western U.S., such as this slide on East Baldy at Utah's Alta Ski Area on Saturday. |
Jackson Hole Mountain Resort had reported three feet of new snowfall in the 72 hours leading up to Saturday's avalanches. Overall, the Teton Range has received five feet of new snow over the past week. The Bridger-Teton National Forest Avalanche Center on Saturday reported summit winds gusting from the southwest to 50 miles per hour and had forecast avalanche conditions as "considerable," which means that human-triggered avalanches are probable and natural releases possible. The Center had discouraged backcountry travel on Saturday.
There have been a rash of in-bounds ski area avalanches this month across the West, where a deep layer of faceted snow has left the snowpack highly unstable. On Friday, 21-year old Randall C. Davis of Tahoe City, Calif. was killed by a slide in the Red Dog area of Squaw Valley in northern California. On Dec. 14, 27-year old Heather Gross of Salt Lake City died in an in-bounds slide at Snowbird Ski & Summer Resort in Utah. That same day, an in-bounds slide in Blue Sky Basin at Colorado's Vail Mountain partially buried a skier, who was uninjured. In-bounds avalanches have also been reported this week at Telluride, Colo., where a third slide on Saturday in Genevieve buried a telemark skier up to his shoulders, as well as two others. No serious injuries were reported.
