An avalanche in New York caused by a Christmas Day storm has damaged a ski resort in the Catskill Mountains.
The storm brought high winds and more than 6 inches (15 cm) of rain to the Belleayre Mountain Ski Center.
The ski resort is cleaning up on Christmas after an avalanche in New York smashed into a lodge. The avalanche caused some serious damage.
A final report on a fatal skier triggered avalanche that killed two Durango backcountry skiers last weekend says it appears the skiers likely triggered the slide while climbing up an avalanche path.
The skier triggered avalanche occurred on a steep slope above tree line. “They went on a day that wasn’t a good day to be there,” the official report said. Other skiers in the area that day were interviewed. They mostly stayed in lower angle areas and in the trees. They noted the dangerous conditions on the higher, steeper and open slopes.
An Elko, Nevada, snowmobiler died in a Wyoming avalanche on Friday. It is estimated that he was buried inverted under the snow for about 15 minutes.
Brandon Jones, 41, was snowmobiling away from his party late on Dec. 18 on “Suicide Mountain”. He triggered a medium-sized avalanche 24" deep. He was able to deploy an airbag, which kept him near the snow surface with a leg sticking out.
A ski patroller buried by an avalanche was on the northeast end of the Anthracite Range, known as Friendly Finish, in the Gunnison area. He was touring alone in the backcountry at the time.
The avalanche occurred on a northeast-facing slope and the avalanche risk was rated as "considerable," or 3 out of 5. The slide took place at about 10,500 feet.
An avalanche swept a snowboarder into a tree on Tuesday afternoon. It happened on Snodgrass Mountain near Crested Butte. The snowboarder was on a split board.
While there have been several media worthy avalanche accidents already this season the official fatality list shows none in the US so far.
Avalanche risk is already present in Colorado despite the lack of early season snow. According to a user-submitted report to the Colorado Avalanche Center a skier was caught in a human-caused avalanche burial on Monday near Marble, Colorado.
Nearly 40% of the people caught in an avalanche last season had taken a traditional style formal Level 1 avalanche class. About 70% had intermediate or advanced avalanche training. This mirrors previous research.
The extreme avalanche situation in East Tyrol was made clear by an avalanche on Saturday evening in Prägraten am Großvenediger. Four houses and one vehicle were damaged. People were not injured. There were other snow avalanches with individual damaged buildings.
An avalanche accident killed one skier in Switzerland. Authorities in the Swiss canton of Nidwalden said one off-piste skier among a group of five people was killed after getting caught in an avalanche Monday in the Titlis area, south of Lucerne. Rescue teams were not able to resuscitate the 23-year-old Swiss citizen after he was rescued.
Around 280 were buried under the snow due to an avalanche in the Parbati valley on Saturday. About 70 were saved.
