According to the US Forest Service, a skier was killed in an avalanche Saturday, December 11, in Silver Basin, a closed area of Crystal Mountain, Washington, that ski patrol had not mitigated for avalanche hazard. Six skiers from the same party were caught in the slide. The Pierce County Medical Examiner’s Office has identified the deceased as Robert “Bob” Weisel, 66, of Issaquah, Washington. This is the U.S.’s first avalanche fatality of the 2021/22 season.
After a long dry spell that has plagued much of the continental United States this winter, Crystal Mountain reported receiving 12 inches of snow in 24 hours with winds up to 100 mph at the summit Saturday. The Friday evening advisory rated the avalanche hazard as considerable near and above tree line. “Look for storm slabs to develop on Saturday at all elevation bands as the West South is targeted by a potent winter storm,” it warned. It reported of the newly forming storm slab, which was resting atop another recent storm layer and a crust from late November. They advised those entering the backcountry to “choose conservative terrain and realize that early season conditions still exist.”
Silver Basin, where the fatality occurred, is a north- through east-facing slope at approximately 6,500 feet that is marked as a black diamond when open. According to a preliminary report, the six individuals were traveling uphill when they triggered a large avalanche. Another party of two in the area that witnessed the avalanche reported it to Crystal Mountain Ski Patrol at 10:50 a.m. and assisted in the rescue. Four skiers were partially or fully buried, three of whom were successfully recovered. The fourth skier was found unconscious and did not respond to resuscitation efforts. All skiers involved were carrying avalanche equipment and several had taken a recent avalanche course.
A statement from Crystal Mountain following the fatality read, “As snow continues to fall, Crystal Mountain Ski Patrol reminds backcountry skiers to research uphill travel policies and check the avalanche forecasts before heading into the backcountry.”
A heli-ski avalanche near Matanuska Glacier killed a Fairbanks woman who was heli-skiing on Saturday. It was witnessed by four others in the group.
Erin Lee, 40, was rescued and taken to Mat-Su Regional Hospital and pronounced dead.
She was part of a group heli-skiing about 7½ miles from the Glenn Highway east of the Matanuska Glacier, said Austin McDaniel, a spokesman for the Alaska state troopers. It wasn’t immediately clear which mountain the avalanche occurred on. Troopers have not visited the exact site. McDaniel also noted that another group was heli-skiing in the same area Saturday.
Group was from Majestic Heli Ski
Lee was one of four guests in the Majestic Heli Ski group led by one guide that afternoon.
Majestic Heli Ski is based near Mile 115 of the Glenn Highway. Which is about halfway between Palmer and Glennallen. Majestic Heli Ski offers packages that include heli-skiing in the Chugach and Talkeetna mountains. Majestic Heli Ski has not made any statements about the heli-ski avalanche near Matanuska Glacier.
Two clients and a guide were at the bottom after finishing a run. Lee began skiing and an avalanche was triggered. One other skier was still at the top. All four watched the slide bury Lee. No other skiers were caught in the avalanche and there were no other injuries, according to McDaniel.
Group had safety gear
Lee was equipped with avalanche safety gear. Including an avalanche beacon, rescue probe, shovel, harness and avalanche airbag system. She did not deploy the avalanche airbag system during the avalanche.
The other skiers in the group were also equipped with safety gear, and the guide had communication equipment. According to the company’s website, Majestic Heli Ski clients receive training about hazards and also how to use the safety gear.
“It sounds like the witnesses, including the guide, were able to see what happened and they were able to go right to the area and use the beacon technology,” McDaniel said.
Lee was recovered from the heli-ski avalanche near Matanuska Glacier by the group. Then flown to the hospital in the Majestic Heli Ski helicopter. It was not clear exactly how long Lee may have been buried. McDaniel said about an hour passed from the time of the avalanche until the time Lee reached the hospital.
It’s not clear what triggered Saturday’s heli-ski avalanche near Matanuska Glacier. McDaniel said there is not currently a plan to investigate that.
“The availability of having witnesses see what happened is key in us making the decision on trying to track down an avalanche specialist to go out there and determine a little bit more closely what had happened,” McDaniel said.
Closest danger forecast was Considerable
The area where this happened is outside the direct forecast zones for the Hatcher Pass and Chugach National Forest avalanche centers. There was a forecast from the Hatcher Pass Avalanche Center, about 60 miles west. It rated the avalanche danger there on Saturday as considerable at all elevations.
New snow fell in much of the Matanuska-Susitna Borough last week. That caused some instability for avalanche conditions in the Hatcher Pass area. Numerous natural, human and remotely triggered avalanches were reported Friday. One crossed and closed a road, the avalanche center wrote.
Guides at Majestic Heli Ski “continuously gather data and evidence, take field observations, perform snowpack tests, monitor weather conditions and evaluate and forecast the snow stability and the avalanche hazard,” according to their website.
Avalanche deaths not a common occurrence, says State Trooper
All backcountry recreating has risks, McDaniel said But avalanche deaths are a less common occurrence. Lee was the fourth person in Alaska to die in an avalanche this season. In early February, three climbers died in an avalanche on a steep and challenging route of Bear Mountain near Chugiak.
Five men also died heli-skiing Saturday when their helicopter crashed above the Knik Glacier in the Chugach Mountains southeast of Palmer. One man who survived the crash remains in serious condition. That group consisted of the pilot, three guests and two guides from Tordrillo Mountain Lodge.
McDaniel said he and other officials with the state troopers could not recall any deaths other than the six Saturday that were related to heli-skiing in recent years. A Southeast Alaska Backcountry Skiing Adventures heli-ski guide was buried in an avalanche near Haines in 2014. He eventually died, following the death of another guide from the same company on a Haines-area heli-ski trip in 2013. An avalanche near Haines killed an Alaska Heliskiing company guide and a snowboarder in 2012.
A Heli-ski avalanche near Matanuska Glacier killed a skier from Fairbanks
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.
“The balloon worked – it kept him up above. If someone would have seen it, he probably would have survived it, because they would have dug him out” said Lincoln County Coroner Dain Schwab.
When the other snowmobilers did recover him he lacked a pulse, was blue in the face, and wasn’t breathing. The man who found Jones suspected he had broken his neck. Schwab ordered a CT scan to see if this was a factor in the death. CPR was not administered, according to the coroner, who visited the scene the night of the accident.
“It was actually pretty dangerous just digging him out of there,” Schwab said. “We were up on the hillside under cornices that were unbroken.”
First Wyoming Fatality, in the Salt River Range
Jones and his group were snowmobiling in the Sheep Pass area, southeast of Afton at the far southern end of the Salt River Range. The slide occurred at nearly 10,000 feet on an eastern aspect.
The fatality marks the first lethal avalanche of the winter in Northwest Wyoming.
The Bridger-Teton Avalanche Center Director visited the site on Sunday to investigate. He determined the avalanche ran over the crusted snowpack that baked in the sun during the dry spell in late November and early December.
“We dug a snow pit near the site yesterday, and we feel confident that this was all the new snow that has fallen since Dec. 11,” he said. “The avalanche conditions are still dangerous up there. People should be careful.”
The avalanche danger on Monday morning was still deemed “considerable” at high elevations in the Salt and Wyoming ranges, according to the morning forecast.
Jones had a wife, Mary, and three kids, Blayde, Ebony and Slayde, according to a Facebook post by the Elko business Evolution Powersports. A funeral service has been scheduled for 11 a.m. Wednesday in Malad, Idaho.
As of December 22 this is one of 3 fatal incidents listed by the Avalanche Center, along with 3 others outside the US. There is also a link to the avalanche advisory for the day there.
The yellow symbol marks the site of the fatal Wyoming avalanche on Friday.
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.
GUNNISON COUNTY, Colo. — A solo backcountry skier died in an avalanche in the Gunnison area on Friday.
The man was skiing on the northeast end of the Anthracite Range when he was buried in an avalanche. The area is known locally as “friendly finish”.
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.
Victim Identified as Ski Patroller Jeff Schneider
Crested Butte Ski Patrol identified the ski patroller buried by an avalanche as Jeff Schneider in a Facebook post.
“Jeff was a bastion of kindness, knowledge, hard work, wit, and humor,” the post read. “A legendary Ski Patroller in Crested Butte, and Aspen before that, adventure had no better emissary. We wish you well on the last leg of the ultimate adventure. Rest peacefully, and may you make many, many turns, each one better than the last.”
Before descending, the victim spoke with two other skiers who were also traveling in the area. When the other two skiers finished their descent they found the victim’s snowmobile parked, and there was no sign of him. The skiers then snowmobiled to a position where they could see the slope that the victim planned to descend and saw a fresh avalanche. They then located the victim with a transceiver and recovered his body.
This was the first US avalanche-related death of the season. The only other incident this season was on Dec. 15, when a snowboarder was caught in an avalanche on Snodgrass Mountain and was injured.
Last season, there were six avalanche-related deaths, according to CAIC.
The avalanche where a ski patroller was buried in an avalanche on December 17.
This was the first fatality of the season in the US and the second in North America, according to this list.
