Inbounds Avalanche - Jackson Hole
I witnessed an in-bounds avalanche at Jackson Hole Mountain Resort today while riding the Sublette chair lift. It appeared that a group of 3-4 skiers were in the process of descending Alta 2 one by one and when the final skier was a few turns into the run the snow released. The crown of the avalanche appeared to be 2-3 feet and I would guess that it ran on the November rain crust.
The skier was carried about 100 yards downhill and managed to avoid a number of trees during the slide. It appeared that he came to a rest buried up to his waist, but mostly on top of the pile.
The lesson learned from this slide is that Alta 2 was well skied prior to the avalanche. I would guess that about 20 people skied the chute prior to the skier who set off the slide. For people who are unfamiliar with Jackson Hole Mountain Resort, Alta 3 is a steep and narrow North facing chute towards the top of the mountain.
About 45 minutes after the avalanche on Alta 2 all lifts were shut down and rumors of additional avalanches were circulating. Before the lifts closed I skied the Cirque and it appeared that cracks were propagating during my run. I immediately straight lined out of the bowl and the upper mountain soon closed. The avalanche rumors are running wild and it's safe to assume that additional avalanches happened at Jackson Hole today. The snow today was "upside down" and very heavy and slabby on the top. I am sure that we will learn more about the snow conditions on the evening avalanche report and we should all hope for the safe return of all skiers.
The skier was carried about 100 yards downhill and managed to avoid a number of trees during the slide. It appeared that he came to a rest buried up to his waist, but mostly on top of the pile.
The lesson learned from this slide is that Alta 2 was well skied prior to the avalanche. I would guess that about 20 people skied the chute prior to the skier who set off the slide. For people who are unfamiliar with Jackson Hole Mountain Resort, Alta 3 is a steep and narrow North facing chute towards the top of the mountain.
About 45 minutes after the avalanche on Alta 2 all lifts were shut down and rumors of additional avalanches were circulating. Before the lifts closed I skied the Cirque and it appeared that cracks were propagating during my run. I immediately straight lined out of the bowl and the upper mountain soon closed. The avalanche rumors are running wild and it's safe to assume that additional avalanches happened at Jackson Hole today. The snow today was "upside down" and very heavy and slabby on the top. I am sure that we will learn more about the snow conditions on the evening avalanche report and we should all hope for the safe return of all skiers.
posted by Bradley Krugh at 2:13 PM
2 Comments:
Hey,
I am the skier you described in the avalnche. Im 18 and 6' 4" and this was the first avalanche ive ever been in. I got very lucky with my height to avoid getting burried and somehow I got carried inbetween a set of 4 or 5 trees without hitting any of them.
I have had many people ask me if I had an avalanche beacon with me. Unfortunatly my response was "no" because I am from the east coast and have never even tought I would ever wittness an avalanche let alone be in one.
Unfortunatly someone told me that a skier named Dave was searching for his ski in the deep powder and was killed from suffication and a broken neck as an avalnche came crashing onto him off of Thunder Lift.
Jackson Hole got too much snow and they couldnt control it, but they wanted to open the mountain for the christmas crowds. It was a huge mistake and everyone should learn a lesson from this. Any person skiing/riding that day could have been killed like Dave and we should all take this into consideration.
-Brad
Brad - thanks for providing your insight. I can't imagine what was going on inside your head when the snow cut loose and everyone on the chair lift was very happy to see you dodge the trees and we all took a deep breath when you appeared to be okay after your unexpected ride.
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