3 skiers were killed in an avalanche in the backcountry near Stevens Pass, WA. Rumor on Facebook is that all were Stevens Pass employees. A snowboarder was also killed today in the Alpental backcountry. Sad day in the Cascades. My thoughts go out to their families.
http://usnews.msnbc....g-accounted-for
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3 killed in Stevens Pass Avalanche
Started by Peter, Feb 19 2012 05:21 PM
3 replies to this topic
#1
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#2
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Posted 19 February 2012 - 08:36 PM
According to ESPN, the victims are:
Stevens Pass Director of Marketing Chris Rudolph
Freeskiing World Tour head judge Jim Jack
John Brenan
all residents of Leavenworth, Wash
Stevens Pass Director of Marketing Chris Rudolph
Freeskiing World Tour head judge Jim Jack
John Brenan
all residents of Leavenworth, Wash
- Peter<br />
Liftblog.com
Liftblog.com
#3
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Posted 23 February 2012 - 08:35 AM
I thought it might be interesting to add some more information about this incident for those not familiar with this region.
Weather Patterns
The Washington Cascade Range can see some truly epic snowfalls, due to the lower elevation at this site and changing jet stream it also sees extreme temperature changes – these all lead to pack instability.
General Terrain
The terrain along the highway is steep, is quite prone to avalanches, and has an active control system much like Colorado and Utah highway departments. Here is a map of the highway with the avalanche runouts in red. The blue box shows the area that the now “back-country” (as skier mentioned in his first post) skiers entered.
WADOT.jpg (74.17K)
Number of downloads: 26
Mistaken Names
The media has intertwined the names of the highway (Stevens Pass Highway) with the ski area (Stevens Pass Ski Area) which can be even more confused with the actual Stevens Pass that the highway crosses.
Tunnel Creek drainage has been mentioned as to where this incident happened, but perhaps a better placement name would be the South Side of Cowboy Mountain or the south side of Cowboy Ridge…well I guess it all flows into Tunnel Creek but it does help to show the location – the blue area is the ski area, notice this could be considered the “backside” of this ski area hence the media headlines of…Avalanche at Stevens Pass.
Maps
It’s quite steep as the contour lines show, and also quite enticing with close to 2000 vertical feet of fall-line skiing with the nearby highway that can be used as return access.
T-creek-contours.jpg (66.25K)
Number of downloads: 31
Here is a terrain map showing the wide starting zones at the top of the ridge along with the well defined tree-less slide paths that countless avalanches have created.
Tunnel-crk-outline.jpg (76.43K)
Number of downloads: 25
2010 - Same Slope, Same mistakes, Same Results -
Sadly one doesn’t have to look very far for a similar incident on the South Side of Cowboy Mountain - this happened in March 2010. The fatality report was done by Patty Morrison of Stevens Pass Snow Safety and Mark Moore of Northwest Weather and Avalanche Center.
Picture from the 2010 report
Diff-death.jpg (73.73K)
Number of downloads: 13
2010 PDF
Tunnel Creek Avalanche Accident.pdf (1.42MB)
Number of downloads: 1
Northwest Weather and Avalanche Center: http://www.nwac.us/about/
Powder Magazine 2012
Powder did a nice write-up of the incident – here are the excerpts that eerily parallel the 2010 incident.
… skiers successfully descended the upper bowl and moved into what they felt was a safe area in the trees.
…fracture started about 30 feet wide and propagated across the slope, leaving a crown two to three feet deep.
… attempted CPR for approximately 30 minutes, but was unsuccessful in resuscitating him.
…Stevens Pass reported 14 inches of new snow overnight, and 26 inches in the last 24 hours.
…they had read the warming weather report…the consensus was that they could manage the hazard...
PM link: http://www.powdermag...ki-world-again/
Washington Department of Transportation photo set of the highway with different slide paths: http://www.flickrive...57603870041593/
http://www.wsdot.wa....nance/avalanche
Mark Moore of Northwest Weather and Avalanche Center has put together some common themes of avalanche deaths – it’s a good read if you want to stay alive.
Common Themes PDF
Common_Themes.pdf (187.74K)
Number of downloads: 7
Weather Patterns
The Washington Cascade Range can see some truly epic snowfalls, due to the lower elevation at this site and changing jet stream it also sees extreme temperature changes – these all lead to pack instability.
General Terrain
The terrain along the highway is steep, is quite prone to avalanches, and has an active control system much like Colorado and Utah highway departments. Here is a map of the highway with the avalanche runouts in red. The blue box shows the area that the now “back-country” (as skier mentioned in his first post) skiers entered.
WADOT.jpg (74.17K)
Number of downloads: 26
Mistaken Names
The media has intertwined the names of the highway (Stevens Pass Highway) with the ski area (Stevens Pass Ski Area) which can be even more confused with the actual Stevens Pass that the highway crosses.
Tunnel Creek drainage has been mentioned as to where this incident happened, but perhaps a better placement name would be the South Side of Cowboy Mountain or the south side of Cowboy Ridge…well I guess it all flows into Tunnel Creek but it does help to show the location – the blue area is the ski area, notice this could be considered the “backside” of this ski area hence the media headlines of…Avalanche at Stevens Pass.
Maps
It’s quite steep as the contour lines show, and also quite enticing with close to 2000 vertical feet of fall-line skiing with the nearby highway that can be used as return access.
T-creek-contours.jpg (66.25K)
Number of downloads: 31
Here is a terrain map showing the wide starting zones at the top of the ridge along with the well defined tree-less slide paths that countless avalanches have created.
Tunnel-crk-outline.jpg (76.43K)
Number of downloads: 25
2010 - Same Slope, Same mistakes, Same Results -
Sadly one doesn’t have to look very far for a similar incident on the South Side of Cowboy Mountain - this happened in March 2010. The fatality report was done by Patty Morrison of Stevens Pass Snow Safety and Mark Moore of Northwest Weather and Avalanche Center.
Picture from the 2010 report
Diff-death.jpg (73.73K)
Number of downloads: 13
2010 PDF
Tunnel Creek Avalanche Accident.pdf (1.42MB)
Number of downloads: 1
Northwest Weather and Avalanche Center: http://www.nwac.us/about/
Powder Magazine 2012
Powder did a nice write-up of the incident – here are the excerpts that eerily parallel the 2010 incident.
… skiers successfully descended the upper bowl and moved into what they felt was a safe area in the trees.
…fracture started about 30 feet wide and propagated across the slope, leaving a crown two to three feet deep.
… attempted CPR for approximately 30 minutes, but was unsuccessful in resuscitating him.
…Stevens Pass reported 14 inches of new snow overnight, and 26 inches in the last 24 hours.
…they had read the warming weather report…the consensus was that they could manage the hazard...
PM link: http://www.powdermag...ki-world-again/
Washington Department of Transportation photo set of the highway with different slide paths: http://www.flickrive...57603870041593/
http://www.wsdot.wa....nance/avalanche
Mark Moore of Northwest Weather and Avalanche Center has put together some common themes of avalanche deaths – it’s a good read if you want to stay alive.
Common Themes PDF
Common_Themes.pdf (187.74K)
Number of downloads: 7
www.ropetech.org
#4
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Posted 23 February 2012 - 06:08 PM
One today by the Canyons. :(
PARK CITY — One man was killed in an avalanche Thursday in Dutch Canyon near the Canyons Ski Resort.
The man was buried in the slide about 3 p.m. in an out- of-bounds area near the resort. He was located by rescue crews under about 3 feet of snow and flown by medical helicopter to an area hospital, where he later died, Summit County Sheriff's Sgt. Ron Bridge said.
The identity of the man has not yet been released, pending notification of family.
No one else was injured in the slide.
The man was snowboarding with a group of friends and was the first to travel down the mountain, Bridge said.
"His group of friends were able to observe exactly what happened," he said. "That's how we were able to determine there was only one individual in the slide."
Bridge called the area "extremely unstable." Rescue crews were unable to reach the man by snowmobile and had to ski down from the top of the mountain.
The avalanche occurred in the same area where a massive slide killed 27-year-old Shane Maxiner, of Sandpoint, Idaho, in 2005. That avalanche was estimated at 16 acres and 30 feet deep in some spots.
Thursday's slide was much smaller, estimated at 15 feet wide at the top of the mountain and about 40 yards at the bottom, Bridge said. The slide traveled roughly 300 yards down the mountainside, he said.
The area is an out-of-bounds bowl off the Ninety Nine 90 chair lift at the Canyons.
PARK CITY — One man was killed in an avalanche Thursday in Dutch Canyon near the Canyons Ski Resort.
The man was buried in the slide about 3 p.m. in an out- of-bounds area near the resort. He was located by rescue crews under about 3 feet of snow and flown by medical helicopter to an area hospital, where he later died, Summit County Sheriff's Sgt. Ron Bridge said.
The identity of the man has not yet been released, pending notification of family.
No one else was injured in the slide.
The man was snowboarding with a group of friends and was the first to travel down the mountain, Bridge said.
"His group of friends were able to observe exactly what happened," he said. "That's how we were able to determine there was only one individual in the slide."
Bridge called the area "extremely unstable." Rescue crews were unable to reach the man by snowmobile and had to ski down from the top of the mountain.
The avalanche occurred in the same area where a massive slide killed 27-year-old Shane Maxiner, of Sandpoint, Idaho, in 2005. That avalanche was estimated at 16 acres and 30 feet deep in some spots.
Thursday's slide was much smaller, estimated at 15 feet wide at the top of the mountain and about 40 yards at the bottom, Bridge said. The slide traveled roughly 300 yards down the mountainside, he said.
The area is an out-of-bounds bowl off the Ninety Nine 90 chair lift at the Canyons.
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