A party of three experienced backcountry skiers from Norway, familiar with the Wasatch terrain, set out for a day of ski touring in the Gobblers Knob/Mt. Raymond area. According to reports, the victim, seeking more challenging terrain, left his two partners at the Gobblers/Raymond divide and continued to the summit of Gobbler’s Knob with the plan to meet back at the trailhead within the hour. After waiting at the car for some time, the remaining two called 911 to initiate a search. A helicopter with personnel using night vision goggles verified tracks going into an avalanche high on the peak with none coming out. The body recovery efforts by both Salt Lake Country Search and Rescue and Wasatch Backcountry Rescue began the following morning. The three Norwegians were all wearing rescue gear and had called the avalanche forecast that morning. The Utah Avalanche Center had rated the danger as “CONSIDERABLE on slopes steeper than about 35 degrees facing northwest through northeast through southeast, where dangerous avalanches 1 to 3 feet deep can be triggered by people.” The forecaster, weary of the three previous fatalities that week, implored people to “Back off the steep stuff – if the close calls continue, someone else is going to get killed or hurt.”
The winds were too strong for a helicopter evacuation so members from Wasatch Backcountry Rescue, Wasatch Powderbird Guides, and the Salt Lake County Sheriff brought the body down Butler Fork to the Big Cottonwood highway. This was a very demanding task of bringing the body down this drainage not to mention just getting him off of the steep slope where he was found. These rescuers are highly skilled and should be commended for their actions.
The area of the avalanche is not a classic descent off the peak and it is unknown whether the skier had intended to ski it or whether he was traversing across the starting zone to gain another ridge. A descent would have taken you a few hundred feet through some trees with some wandering to avoid some sections of cliffband. The south ridge of Gobblers is a steep, often corniced ridgeline with avalanche paths falling off both to the east and the west. Descending tourers are generally forced off parts of the ridge as sections of it are rocky and knife-edged. In the big picture, ridges are known to be areas of safety unless A: the ridge becomes steep and rounded, becoming in essence, terrain capable of producing a slide; or B: the terrain forces you off the ridge into a starting zone. Under certain circumstances, it may be warranted to remove skis or board and boot up or down through these features.
A view of where the victim was found. Not the easiest place to extricate a victim.
Avalanche Data:
The avalanche would be classified as a HS-AS-R4D2-O, a hard slab avalanche artificially (and unintentionally) triggered by a skier. The slope angle ranged from 35-40 degrees, with an average of 37 degrees. The crown depth ranged from 18” at the trigger point to 24” along the eastern end of the fracture line. The slide measured 250’ wide, running over 600’ vertical down the slope. The victim was found in some trees a third of the way down the slope, with trauma being the cause of death. The ‘one-finger hard’ wind slab failed on very weak, cohesionless 3-4mm depth hoar in an area with a total depth of snow of 36-40”. Of interest is the initial slide sympathetically triggered another slide with similar snowpack structure off to skier’s right, pulling out 2’ deep and 100’ wide. This slide stepped down to some older buried intact surface hoar, formed earlier in the month.
Weather and Avalanche History:
Early season drought produced one of the thinnest and weakest snowpacks in years. 17” of snow with moderate winds warranted an Avalanche Warning with a HIGH danger on February 11th and 12th, with the danger remaining at Considerable or higher through the day of the incident. Another storm on the 19th brought 13” of snow with moderate to strong southwesterly winds, resulting in another localized natural cycle and a number of close calls. Since the 11th, the Utah Avalanche Center heard about 25 unintentionally triggered avalanches with nearly half of those catching and carrying people down the slope. Many of the run-ins were with individuals oblivious to the dangers of avalanches while others were with some who have been highly trained or had years of experience.
Large grain faceted snow was the weak layer for the most part.
The avalanche occurred on a northeast aspect of Gobblers Know which drains into Butler Fork. The avalanche indicated by red is the one that killed the victim. The avalanche on the right was triggered with explosives so that rescuers could initiate the body recovery.
You can see where the victim was traveling along the ridge. The ski cut he placed here was a risky move however he did not cause the avalanche shown.
This is a view down the slope that caught him. Northeast facing with an average slope angle of 36 degrees at just below 10,000’. You could not pick a riper slope for an avalanche. He was caught in the trees below as the rest of the avalanche and some of his gear continued down slope.
As the avalanche came over this breakover it released another slab. The weakness at the step down was buried surface hoar and facets.
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