Accident: Hells Canyon 1/1/2005

Observer Name:

UAC Staff

Observation Date:

01/01/2005

Occurrence Date:

01/01/2005

Occurrence Time:

Unknown

Region:

Ogden
Snowbasin Backcountry
Hells Canyon

Location

41° 12' 44.4384" N, 111° 52' 44.9184" W

Avalanche Characteristics

Elevation:

8600'

Aspect:

Northeast

Trigger:

Skier

Trigger: additional info:

Unintentionally Triggered

Avalanche Type:

Soft Slab

Weak Layer:

Density Change

Depth (avg):

12"

Width:

100'

Vertical:

1500'

People Involved

Caught:

Carried:

Partly Buried:

Injured:

Accident & Rescue Info

Accident & Rescue Summary:

Accident Summary:

A group of five out-of-bounds skiers from Snowbasin Ski Area (Preston, Brad, Allen, Tanner, & Jeremy), left the ski area boundary and went into Hell’s Canyon, a very steep, rugged, and uncontrolled area just north of Snowbasin Ski Area. They triggered an avalanche, 100 feet wide, one foot deep, that carried Allen, Preston, Jeremy and Brad. Allen was able to ski onto a sub ridge and get behind a tree. Preston, Jeremy and Brad go for a ride down a narrow chute named "Lust" which is about 1500 vertical feet into the gully below. The starting zone was 42 degrees. It partially buried Jeremy, Preston, and Brad who was able to extricate himself. Preston had what appeared to be serious injuries. After Brad dug himself out he partially digs out Jeremy then Preston. At 9:57 a.m. Jeremy calls 911. Allen and Tanner wait approximately 5 to 10 minutes and then descend. On their way down, Tanner was caught by another small slide and was able to grab a tree after being carried 15 feet. A random ski in the debris hit him. When Tanner and Allen arrive at the burial site, Brad and Jeremy are working on digging out Preston. All of them dig by hand trading off two pairs of gloves as all the other gloves were lost in the slide. At this point, Jeremy is in contact with Snowbasin Dispatch via cell phone. At about 10:30 a.m. Tanner spots a powder cloud coming down an adjacent chute named "Gluttony". This slide was triggered by another party from above. All four of them grab Preston and drag him out of the path and begind a small sub-ridge just as the third slide comes by, burying their previous location with another 6 feet of depostion. Tanner then leaves the group and goes to dispatch. The debris from all of the slides was 30-40 feet wide, up to 20 feet deep, and filled the gully at least 600 feet in distance. All of the terrain in the area funnels into the same runout zone (the gully).

Rescue Summary:

None of the party had rescue gear (such as beacons, shovels and probes) so they were very lucky to not be completely buried. Ski patrollers from Snowbasin Ski Area responded to the accident and called in a medical helicopter, which airlifted Preston to the hospital. The rescuers also found the random ski that hit Tanner, which did not seem to belong to any of the victims, so they performed a beacon search on the debris along with avalanche rescue dogs and did a course probe of the area. Since it was a very dangerous area for additional avalanches, they decided to pull all the rescuers out of the area and see if anyone turned up missing. If so, they would perform avalanche control on the hanging hazard and send in a larger rescue crew.

Terrain Summary:

Hell’s Canyon, a backcountry, out-of-bounds area just north of Snowbasin ski area, Utah

Weather & Avalanche History:

Snowpack Details:

A rain crust formed on December 10th that acted as the bed surface for all of the slides. A light density snow storm deposited 2-4” of very light snow on December 22nd which acted as the weak layer. The next snow storm consisted of heavier density snow which formed the slab on top of the previous storm’s light density snow. CT15, Q2 shears were still present three days later after the accident.

Weather History:

Most of Utah had been hit by a series of snow storms for the previous few days with very strong south and southwesterly winds and several feet of new snow. The Forest Service Utah Avalanche Center had an avalanche warning in effect for most of the mountains of Utah with a Considerable to High avalanche danger, depending on the type of terrain.

Avalanche Advisory: 1-1-05

General Comments

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General Comments 2

Media Reports

Skiers cause slide

Five ignore warnings, survive avalanche behind Snowbasin

Sun, Jan 2, 2005

By JANAE FRANCIS
Standard-Examiner staff
jfrancis@standard.net

SNOWBASIN -- Five skiers were lucky to make their way out of the backcountry behind Snowbasin Ski Area Saturday after two of them triggered an avalanche and all of them were swept up in the moving snow.

Weber County Sheriff's Lt. Merv Taylor said two groups were skiing at 10 a.m. in the area called Hell's Canyon, which is out of bounds behind Snowbasin, when the avalanche occurred.

The five skiers involved in Saturday's avalanche are all believed to be Davis County residents. The two groups were not skiing together, Taylor said.

The two skiers who triggered the avalanche received injuries that needed treatment.

One was taken by helicopter to LDS Hospital to treat a broken femur. The other person received an injury to the arm.

Recovery operations continued throughout the day even after these skiers were found to be safe because searchers found an extra ski for which no one had an accounting.

Search dogs were flown into the area by helicopter and all possible resources from Snowbasin were called in, Taylor said, to search for a possible skier buried under the snow.

No signs of another skier were found before the search was called off in the late afternoon.

Taylor said all of the skiers had skied to the area despite warnings of avalanche danger at the resort. Such warnings also were published in area newspapers and broadcast on local television stations.

"We've had a lot of good weather, a foot of new snow. We've had heat, cold and wind," Taylor said. "The avalanche potential was high, and they were out of bounds."

Taylor hopes the incident will remind people to stay out of the backcountry. "It's too dangerous," he said.

A statement issued by avalanche forecasters for the U.S. Forest Service said that several days of strong winds and snowfall have created considerable to high avalanche risk, especially for steep slopes with recent wind drifts.

The warning was centered around backcountry areas that do not receive grooming by ski areas.

Alex Tardy, a meteorologist with the National Weather Service/Colorado Basin River Forecast Center, said large quantities of snowfall, windfall that causes areas to load up with snow, different snow types and changes in temperatures combine to create conditions in which avalanches are more likely to occur.

He said in the past three or four days, higher elevations along the Wasatch Front have experienced 2 to 4 feet of snow. "It's not a day to really do backcountry skiing," he said. "It's a Catch-22 because the conditions really are tempting."

Article Last Updated: 1/02/2005 05:17 AM

Avalanche sweeps over skiers

Davis County man is dug out of snow in one of seven slides

By Lisa Rosetta
The Salt Lake Tribune
Salt Lake Tribune

A Davis County man was airlifted to LDS Hospital on Saturday morning after an avalanche partly buried him in Hells Canyon near the Snowbasin Ski Resort.
   It was one of seven slides since Friday along the Wasatch Front, where days of heavy snow have raised the danger level and prompted a warning from the U.S. Forest Service Utah Avalanche Center.
   Preston Neiderhauser, 26, was downhill skiing from the peak of John Paul with four other people when they triggered an avalanche in the out-of-bounds area at about 9:45 a.m. The avalanche plowed into Neiderhauser, who survived with cuts and bruises, and swept up two other skiers who were not seriously injured.
   "It was an unreal experience," Neiderhauser said in a telephone interview from his hospital room. "I was very aware and coherent as I was knocked down. . . . I definitely had the thought, 'It would be a miracle if I survived.' "
   He said he knew to swim in an avalanche, and he tried to keep his mouth uncovered. When the slide stopped, the other skiers found Neiderhauser, who was not carrying an avalanche beacon or shovel, and dug him the rest of the way out.
   A helicopter landed at the site - about a half mile from the Snowbasin parking lot - and took Neiderhauser to LDS Hospital, then returned to ferry in Snowbasin searchers and three dogs, said Weber County sheriff's Lt. Merv Taylor.
   A single ski found at the site had prompted concern that someone might be buried in the avalanche. The search team scoured the area until about 4 p.m. but found nothing. The team waited for the ski resort parking lot to empty out and made sure no cars were left. If one had been left, a search would have been launched today.
   After the first avalanche, a pair of skiers triggered two more in Hells Canyon, but no one was hurt, Taylor said.
   The U.S. Forest Service Utah Avalanche Center had issued a New Year's Day avalanche warning for the mountains in extreme southeast Idaho and northern Utah.
   On New Year's Eve, backcountry skiers triggered four avalanches in the Ogden area mountains, according to the Avalanche Center's Web site. No one was injured, but one person was carried about 100 feet.
   Heavy snowfall and high winds throughout the week have created "considerable" to "high" avalanche danger in the northern Utah mountains, the Avalanche Center reports. Those without good backcountry avalanche skills are advised to avoid avalanche terrain.
   The conditions are similar to those last month when four people were killed in avalanches over two days.
   Bruce Quint, 59, Melvin Denis, 32, and Troy Tolbert, 42, were killed Dec. 11. Quint and Denis were backcountry skiing in Big Cottonwood Canyon when they were buried, and Tolbert was snowmobiling in the Trout Creek area near Strawberry Reservoir in Wasatch County.
   One day before, Zachary Eastman, 23, also died while backcountry skiing in Big Cottonwood Canyon.
    lrosetta@sltrib.com

   Avalanche danger

    Winter storm conditions will continue to create avalanche danger in the Wasatch backcountry. Today's National Weather Service forecast calls for a 50 percent chance of snow in the afternoon, with highs in the uppers 30s and low 40s. Monday is forecast to be breezy and cloudy, with a 50 percent chance of snow and highs around 40 degrees.
   Avalanche safety tips

    The USDA Forest Service Utah Avalanche Center Web site at http://www.avalanche.org/~uac/ contains a wealth of information about avalanches. Here are some tips culled from that site:

   Backcountry travel tips

   l Venture onto slopes one at a time, leaving someone in a safe spot to do the rescue. Split large groups and stay in visual and voice contact.

   l Plan an escape route. What will you do if you trigger an avalanche?

   l Use slope cuts. Keep up your speed and cut across the starting zone, so that if you do trigger an avalanche, momentum can carry you off the moving slab into safer terrain.

   l Watch for cornices and give them a wide berth. Never walk to the edge of a drop-off without first checking it out.

   l Look for alternatives: Follow ridges, thick trees and slopes with safer consequences. You can almost always go back the way you came.

   l If there's no other choice, go underground. You can almost always weather a bad storm or bad avalanche conditions by digging a snow cave in a protected area. You may be uncomfortable, but you will be alive.

   Coping with an avalanche

   l If you trigger an avalanche, try to get off the slab. If you are on skis or a snowboard, try heading straight downhill to build speed, then angle off to the side of the moving slab. If you're close enough to the crown, you can try running uphill to get off the slab, or running off to the side. If you're ascending when the avalanche breaks, there's not much you can do.

   l If you're on a snowmobile you have the advantage of power. Grab some throttle and if you're headed uphill, continue uphill. If you're headed across the slope, continue to the side to safe snow. If you're headed downhill, your only hope is to try to outrun the avalanche. Remember that large avalanches travel 60 to 80 mph and are difficult to outrun.

   l If you can't escape the slab, try grabbing a tree. But do it fast; avalanches quickly pick up speed.

   l If you can't escape the slab or grab a tree, swim hard. A human body is about three times more dense than avalanche debris and tends to sink unless it's swimming hard.

   l As the avalanche finally slows and just before it comes to rest, try to clear an air space in front of your mouth. This helps delay the buildup of carbon dioxide, which allows you to live longer under the snow.

   l Push a hand upward. Visual clues allow your friends to find you faster. You may not know which way is up, but take your best guess.

   l After the avalanche comes to a stop, the debris will instantly set up like concrete. Unless you are very near the surface or have a hand sticking up out of the snow, it's almost impossible to dig yourself out of an avalanche.

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