Accident: Spring Hollow 2/19/2011

Observation Date:

02/19/2011

Occurrence Date:

02/19/2011

Occurrence Time:

11:00am

Region:

Spring Hollow
Logan River
Logan

Location Name:

Apron under Spring Hollow Cliffs

Location

41° 43' 54.3324" N, 111° 41' 27.3012" W

Avalanche Characteristics

Elevation:

8000'

Aspect:

North

Trigger:

Skier

Trigger: additional info:

Unintentionally Triggered

Avalanche Type:

Soft Slab

Weak Layer:

Facets Above Crust

Depth (avg):

unknown

Depth Range:

12" to

Width:

Unknown

Vertical:

500'

People Involved

Caught:

Carried:

Partly Buried:

Accident & Rescue Info

Accident & Rescue Summary:

A party of three skiers used a snowmobile to access upper Spring Hollow from the Right Hand Fork trail head. After ski-cutting the steep northwest chute in the prominent cliff band a bit above 8000' in elevation, the first skier descended into the apron below the cliffs and triggered an avalanche that did not catch him. He called to the second skier, to come and check out the fresh crown. The second skier remote triggered another slide to the skiers left of the original pocket, which caught and carried both around 500 vertical feet. The first skier was partially buried, but his head remained just above the snow surface. He was trapped, buried neck deep in the set-up debris and could not move or dig himself out and was excavated by the second skier who remained on the surface of the slide... Both skiers lost gear in the avalanche, but most was recovered after some effort...

General Comments

From a party member:

"I lost at rock-paper-scissors and so I skied last (happily in retrospect) and didn't see most of the action. We approached via snowmobile from Right Hand Fork. We skied from peak 8818 into the couloir to the NW. After ski cutting the entry chute, my partners both set off separate 1-2 foot crowns near the base of the cliffs at the beginning of the apron. I skied last, and also triggered a crown below and skiers right of the main crown. It was a bit hectic with the multiple phases....."

"The coordinates of the bottom of the slide path are 41.7338 N, 111.6926 W. The main crown was at base of the cliff at about 8000-8100 ft. ..... wish we had information about the culprit layers. It seemed to me like there was a well preserved graupel layer just above the rain crust....."

General Comments 2

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