32-year-old Snowboarder Jen Swanson, mother of three from Cache Valley Utah, was injured after she triggered a loose wet avalanche on a very steep slope and was caught and carried into trees below. Jen and husband, Cory Swanson used a snowmobile to access the Tony Grove Lake Area and were taking turns shuttling the sled, filming, and riding the short but extremely steep slopes directly north and west of the Lake.
Just before her accident, while Jen videoed from below, Cory successfully dropped into and rode out a line just to the west of the accident site, but in so doing, he triggered a small wet avalanche that harmlessly followed him down slope. With Cory at the camera, Jen dropped into the line, and after a few high-speed turns on an increasingly steep roll over, triggered a small wet avalanche. Shallow but heavy snow picked up speed and overwhelmed her, knocking her off her intended course and board-first into the first tree. The small but fast moving avalanche and the speed of the fall swept her further down the slope and backwards into the second tree. When the avalanche came to a stop, she was on top of the shallow debris and conscious.
After assisting and stabilizing Jen, Cory had to ride his snowmobile a couple miles and 2000 vertical feet to the summit of Naomi Peak for Cell phone coverage to call for help. Luckily, both members of the Cache County Sheriff’s volunteer Search and Rescue team and a medical helicopter were in the Tony Grove Area shortly after another rescue, and were quickly able to get to and evacuate Jen. She suffered ankle and back injuries including a few fractures, but is expected to fully recover quickly…She considers herself very lucky to have survived and not to have been much more seriously injured by the accident.This case shows that even the little ones can hurt you in the wrong terrain. Jen and Cory understand the potential consequences of riding on extremely steep slopes. They carried proper avalanche rescue equipment, and used safe travel protocols by only exposing one at a time to avalanche danger. The avalanche Cory triggered initially might have been taken as a clue that other similar avalanches were likely, but Jen was confident that she could out ride or ride through any possible fresh snow slide. The speed and force of the heavy snow in the small wet avalanche were clearly unexpected, and we should remember that one way avalanches kill is traumatically.
