Complicating the Hell’s Canyon rescue was a group that had traveled into Cold Water Canyon. This group was mostly from Salt Lake City. Neil, the Ogden local, was the group leader. At least some of the group had intended to ski at Snowbird that day, but the canyon had been closed for avalanche control. They were aware that an avalanche had crossed the Little Cottonwood Canyon road and had delayed its reopening. Because of the closure, they decided to make the trip north to Snowbasin. The group exited the ski area at the top of No Name around 1pm, approximately 1 hour after the No Name sign line opened. They passed by the Forest Service brown sign and the “Are You Beeping Sign.” All 5 were carrying beacons, probes and shovels. Neil had taken a Level 2 avalanche class. Greg had taken a Level 1 class. None of the other group members identified an avalanche education level. Neil stated that he had dug a few pits, but didn’t say where. After looking at backcountry photos of the area, Neil the only person familiar with the area didn’t seem to be able to pick out exactly where they had travelled. Neil’s description of the events is that they rode down the Hell’s/Taylor’s ridgeline to the top of Coldwater. See the overview diagram for more details. The first avalanche they triggered Neil described as being 3-4’ deep, 200’ wide. They continued downward and triggered another slide, 3-4’ deep and 150’ wide. Neil did not know how far either of these slides ran. At this point, they began traversing skier’s right, hoping to reach the Hell’s/Coldwater ridgeline (Sloth Ridge) before or at the saddle (Redemption Saddle). They were aware of the steep rocky cliffs in Coldwater Canyon beyond Redemption saddle and were trying to avoid them. Neil said his goal was to gain the ridge and get onto a south-facing aspect where he felt the avalanche hazard would be safer. They triggered the third and largest avalanche while making this traverse. It was 3-4’ deep with one part of the crown reaching 7-1/2’ deep. Neil said he stood at the crown and it was over his head. Dan was at the edge of this crown when the slide fractured on the uphill side of his board. He felt like a rug was being pulled out from underneath him and he fell down, landing on the crown. He ended up sitting on the edge of the crown, like a bench, with his feet and snowboard dangling in the air below him. Despite this close call, none of the group was caught or carried in any of the slides. From looking at photos, it appears that the second and third slides slid at or near the ground. Neil stated that they practiced safe travel protocols throughout the day, travelling one at a time from “safe point” to “safe point” and making ski cuts. At this point, the group decided to boot-pack uphill, possibly using some of the bed surface of this slide. It is unclear how high they hiked, but it apparently wasn’t high enough. They began traversing again, but could not reach redemption saddle. They travelled to a location just west of Redemption saddle, likely several 100 yards below the ridgeline and called for assistance. They were told to stop moving, and a helicopter would fly over the scene, locate them and decide the best way to get them out. Ski Patroller Frank Wakart flew in the helicopter to help spot. When Frank flew over the area, he observed debris from numerous other avalanches. His recommendation to the group was to not move anywhere and stay put until they could be rescued by helicopter. Travel down Coldwater Canyon would have been a very dangerous option. Rescue was delayed because of the avalanche accident and recovery occurring simultaneously in the adjacent Hell’s Canyon. Rescue Summary: Initial call 13:28. Call came through Weber County via the party on scene. Initial call came in as one unconscious not breathing victim that was on the surface, and no one else to be known missing or injured. Location given was No Name. Net message made to the patrol of the event and to stand by at 13:30. Kory Kruse provided information of a new avalanche skiers right Upper Pyramid. Based on this information sent out a hasty party of Doug Wewer, Hans Hjelde, and Will King along with Pivot an avalanche rescue dog to the top of the Pyramid. They stood by at this location for further information. Holly Ahern closed No Name gate 1 and went to the Gaz-Ex building to meet Tyson Woolsey. They talked to guests in the area and tried to send them back into the main John Paul terrain. The remainder of No Name sign line was closed by 13:50. The team on the Upper Pyramid sent out Doug Wewer to ski the boundary and try to get a visual on the Upper Pyramid and Hells Canyon to see if he could determine where this incident was. He worked his way to Vanity. But still could not determine the location of the accident. Also during this time there was another call from a group reported to be in UFO. They stated that they had kicked off numerous avalanches and were in a precarious position. UFO was unfamiliar to the patrol, but sounded like WFO, so ski patrol was sent to WFO to investigate. It was later determined in further conversation that they were in Cold Water Canyon. Dispatch made note of a group traveling in this terrain. A call from Life-Flight came in that they were dispatched to the scene. Because Life- Flight was flying it was decided to let them fly and try to find out where the incident was. On their fly over they could not find anything. They landed and picked up Frank Waikart who flew with them to help spot. He did see the location in the main drainage of Hell’s Canyon. At this time the decision was made by Weber County dispatch that this was a fatality. It was also decided that the six individuals on scene would exit down the drainage and meet up with Doug Wewer to be escorted to Ski Patrol Dispatch. After some discussion about the hazard of the victims location with all of the slide paths above that had not slid. A few options were discussed. 1) Use explosive to control all of the snow above and then do the recovery from the top down. 2) Come in from the bottom make a quick recovery and get out. This was based on the assumption that the avalanche paths above would not slide naturally. Number 2 was decided on. The recovery plan was to send a group of five down the boundary and into the Hells drainage. From there they would skin up to the victim’s location and do the recovery with a SKED. Recovery party of Hans Hjelde, Will King, Cory Davis, Ryan Woolsey, and Holly Ahern as a spotter departed at 3:30. Recovery party was on scene at 4:25 PM. Leave scene at 4:50 PM. Recovery party out of danger at 5:00 PM. Recovery party to Maples gate to meet Weber County at 5:10 PM. Before the recovery operation was started another phone call came in from the Cold Water Canyon group. They were concerned about their ability to safely get out from where they were. They were told to not move, and a Helicopter would be sent to find their location and see what could be done to assist them. Frank Waikart met the Helicopter at 3:45 PM in the base area and they flew over Cold Water canyon. The group of five were spotted low in the canyon below Redemption Saddle and it was determined that the best method to get them out was by hoist. The hoist operation began at 4:13 PM Last person down and safe at 5:23. Life Flight departs the scene at 5:36. Involved Snowbasin Patrol was debriefed at 6:00 PM. Operation completed at 6:30.
Original observations from the group:
All three collapsed shooting right out from below our safety spots. The third was right under foot, but I was holding onto a tree at my safety zone. Classic "whoomp" sound followed by shooting fractures. Truly, it was only good knowledge of Avi's and a bit of luck that the group is even alive to regret going out of bounds... which is fine with me come paired to the alternatives. 1st slide was 300'-400' foot plus wide x 3-4' 2nd was 250'-300+ x 3-4 3 was 250'+ with a crown section of 7.5
