SNOWBLOG

Avalanches Kill 6 in Northern Rockies

By Bob Berwyn, 2-18-07

Update: A 17-year-old from Massachusetts died Sunday afternoon in an out-of-bounds slide near Snowbasin Ski Area in Utah, the sixth person killed in an avalanche in the Northern Rockies in recent days.

The white death took a grim toll over the holiday weekend, as avalanches killed five people in Montana, Utah and Idaho. Consistent with a 10-year trend, at least four of the victims were snowmobilers. During that span, snowmobilers made up by far the largest number avalanche deaths across the country, surpassing skiers, climbers and other backcountry travelers. This page on the Colorado Avalanche Information Center’s web site details this season’s deaths. Click here for more stats on avy deaths by state, eyar and by activity.

According to the Associated Press, two of the deaths were in Montana’s Big Belt mountains, near the base of Mount Baldy, about 20 miles from Townsend. Two more snowmobilers died Saturday in Utah, including a 16-year-old who was buried by a large slide near Tower Mountain in the Uintas, southwest of Heber City. Another snowmobiler died on Signal Peak in southwestern Utah. In Idaho, the Bonneville County Sheriff’s Office said a Utah man died in a slide on Palisade Peak.

According to the Utah Avalanche Center, the avalanche danger was rated as “considerable” across most of the state’s mountains, with a high risk of triggered slides in many areas.

The Gallatin National Forest Avalanche Center ranked the avalanche danger as “high” on all slopes steeper than 35 degrees through the Bridger, northern Gallatin and northern Madison Ranges, with a high likelihood of both triggered and natural releases, with danger ratings of “moderate” to “considerable” on less-steep slopes and slopes that aren’t wind-loaded.

An avalanche warning that was in effect for parts of the Colorado Rockies was dropped, but the danger is still classified as “considerable” across most of the state, with a “moderate” hazard in the southern San Juans, which didn’t get hit directly by the most recent storm. A backcountry traveler was injured in a slide Saturday near the east entrance of the Eisenhower Tunnel along I-70. He wasn’t buried by the snow but suffered trauma from a collision with a tree, according to the Colorado Avalanche Information Center.

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