Avalanche
The body of a skier was recovered Wednesday after an avalanche in the New Hampshire Ammonoosuc Ravine in the White Mountain National Forest, according to the New Hampshire Fish and Game Department. It was the fourth time in less than a week a backcountry avalanche in the US resulted in fatalities.
The skier, whose identity has yet to be disclosed, was reported missing Tuesday evening after he didn’t return home. Rescue teams found his body around 6:00 pm Wednesday, according to a press statement.
The rescuers were helped when an avalanche beacon signal was detected at approximately 4:30 pm, the department said.
“The crew had to dig down approximately 13 feet of packed snow and debris before ultimately discovering the body of the missing skier.”
– news statement
The fatality is only the third on the East Coast in the last ten years. The other two, also on Mount Washington, were in 2019 and 2013.
Three hikers’ bodies were recovered yesterday after they were caught in an avalanche in the Chugach Range, Alaska, on Tuesday.
Yesterday, officials in Colorado confirmed the identity of three Eagle County residents who died in an avalanche on Monday in the San Juan Mountains near Silverton, CO.
In Utah, a skier died Saturday after being buried by an avalanche in the backcountry just outside Park City Mountain Resort.
This week’s tragedies have doubled this winter’s USA avalanche deaths to fourteen. There have also been three avalanche deaths in Canada.
