Avalanche
According to the Bridger-Teton Avalanche Center, a skier was killed in an avalanche just out of bounds at Grand Tarhgee ski resort, WY yesterday.
The skier reportedly clicked out of his bindings, ducked a boundary rope near Fred’s Saddle (near the Dreamcatcher lift), walked out of bounds and onto a cornice. He fell through the cornice, onto the slope below, triggered an avalanche, and was thrown off a very large cliff.
He was found by a Grand Targhee avalanche dog buried under 2-feet of snow at the bottom of the cliff. He died of trauma caused in the fall.
“Observer Notes:Skier clicked out of his bindings. Walked out of bounds under a ropeline on a closed boundary and onto a cornice. He broke through and fell onto the slope below. This triggered a slide that carried him over a very large cliff. He was found by a Grand Targhee Avalanche Dog, buried 2 ft. deep in the debris below the cliff. but had died of trauma” – Bridger Teton Avalanche Center
Please always stay in bounds unless you know exactly where you are, what you are doing, have all the necessary avalanche gear, skills, knowledge, experience, education, and partners.
Another Wyoming avalanche killed a snowmobiler just this past Friday.
This was the 20th avalanche death in the USA this year including 12 in January alone.
This year’s total may rise in USA when two currently missing people are determined to have died form avalanches. A doctor at Hatcher Pass AK, a ski instructor at Donner Pass, CA.
Last winter, the USA saw only 11 avalanche deaths.
There have been 7 avalanche deaths in Canada this year including 5 dying together in an avalanche last week in Canada.
I skier Grand Targee about 5 days after this death.
Thursday, top of Red Dog (at the top, side of Champs), there was SW wind and you could see a cornice forming. It just stretched out at about an inch per minute. you could see it extending and not thick at all.