Another Deadly Year for Colorado Skiing Colorado has amassed another deadly winter, with 17 deaths inside ski resorts and 11 deaths caused by avalanches. Colorado is historically the deadliest state for skiing, mainly because of its popularity and expert terrain. The all-time snowpack has caused avalanche deaths to nearly reach a record high during the 2022-2023 season, which is tied for the second most all-time since the […] Avalanche Kiley Chrisman | June 1, 2023 0 Comments
New Updates on Annual Avalanche Report Shows Colorado and Montana Have Highest Rates of Avalanche Fatalities In an effort to provide you with the best information available, here’s an important follow-up on an article we published earlier in the week titled, Annual Avalanche Report Shows Colorado and Montana With Highest Rates of Avalanche Fatalities. The article discusses the Gallatin National Forest Avalanche Center’s annual report of fatalities from avalanches across states within the last 10 years. […] Industry News Ryan Kime | August 26, 2022 0 Comments
Annual Avalanche Report Shows Colorado and Montana Have the Highest Rates of Avalanche Fatalities The Gallatin National Forest Avalanche Center’s (GNFAC) annual avalanche report was recently released. It shows Colorado to have the highest number of avalanche fatalities over the last ten years (64). Montana was ranked 2nd with 33—still six higher than the national average of 27. Montana is an increasingly popular place to ski and snowboard in the United States. As GNFAC […] Avalanche Ryan Kime | August 23, 2022 3 Comments
Lake Tahoe Ski Resort Facing Lawsuit After Skier is Killed By Avalanche Cole Comstock, 34, of California, was killed by an avalanche on January 17, 2020, on an Alpine Meadows ski run around 10:16 in the morning. His close friend, Kaley Bloom, was also swept by the avalanche and received serious injuries but somehow survived. Comstock was an experienced skier who skied both in-bound and out-bound areas of the resort depending on conditions. […] Avalanche Nick Retterer | February 26, 2021 9 Comments
Skier Survived Utah Avalanche That Killed 4 By Clinging To A Tree A skier caught in an avalanche in Millcreek Canyon located near Salt Lake City, Utah, survived by clinging to a tree. Once the slide had subsided, the skier managed to locate another member of his group, and the two of them began using their avalanche beacons to rescue others buried beneath the snow. Two separate groups were caught in the […] Avalanche Miles Wong | February 11, 2021 5 Comments
Former Avalanche Forecaster Discovers That Approximately ⅓ of Tourer Fatalities in the U.S. Occurred When Tourers Were Ascending Are you traveling in the backcountry this year? Do you spend most of your time identifying avalanche terrain while traveling uphill or downhill? If you think that most avalanche fatalities occur when tourers are going downhill, then you are correct. BUT a shockingly high percentage of avalanche fatalities still occur when tourers are going uphill—32% percent to be exact, according […] Avalanche AvyBrains | December 9, 2020 0 Comments
STUDY: 30% of All Avalanche Fatalities in Western USA Occurred During an Atmospheric River Research published by Benjamin Hatchet, Susan Burak, Jon Rutz, Nina Oakley, Edward Bair, and Michael Kaplan in the Journal of Hydrometerology suggests a strong link between Atmospheric River (AR) events and avalanche deaths. According to their research, 31% of avalanche fatalities between 1998 and 2014 occurred either during or shortly after an AR event. West Coast skiers got very […] Avalanche Roger Romani | February 17, 2019 0 Comments
Only 12 Avalanche Fatalities in the USA in 2016/17 – The USA Averages 27 | We Asked 5 Experts Why This Year’s Total Was So Low? There were only 12 Avalanche deaths this winter (2016/17) in the U.S. The annual average is 27. So, what happened? Record breaking snowfall characterized much of the western United States this year, with storm snowfall totals being recorded in feet instead of inches, massive avalanches closing roads all across the nation, and “weather events” that left us all saying “OH MY […] Avalanche LadyBrains | November 14, 2017 3 Comments