Aliens at Alta? Nope, Just the Latest Avalanche Mitigation Technology With an average of 540 inches of the best snow on earth every year, Alta Ski Area constantly has avalanche mitigation on its mind. Now they are adopting the latest technology in avalanche safety and prevention. Alien-looking pods, called O’Bellx, are being installed on the mountain to be integrated into Alta’s network of avalanche control systems. They are a new […] Avalanche Brent Thomas | July 22, 2022 2 Comments
That One Time a Utah Department of Transportation Avalanche Cannon Misfired and Blew Up a Family’s House 3 Miles Away In March 2005, Lori and Scott Connors’ 3-year-old son was lying on their living room floor watching television when a mortar exploded in their backyard. Deadly flying shrapnel penetrated their home and flew right over his little head. He was covered in broken glass and extremely frightened—had he been standing up it would have been a completely different story. There […] Martin Kuprianowicz | July 8, 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
Colorado Is Experiencing Once-In-A-Decade Snowpack And High Avalanche Risk Colorado is currently experiencing a once-in-a-decade snowpack making conditions in the backcountry extremely dangerous. Conditions haven’t been this bad in Colorado since 2012, and the poor snowpack has caused over 15 deaths in the first week of February. This has been the deadliest week on record since 1910, with eight deaths being Coloradans. These conditions are seen once every 10 years, […] Avalanche Nick Retterer | February 18, 2021 2 Comments
Origins: U.S. Avalanche Mitigation In this week’s edition of Origins, we will take a look into the history of how avalanches have been avoided in and out of ski resorts. If you missed last week’s Origins on the Freeride World Tour you can check it out here: Related: Origins: Freeride World Tour Avalanches are extremely dangerous and fatal events. Avoiding them at all costs is […] Avalanche Ryan Flynn | October 9, 2020 1 Comment
Using Reforestation for Avalanche Mitigation: Does it Work? A new study suggests that strategic reforestation may help to mitigate avalanches in certain areas. SLAB Laboratory, based in Vaud Canton of Switzerland, studies the physics of avalanches using computer-generated models fed with historic avalanche data. Researchers were interested to see how wildfires in 2018 affected the winter avalanche cycles in the mountains around Vaud. Related: Lake Tahoe Tree Deaths Double […] Avalanche Alex Camerino | August 28, 2020 5 Comments
Avalanche
