Utah avalanches caught 63 people, center reports 2023-2024

More than 900 slides were reported at the Utah Avalanche Center last winter, according to its annual report.

The skier saw the warning signs. The wind had piled up thick piles of snow on precariously sloping slopes. Ahead of him, a group of three other backcountry skiers triggered a small but powerful avalanche.

Despite everything, attracted by the fresh snow covering the sides of Little Cottonwood Canyon, near Lisa Falls, the lone skier chose to tempt fate. And fate bit him.

When the first slab broke, he was ready. He deployed his airbag and, after he passed, immediately took his bindings out of uphill mode to ski out. Then the second, larger slide rolled over him. It threw him, forcing his face down, sending snow into his airway and hurling him over a cliff.

The experience was harrowing, according to a report submitted by the skier — identified only as “Davenport” — to the Utah Avalanche Center. And yet it wasn’t extraordinary. More than 50 people were caught and transported in avalanches in the Salt Lake area alone during the 2023-24 ski season, according to the annual report released Tuesday by the UAC.

The total number of avalanches reported in Utah during the 150-day forecast season, which runs from mid-November to mid-April, was 902. More than a third of them (356) were determined to be human-triggered, the report said, and they swept away 63 skiers statewide.

Much of this information came from nearly 2,000 slide sightings reported to the UAC. Beginning in 1987, the UAC became the first avalanche center in the United States to collect and publish public observations. This forms the basis of the agency’s observation program, according to the report.

“After reading daily avalanche forecasts,” the report notes, “reading published observations is one of the most valuable tools a backcountry user has to learn and understand avalanche conditions. backcountry and avalanches.”

January was apparently a particularly tricky month.

“Avalanches occurred everywhere,” the UAC states in the report, “because the poor structure of the snowpack provided little basis for new snow. This trend remained for most of January, as subsequent large storms reactivated the faceted layer. By the end of the month, more than 300 avalanches were recorded across the state, with numerous catch and carries (sic), including a few complete burials which, fortunately, were all successfully rescued.

In fact, thanks to the efforts of search and rescue volunteers and good Samaritans, Utah almost escaped winter with no avalanche deaths. However, that changed in May, when three men were caught in a late-season avalanche below Lone Peak. Two of them, Austin Mallet, 32, of Wyoming, and Andrew Cameron, 23, of Salt Lake City, perished in the slide.

This avalanche occurred after the UAC ceased its daily forecasts for the season. However, Chris Labosky, a close friend of Mallet, said it “wouldn’t have made any difference” to the three seasoned adventurers.

“It would have made no difference,” he said, “because their assessment would have been consistent with the (UAC) forecasts they would have published anyway.”

It was February when the man identified as “Davenport” found himself hit by an avalanche near Lisa Falls. He wrote that his own actions were “confusing and shameful to me.” He also noted that if another skier hadn’t risked his life to care for him and call a rescue helicopter after the second slide, he probably would have died.

“When the slide stopped, I remained submerged but managed to get my face out, breathe and start dragging myself up and to the side of the hallway and (to safety),” a- he writes. “I was probably concussed or slightly hypoxic from being buried because I continued to think it was a dream for several minutes. By the time my head cleared, a member of the previous group of three had rushed over to me and started calling for a helicopter evacuation. He helped me warm up and retrieve my airbag and I can’t stress enough how exceptional his courage in coming down towards me with the fire hanging above was exceptional.

The rescuer also requested helicopter transport after two avalanches swept through the area.

“It was a miracle,” one member of the rescue group wrote in his report to the UAC. “This avalanche crossed what could be considered insurmountable terrain.”

The UAC was established in 1980 with the mission of providing backcountry winter travelers such as skiers, snowboarders, snowmobilers and snowshoers with resources and education to keep them out of harm’s way.

“Our goal,” wrote UAC Director Mark Staples, “remains to ensure that the backcountry community has quick and easy access to the information they need to stay safe.” »

After nine years at the helm, Staples will leave UAC for a similar position at the Gallatin Avalanche Center in Montana. He will be replaced by Paige Pagnucco, who has been with UAC for 19 years, most recently as director of programs.

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