Unusual weather patterns across the West have left huge slabs of heavy snow teetering atop a brittle base layer, raising the risk of catastrophic avalanches at ski resorts, on mountain passes and in backcountry wilderness.
In the past 17 days, nine people have died in avalanches in the U.S. and eight in western Canada.
Three of the deaths occurred on the patrolled slopes of U.S. ski resorts, where fatal avalanches are rare. “It’s shaken everyone up. We haven’t had this kind of problem in ski resorts for years,” said Mark Moore, director of the Northwest Weather and Avalanche Center in Seattle.
Resort operators say they are doing all they can to keep the slopes safe, using methods that range from the ingenious to the plodding. Among other things, they are sending teams of workers to stomp on the snow with their ski boots to try to pack it more tightly.
The Hellgate area near Alta, Utah, is avalanche prone. In the past 17 days, nine people have died in the U.S. from the collapsing snows, and eight in Canada.
This winter’s weather has left slopes treacherous across an unusually broad stretch of the West, from Mammoth Mountain in Southern California to Mt. Baldy in Utah, Crested Butte in Colorado, Jackson Hole in Wyoming and north into Canada.
Forecasters use a variety of similes to describe the condition of the snow pack: It is as unstable as a brick balanced atop a pyramid of potato chips, as wobbly as an upside-down wedding cake resting on the smallest tier, as shaky as a house of cards.
It all boils down to the same thing: “very risky,” said Doug Abromeit, director of the U.S. Forest Service’s National Avalanche Center in Ketchum, Idaho. “The conditions are so dangerous.”
Meteorologists pin the blame on a weak bottom layer of snow. In many parts of the West, the first snowfall came early in the fall, when the ground was still warm. The difference in temperature between the warm ground and cold snow causes the flakes to form large-grained, square or cup-shaped facets, known as depth hoar, which don’t bond well.
So instead of a cohesive base, that first snow became a slick, unstable layer prone to cracking under weight, whether from a heavy snowfall, from wind depositing drifts, or from people stepping on unstable terrain.
When big storms swept through in mid-December, dumping dense, wet snow by the foot, the stage was set for avalanches, which can cascade down the mountain at 80 miles per hour.
The nine fatalities in the U.S. this year claimed the lives of four skiers, four snowmobilers and one snowboarder. There have also been several near-misses. On Monday morning in Jackson Hole, Wyo., two avalanches hit a mountainside restaurant that wasn’t yet open to the public. The workers caught in the slide were rescued.
The high risk comes at an anxious time for the ski industry. With the economy in a tailspin, many resorts started December with advance bookings way down, despite aggressive discounts. Some cut staff — though not safety patrols or avalanche mitigation crews, industry officials said. In this grim climate, the heavy pre-Christmas snows were welcomed as a gift, sure to entice hard-core skiers who would find it hard to resist 40 inches of fresh powder, even in a recession.
Now, though, that boon is looking more like a bane, as additional snow only increases the avalanche risk.
Timothy Kolady, who lives in Jackson Hole and skis the resort avidly, said he is more nervous this year than he has ever been, especially about venturing into the backcountry, off the groomed slopes. Tuesday morning, he could hear — from two miles away — the explosive charges that the resort’s safety team was hurling into the mountain to trigger preemptive avalanches on slopes cleared of people. He decided to steer clear of snowy slopes altogether, he said. “I might go play tennis, actually.”
Such wariness isn’t the only downside for resorts. They also have had to close popular, high-elevation runs during this critical holiday stretch, including the steep “extreme terrain” reserved for expert skiers.
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Stuart Johnson/Deseret News
Looking at the crest of the back side of Logan Peak in Cache County where an avalanche was triggered and killed two snowmobilers. It went down in the area known as Rodeo Grounds.
Michael Berry, president of the National Ski Areas Association, predicted no adverse effect on the $6 billion industry. In fact, Mr. Berry said news reports about avalanches might help resorts, because the risk “speaks to the quantity of snow, and people will be drawn to that.”
Resorts typically try to clear unstable snow by setting off charges — dropped by helicopter or fired by old World War II howitzers. This year, though, that has become a bit more risky in some areas.
Frank Coffey, the snow safety director for Crested Butte Mountain Resort in Colorado, said the charges they have set off to trigger planned avalanches have caused an alarming number of unplanned slides on adjacent slopes.
To control avalanches, Telluride Ski Resort in Colorado also uses a giant roller about four feet in diameter and 15 feet long and studded with chunks of steel. Patrollers haul it up to a ridge behind an all-terrain vehicle. Then they toss it down the slope, repeating the process until the steel studs thoroughly break up the top layer of snow.
The roller is based on the principle that it is dangerous to leave solid, ice-hard slabs of snow untouched, because they are prone to slip and skid.
Experts recommend that skiers and snowmobilers check with their local avalanche center, which can be found at , before heading out. They also urge novices and experts alike to take an avalanche survival course, wear a beacon that will transmit their locations if they are buried, and carry a shovel and probe for rescues.
Ron Dellacroce, a manager at Colorado’s Yampa River State Park in, travels with all that gear. Though he knows the risk, he wouldn’t trade a clear morning in the backcountry for anything.
“It’s the last bit of serenity we have in this world,” he said. “You get out and up and away from everybody.”
