In-Bounds Avalanches
January 7th, 2010Posted in Skiing in the Tetons
You’ve probably read by now the various Internet accounts of the avalanche that occurred yesterday morning at Jackson Hole. Like everyone I hope to read reports today of further improvements in the condition of the veteran ski patroller, Mark Wolling, who is apparently still in critical condition in Idaho Fall’s Eastern Idaho Regional Medical Center.
I presume Mr. Wolling and his ski patrol partner were following standard procedures that have been preformed hundreds of times over the years to stabilize the snow in Cheyenne Bowl. If that assumption is correct, then we can assume that this year’s snowpack is extremely treacherous, causing a release capable of trapping and nearly killing a very experienced patroller doing normally safe and standard procedure avalanche control duties.
Where does that leave the rest of us? Jackson Hole didn’t open a huge swath of its terrain yesterday because of the still very high danger. When the very experienced and highly skilled JHMR ski patrol allows the public to ski currently closed terrain I’d recommend doing it with an avalanche transceiver tightly secured and turned on. Any resort with avalanche prone terrain can never guarantee 100% the safety of the public on that terrain- especially when an unstabile snowpack is buried under heavy new snow. The demands of the public to ski as much terrain as possible and the financial needs of resorts to satisfy that demand pretty much guarantee skiers will be on terrain where unexpected events can happen before this snowpack becomes truly stabile. The risk will be low when the ski patrol opens the terrain, but not zero. If you like to ski off-piste on steep terrain going with your avy beacon, your shovel and probe-poles won’t slow you down and just might make a difference to you or a friend this winter.
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