Thread: Avalanche fatality incident report (April 07, 2011)

April 7, 2011 at 02:30 pm,
near the Ak-Bulak ski resort,
city of Almaty region (Tian Shan mountains, Kazakhstan)
two riders triggered and been caught in an avalanche, about 16K cubic meters power.
Wet slab, 0.6-1.3m in the crown.
Debris zone 30m wide/800m long with depth up to 15m.

The body of Birkut Ilyasov (ski) - the head of the local ski-patrol service, was found on April 08, 11:00 am, almost on the surface of the debris.

Andrey Mokrousov (snowboard) was found only on April 24.
No beacons...












source (in Russian)

sad yet familiar story. my condolences on the communities loss. looks like good terrain over there.

I'm not judging at all, but I'm curious why you decided that now was the time to describe this incident here? It was a long time ago.

Vibes to those involved.

Slab prediction was my actual convoluted question (thanks covert) as I am not used to 1.3 meter storms on the reg here in Colorado..... rookie stupid original question , but I was curious.

Wow, big/HUGE one. Vibes to all involved.

wow. On the crest of that ridge was a good spot to be, until it wasn't.

The picture sure tells a story. Condolences.

Originally Posted by DasBlunt

1.3 meter crown, would you even be able to dig a pit that deep to see some sort of instability? rookie question I guess, but I am curious.

Wow, big one. Vibes to all involved.

Forecasting wet slabs in a continental pack is more about timing

1.3 meter crown, would you even be able to dig a pit that deep to see some sort of instability? rookie question I guess, but I am curious.

The slab was described as 0.6 to 1.3 meters thick. You most certainly could dig 2ft. The bigger number gets your attention but the littler number is probably the trigger point.
What I got from this post is 17 days to find the second victim. Some large trenches dug. Wear a beacon.

I've dug pits 1.5-2m down.

Very interesting photos, thanks for sharing