Inbounds Avy Fatality at Sun Valley Today

**The Reverend Floater** · 01-22-2010, 09:37 PM

EDIT: See Sol's post below for actual story.

Patrol located him quickly, performed CPR and got him to the hospital but they were unable to save him. Big props to the SV patrol for being on the ball so quickly and thoughts and prayers to the family.

Be very, very careful out there, folks. Doesn't matter where you are--pretty widespread instability throughout the West. If patrol has something roped, it's probably for good reason.

**eleventyfive** · 01-22-2010, 09:50 PM

Thoughts and prayers to all involved

**misfit toy** · 01-22-2010, 10:18 PM

This sucks and as the folks at basin say, ya will not duck the ropes. Sorry for the the losses. God i Hope this ain't just a fool, What the F&%K, Damit.. CARE K FOOLS. Bad again again.

**Subluxation** · 01-22-2010, 10:21 PM

RIP to rip another day.

**skibum93** · 01-22-2010, 10:39 PM

That's why you don't duck ropes. When the patrols ready to open the terrain they will.
hopefully this will serve as a warning to others.

It's really sad that this happens at least once every year, when its so preventable.

**Tap** · 01-22-2010, 11:05 PM

that's a damn shame. conditions are just terrible out there.....respect the snowpack

RIP

**powder_prophet** · 01-23-2010, 12:00 AM

Wow, that's just a damn shame. So sorry to hear this. Good vibes to the victim's family, and likewise for the SV patrol.

There's usually a reason something is roped off. If it were ready to open, it would be.

**LightRanger** · 01-23-2010, 12:12 AM

Sorry to hear about this.

**stuckathuntermtn** · 01-23-2010, 12:43 AM

that sucks. Don't duck ropes. I learned the easy way when I hit a rock.

**la_banda** · 01-23-2010, 02:14 AM

when sister called today from ketchum, told me about this

she was soo bummed cuz it happened in her town, and was so real to her

RIP, +vibes to family, friends, community

**pointedem** · 01-23-2010, 03:17 AM

fuck.
rest in peace amigo.
thoughts for friends and family.

**Conundrum** · 01-23-2010, 08:34 AM

Sounds like SV patrol did a good job finding the person.

RIP

**skifishbum** · 01-23-2010, 08:40 AM

Vibes to friends family and those involved in the rescue

**Sol Skier** · 01-23-2010, 08:55 AM

Let's not jump to any conclusions. He might have been traversing in the trees along the side of Lower Broadway.

**nbt** · 01-23-2010, 09:28 AM

Name yet? I want to make sure it is not a friend. I know a bunch of people up there. Considering there are zero cliffs at SV, it could be anyone. Hopefully not a friend.

**mtnjam** · 01-23-2010, 11:37 AM

Sad to hear about this. My condolences to family and friends. My hats off to the SV patrol for having to potentially deal with this day in and day out this season. This season is going to be one to learn from and keep us on our toes. It's amazing, the stability has been "relatively" good for the last ~ 8/9 seasons and this season, not at all. People get complacent, lets all stay safe and enjoy another day in the hills.

little older photo from above a road cut (don't know which one). Looks like black bomb debris on the lower right

**Sol Skier** · 01-23-2010, 02:49 PM

If he traversed in from Broadway (the groomed run), then he really got blindsided. It is under a closed area, but he wouldn't have ducked any ropes and would have been skiing an area that is usually moderately skied. If he ducked the rope on the cat track 300' or so above then it is a little more fuzzy.

There are a lot of steep rocky zones on both sides of the run in this area. Obviously the place were he got caught had the proper profile to avalanche, but it is not a real clear danger zone.

It seems that he may have gotten hung up in the thick trees at the bottom of the slide. According to reports he was wearing a beacon.

The slide is just around the corner of the treed ridge, right across from the nice looking pow tracks:

The victim's identity has yet to be released, updates available here:

http://www.mtexpress.com/index2.php

**mtnjam** · 01-23-2010, 05:13 PM

thanks for the photos Sol...puts the slide into a whole new perspective for me

Here's the report from the Statesman:

Blaine County Coroner Russell D. Mikel said Timothy L. Michael, 54, of Ketchum was the skier killed in an avalanche Friday on Sun Valley Resort’s Bald Mountain.

Mikel said the avalanche was reported at 2:31 p.m. Friday and that Michael was located about 15 minutes later by the Sun Valley Ski Patrol.

The coroner said resuscitation efforts were performed while Michael was being transported to the St. Luke’s Wood River Medical Center but they were unsuccessful. He was pronounced dead in the emergency room at 3:31 p.m.

**Bunion 2020** · 01-23-2010, 05:50 PM

Classic killer slide.

Small and innocent looking, ends in trees and what looks like an abrupt terrain fold. An area that probably gets skied all the time in normal years.

A sad lesson.

**nbt** · 01-23-2010, 06:00 PM

Avalanche victim lived near Ketchum Sun Valley Brokers

Tim Michael, 54, died after injuries suffered in Bald Mountain slide

By :EXPRESS STAFF

The man killed in Friday's avalanche on Bald Mountain has been identified as Ketchum-area resident Tim Michael, 54. Records indicate that Michael resided on West Warm Springs Road, west of Ketchum.

Blaine County Coroner Russ Mikel released the name Saturday afternoon. He said Michael was pronounced dead at 3:31 p.m. at Wood River Medical Center on Friday due to suffocation.

Michael was buried by an avalanche in the Seattle Ridge/Cold Springs area of Bald Mountain.

Chris Lundy, avalanche forecaster for the Sawtooth National Forest Avalanche Center, said in a phone interview that he and Director Janet Kellam were on the mountain surveying for avalanche danger when they got the call about the accident. He said they headed down to the area but weren't in time for the rescue effort.

He said they did, however, conduct an investigation following the rescue effort.

"(The) skier was killed by an avalanche in an off-trail area near the bottom of Fire Trail on Seattle Ridge," reported Lundy in the center's Saturday advisory. "The victim was wearing a beacon and was found buried five feet deep in a group of trees just above the (Lower) Broadway groomed run. The avalanche broke two to three feet deep on faceted snow near the ground, was 40 to 50 feet wide, and ran about 200 vertical feet. Ski patrol had him dug out within 15 minutes of the initial report, began administering CPR, and transported the victim to the base of the ski area."

A Friday e-mail from Sun Valley Resort states that Michael was buried at 2:31 p.m. by an avalanche off the side of the Lower Broadway ski run, below Fire Trail Lane. A prepared statement from the resort states that Sun Valley Ski Patrol members located him at 2:46 p.m.

Michael was reportedly unconscious after being removed from the avalanche debris. He was then transported from mid-mountain to the base on the Roundhouse gondola, and remained unconscious as he was transferred to an ambulance at the River Run base of the mountain.

Emergency workers were seen performing CPR on Michael at the base of the mountain.

Lundy said he's unaware if Michael was skiing in a closed area. Calls made to Sun Valley Resort on Saturday to ascertain whether the area was closed were not immediately returned.

The avalanche occurred some 30 yards above a groomed portion of Lower Broadway, in a forested area. There are some ropes and signs marking parts of the broader area as closed to skiers but it is unclear whether Michael was skiing in an officially "closed" area.

Witnesses said other skiers in the general area rushed to move away from the site of the avalanche.

Lower Broadway provides access to the Cold Springs chairlift.

"Our thoughts and prayers are with the skier and his family," said Tim Silva, general manager of Sun Valley Resort. "We would like to acknowledge the outstanding efforts of the Sun Valley Ski Patrol and the Ketchum Fire Department."

Lundy said Sun Valley Resort would compile the avalanche center's information and release the official report within the next couple days.

Check back to this site for ongoing developments in this story.

**Crampedon** · 01-23-2010, 07:22 PM

Jesus that sucks, PLEASE all you tgr brothers and sisters, keep an eye on each other. Like so many have said before me, this is so easy to prevent yet keeps happening.

What to do? If anyone posting on this board gives one safety lecture to someone about to make a poor choice, then maybe less people will get hurt. This guy did not huck a cliff with his friends, he ducked a rope alone, no back-up.

RIP Tim- Aloha kako

__________________________________________________ _______________________

"Dance like no one is watching. Sing like no one is listening. Love like you've never been hurt and live like it's heaven on Earth."
— Mark Twain

**Liveezy** · 01-23-2010, 07:32 PM

RIP. Looking on the bright side, at least he had a good 54 years behind him.

**Sol Skier** · 01-23-2010, 07:57 PM

I have heard from a couple of different people that he was skiing with his wife and maybe even kid and likely didn't duck a rope, just got very unlucky.

I wasn't there so I don't know for sure, but out of respect for him and his family I will give him the benefit of the doubt.

It might be easier for you to understand if he ducked a rope and skied a closed area alone, but you shouldn't go spreading rumors, especially if you were in Hawaii when it happened.

**karma** · 01-23-2010, 08:20 PM

Somewhere a personal injury lawyer is salivating...

RIP

**Crampedon** · 01-23-2010, 09:45 PM

Originally Posted by The Reverend Floater

Single skier ducked a rope and skied a usually popular pow run that patrol had left closed for stability reasons. Patrol located him quickly, performed CPR and got him to the hospital but they were unable to save him. Big props to the SV patrol for being on the ball so quickly and thoughts and prayers to the family.

Be very, very careful out there, folks. Doesn't matter where you are--pretty widespread instability throughout the West. If patrol has something roped, it's probably for good reason.

I have heard from a couple of different people that he was skiing with his wife and maybe even kid and likely didn't duck a rope, just got very unlucky.

I wasn't there so I don't know for sure, but out of respect for him and his family I will give him the benefit of the doubt.

It might be easier for you to understand if he ducked a rope and skied a closed area alone, but you shouldn't go spreading rumors, especially if you were in Hawaii when it happened.

Absolutely right, I was just going by the OP's assesment of what happened. Not one to spread rumors. Just feel bad a brother is gone senselessly.

e malama pono