Avalanche death on resort in Nevada

**Ferniefreeheels** · 01-10-2005, 09:21 AM

Wow! this sucker must have been massive! It took a snowboarder off the chairlift to his death. Check it out:
here

**AltaPowderDaze** · 01-10-2005, 09:32 AM

"This was really skiers helping skiers," Bencevengo said. "There was just a sense of urgency on the part of the skiers out there to help one another. The resort really did not grasp the magnitude of the event."

that's aweful. rumors (from ttips) are that the resort later went to home depot for probes.

does anyone know if the boom heard by witnesses was an explosive? i assumed it was a natural but it seems like it might not have been.

**A-wreck** · 01-10-2005, 09:46 AM

Is there such thing as a good excuse for an avalanche inside a resort? Or is there no excuse?

edit for: I mean an avalanche that happens while people are skiing. one that is not planned.

**Endlessseason** · 01-10-2005, 09:51 AM

Incredible story. I don't think that's happened in the modern era of U.S. skiing. Getting blown off the chair in an avalanche?! How scary.
I've skied at this little place. It only averages about 100 inches in an entire year and the article says they received 78 inches in two weeks. Holy crap.
I'm sure they didn't even know how to deal with such a large amount of snow.
There is a huge amount of acreage and vertical above Mt. Charleston's lift-served ski area. I can imagine that over time, and with so little natural snowfall, they could easily take for granted just how much could accumulate up above.

**Cornholio** · 01-10-2005, 09:54 AM

Originally Posted by Ferniefreeheels

Wow! this sucker must have been massive! [/URL]

Sounds like he was knocked off by the powder cloud, not by actual moving snow. Still would have been pretty big, though.

I can't find anywhere if it was triggered or not. I suspect that the boom *could* have been just the fracture release.

**watersnowdirt** · 01-10-2005, 09:55 AM

That's an incredible story. Terrifying. Amazing to think of an avalanche, in bounds in the Las Vegas area! It just doesn't compute for me.

I think I need to call my 12 year old god-son who lives in Las Vegas and tell him to be careful out there....

**teledave** · 01-10-2005, 10:04 AM

I was kinda thinking what Endless said. I doubt the patrol there has any kind of avy training; be it prevention or S&R. If that kind of snowfall happened around here we would have the same problem, no one would know how to assess and/or control the danger, or know how to find a victim in it. That's just not something you would train for at a place that gets less than a 100" annually.

Sad for the victim, the family, and the ski area. RIP.

**UTdave** · 01-10-2005, 10:15 AM

If you read the article (and there was a post about it last year) they had another inbounds slide last February. Sounds like they have no idea what to do about control work. Poor kid probably had absolutely no clue about the danger and lack of knowledge that the patrol had. I wouldn't be surprised to see a lawsuit out of this.

**SkiingBear** · 01-10-2005, 10:20 AM

She was monitoring the fire department's emergency radio channel, on which she heard a warning against the use of emergency sirens or vehicle horns on the way to Lee Canyon. The fear: the noise could spark another avalanche.

That statement alone tells me that they're not entirely prepared for avalanches. Talking with the head of the Utah Avalanche Center he told me that sound cannot trigger an avalanche. It's just an old myth.

I have a buddy that patrolled there for a couple of years, I'll talk to him and try to find out more info.

**Yossarian** · 01-10-2005, 10:27 AM

All,

Just a reminder - don't be too quick to jump to conclusions on any of the facts at this point. Lots of misreporting, rumor-spreading, and assumptions in a case like this, in many cases by online communities just like this one. In time, I'm sure all the details will be known. Making guesses about what happened or why or who is to blame is hardly going to bring this kid back.

**lemon boy** · 01-10-2005, 10:47 AM

That and the patrol director there is one of our own.

Sad: best wishes to all involved.

**Skidancer** · 01-10-2005, 11:08 AM

The poor kid! I guess having my kids wear a beacon at all times would not be too overcautious. Anyone ever hear of anything like that ever happening before (being swept off a lift?)

Peace.

**Telenater** · 01-10-2005, 11:33 AM

Originally Posted by lemon boy

That and the patrol director there is one of our own.

Sad: best wishes to all involved.

I wasn't going to say it, but yes. I'll see if I can get a hold of him. To see how he's doing.

edit: not surprisingly, I got his voicemail. When he gets back to me, I'll post what information he's willing/able to share.

**killclimbz** · 01-10-2005, 11:40 AM

This is really sad and I agree that no one should start pointing fingers. I also believe that there is no reason for something like this to happen whithin a resort.

**AntiSoCalSkier** · 01-10-2005, 11:41 AM

Originally Posted by Telenater

I wasn't going to say it, but yes. I'll see if I can get a hold of him. To see how he's doing.

That was the first thing that I thought when I read this.

**Greydon Clark** · 01-10-2005, 11:41 AM

Originally Posted by Skidancer

The poor kid! I guess having my kids wear a beacon at all times would not be too overcautious. Anyone ever hear of anything like that ever happening before (being swept off a lift?)

Peace.

Couple of things, what good is wearing a beacon at a resort if no one is expecting you to be wearing a beacon? With that said, I’ve worn, and will continue to wear a beacon in-bounds, when I feel conditions warrant such measures, but I will be skiing with friends who are wearing beacons too. Also, a slide big enough to knock a person off a chair lift, rip-off their snowboard and boots, and destroy trees, well, you’re not going to survive the impact.

Anyway, what a bummer. Good luck to the kid’s parents and all involved.

**Big E** · 01-10-2005, 11:52 AM

Originally Posted by teledave

If that kind of snowfall happened around here we would have the same problem, no one would know how to assess and/or control the danger, or know how to find a victim in it. That's just not something you would train for at a place that gets less than a 100" annually.

Around here, you mean in TN, right? I am a total avalanche JONG, but is there really any sort of terrain in the ski area or surrounding it that could ever support an avalanche? I've certainly never heard of one in MD or PA or thereabouts. When we had that huge storm 2 years ago and got 50" in 40 hours up in western MD, even then there was certainly no avy danger, although you actually could trigger a few little sloughs off the side of the half-pipe, for example. But nothing remotely close to an avalanche.

But out there, although I don't know what the terrain is like, I'm assuming there are at least some steep lines, even if they don't get much snow normally. At the bottom of that report it even says "In February, four skiers were caught in an avalanche at the resort. Three were skiing out-of-bounds, and another man was skiing in an area known as Slot Alley, a side trail for experts. All survived." Sounds like with enough snow, the potential is there.

**cj001f** · 01-10-2005, 12:09 PM

Originally Posted by Greydon Clark

Couple of things, what good is wearing a beacon at a resort if no one is expecting you to be wearing a beacon? With that said, I’ve worn, and will continue to wear a beacon in-bounds, when I feel conditions warrant such measures, but I will be skiing with friends who are wearing beacons too.

First step for any patrol responding to a report of an avalanche is a beacon search of the scene.

**teledave** · 01-10-2005, 12:09 PM

Originally Posted by Big E

Around here, you mean in TN, right? I am a total avalanche JONG, but is there really any sort of terrain in the ski area or surrounding it that could ever support an avalanche? I've certainly never heard of one in MD or PA or thereabouts. When we had that huge storm 2 years ago and got 50" in 40 hours up in western MD, even then there was certainly no avy danger, although you actually could trigger a few little sloughs off the side of the half-pipe, for example. But nothing remotely close to an avalanche.

Given my location, I'm a total avalanche JONG too but I'm thinking anything with 200+ vertical feet at 25 degrees or more slope could have the potential to slide with life threatening power and depth. I've actually set off a "slide" at Ober here in TN. They had made 8 or so inches of snow on top of solid ice the night before on a 30'ish degree slope. I was the first person on it that morning and as soon as I made my first turn I watched the snow crack about 10-12 feet in front of me and in a spot about 18 feet wide all of the new manmade slid off of the prior days icy base for about 200' until it stopped at a cat track between slopes. Even that small an amount of snow was impressively powerful, 36" plus would be devasting I would think.

**skiguide** · 01-10-2005, 12:19 PM

wow, unbelievable story.

did the kid NOT have the safety bar down, and then tried to grab for it? kinda sounds that way, maybe he would have had better luck with it down?

not that I would have thought it was necessary either to keep from being dragged off by an avalanche.

**Big E** · 01-10-2005, 12:51 PM

Originally Posted by teledave

Given my location, I'm a total avalanche JONG too but I'm thinking anything with 200+ vertical feet at 25 degrees or more slope could have the potential to slide with life threatening power and depth. I've actually set off a "slide" at Ober here in TN. They had made 8 or so inches of snow on top of solid ice the night before on a 30'ish degree slope. I was the first person on it that morning and as soon as I made my first turn I watched the snow crack about 10-12 feet in front of me and in a spot about 18 feet wide all of the new manmade slid off of the prior days icy base for about 200' until it stopped at a cat track between slopes. Even that small an amount of snow was impressively powerful, 36" plus would be devasting I would think.

Wow. They musta been pissed at you for ruining their entire evening's work.

**72Twenty** · 01-10-2005, 12:58 PM

Yeah, like many of you have said, it sounds like the shock wave knocked him off, rather than the snow itself.

Kinda makes you think about carrying minimal avie gear at some resorts, huh?

Just curious, has anyone found any pictures from it yet? They said someone shot some of the aftermath. I'd just like to get a visual of how big it was.

**lemon boy** · 01-10-2005, 01:01 PM

**PNWbrit** · 01-10-2005, 01:10 PM

Originally Posted by 72Twenty

Kinda makes you think about carrying minimal avie gear at some resorts, huh?

That's it - next time I get on a chair lift in Vegas I'm wearing my Avalung.

RIP - sounds like the area/patrol really got caught out with the amount of snow they got