Eastern Sierra Turns Deadly

[Forrest]

Saturday, March 26th two people were killed in an avalanche on Mt. Tom in the Eastern Sierra. The slide occurred in Elderberry Canyon, a popular backcountry destination just outside of Bishop.

Here are a few more details of the accident. Information is being posted on www.sierrabackcountry.org as it becomes available. Below is the most current info we have heard on the accident.

Updated 3/27/05
We just received a report of the Eastern Sierra's first avalanche fatality in several years.

After talking briefly with the members of the party who were involved, this is what we know:

A party of 7 skinned up Elderberry Canyon on Mt. Tom on Saturday the 26th. The group was comprised of locals and visitors. The overall experience of the group was high, with knowledge of the terrain and snowpack. The group travelled to roughly 12,000' before they started skiing. The first two skiers had safely descended the bowl. Skiers 3 and 4 were on the slope that slid at the same time, though not skiing at the same time when the slope released with roughly a 2-3' crown. The slide caught both skiers and carried them 1,200 - 1,500', burying one of them about 3.5m deep. The remaining 3 skiers at the top of the slope started down and kicked off another slide in doing so that caught all 3 of them. 2 were able to escape the slide, the 3rd rode the slide roughly 1,000' to the deposition zone, though was not hurt and able to get himself out. It took the rest of the party roughly 1hr. to locate the victims via beacon and probe search. Both were dead at the time they were located.



We have another significant storm on tap for tonight into tomorrow morning. Please be very careful if you are heading out into the bc of the Eastern Sierra anytime soon. We don't want to hear about any more accidents.

Condolences to friends and family of those affected.

[Trackhead]

3.5 meter burial, hard to survive that. Sounds like confusing circumstances.

Condolences.

I skied Mt. Tom years back, it's a beautiful area.

[Sierra Cement]

Wow, that's horrible. I'm sorry to hear about the tragedy.

Incidentally the heavy snows and avy danger was exactly why a few partners and I cancelled our trip down to the eastside this weekend. And Elderberry Canyon was a canidate for our Saturday outing.

Didn't someone get buried in a good sized spring slide on Mt. Tom last year?

[H-wood]

Very sad day- these were well-known locals- good people and experienced BC skiers. And yes someone did go for a ride in Elderberry last spring- non-fatal.
There is tons of new (heavily wind-loaded) snow on a solid bed surface right now. Over the last few days we've seen a 4-5' crown (and lot's of 1-2'ers) on the ski area, and lots of other activity, including post-control skier-triggered inbounds slides on Mammoth. The main avie path on the Sherwins (very low angle) slid a few days ago- a rare occurance.
I'm not saying this to criticize- hindsight's always 20/20. I just want to put it out there- big bowls and wind-loaded areas in the Sierra are full sketch right now, and ski cutting probably won't do shit when the weakness could be 6 feet under. It won't be any safer after this next storm.

The number of people getting after it here has expanded exponentially in the last 2 years- I'm honestly suprised that it took until almost April for something to happen. I think the Sierra has the best and safest backcountry skiing in the lower 48, but when stuff rips out, it can rip huge, and the odds of a rapid rescue are about zero- all of our (awesome) Search and Rescue operations are all-volunteer, the range is a vast wilderness, and there isn't a helicopter within hundreds of miles.
SierraBackcountry.org is a great new resource- I hope the local ski communtiy can continue to grow it to help spread snowpack information and knowledge, so we don't have any more funerals. If you're thinking about skiing here, check out the site, call the guys at Mammoth Mtneering for an update, pm me, whatever- there is info out there, and no reason to go in blind.
When there was only a couple dozen of us skiing peaks in winter conditions, that was one thing- but now there's hundreds of people out there with great easy-to-use new BC gear. Unless they have experience in a sketchier intercontinental pack, most of them have pretty much zero clue. When the snowpack is as stable as it is usually is here, most skiers just don't get the hands-on (skis-on?) experience with sketchy snow.
When local chargers are out dropping proud steep lines with powder conditions it gets easy for the less gnar to rationalize skiing lower-angle stuff. A lot of people don't undestand that the steep chutes are actually the safest (usually slide during storms) and easiest to ski cut effectively when the snow is unstable. Big bowls (like Elderberry) have no anchors, no safe zones, and the potential for mega-slides.

[Core Shot]

What was the hazard rating?
Do you have a forecasting agency out there?

[enlosandes]

HWood, I totally agree with you that we haven't seen more carnage yet. I have skied on the eastside for over 10 years and the amount of people has definetly increased in the last few years immensely. And people doing stupid shit. We were up in the Neagatives a few weeks back and could see the loading event taking place and these renobs (boner spelt backwards) just skiing off the top like it was Hangman's or something. At Squaw this year, we saw someone skiing the hanging bowl on Tram Face at 1pm on a sunny warm day. People are definetly getting after it and not always using any mountain sense. I am not saying that is what happened on Mt Tom but people need to chill until corn season.

[Blurred]

sad shit. Two slides by the same group though? No mention of digging a pit.....

RIP you guys....

[H-wood]

avie conditions from CSAC.org for the Eastern Sierra on Mar 25:

The snow pack has been loaded the past few days with recent snow and wind deposition... Estimated strong ridge top winds picking up again. We can expect some slab formation on leeward aspects. I have had some reports of the old crust layer buried about four down still being a reactive layer...
Advisory
Alpine: CONSDIDERABLE (potential for deep instability on some aspects)
Tree line: MODERATE with some areas of CONSIDERABLE
Below tree line: Low

We have a local forecaster, but it's a lot to ask for him to go out every day. More people need to post eyewitness info on Sierrabackcountry.org. I wish we had more resources- but I would say that the above forecast should have been enough... again, not trying to judge- I wasn't there, and these weren't young and dumb people.

[Ireallyliketoski2]

I've never skied there before but sounds like you should avoid that area at all costs in those conditions. RIP and may the friends and family of those whom have passed find peace in dealing with this incomprehensible senseless tragedy.

[H-wood]

Mammoth Ski Patrol posted a snowpack analysis on the 4 foot crown on the Hump a few days ago-I watched Walt work on this for hours while I was doing powder laps. Add a couple more feet of wind-dep high-density and you pretty much have a good picture of what was happening on Mt Tom yesterday.
http://patrol.mammothmountain.com/sn...321-humpfx.htm

Bad layer about 3 feet in (now 5-6 feet after more snow)- sounds like this might have been the killer, and it could continue to be a problem.
What's amazing about this profile is that it's still over 3 meters deep- even after numerous massive slides this season. This 4 foot crown has been now buried for days, easily forgotten, but it tells the story...

[Forrest]

Here is a little more info on the accident

Here is the press release that is going out to local newspapers and radio. It includes a little more info than in the first post I put up. The press release in from the Eastern Sierra Avalanche Center. I apologize for the formatting, taken from a .pdf file. The actual document can be found HERE.

PRESS RELEASE
Mt. Tom avalanche kills 2 skiers and injures one other
On Saturday, March 26th, 2005 the Eastern Sierra saw its first two avalanche fatalities in
almost 10 years. This is a tragic accident that is deeply affecting members of the local
community. While it is extremely important that we get information out to the public quickly
and effectively, it needs to be done with care to assure that all the details are accurately
reported. We appreciate your help in this matter.

Background
Mt. Tom (13,652’) sits as one of the landmark peaks of the Eastern Sierra, just west of
Bishop, Ca. One of its most popular ski descents is Elderberry Canyon, a long glacially carved
canyon that swoops from the North Ridge of Mt. Tom near 12,000 ft. to the mouth of the
canyon at 5,400 ft. near the Pine Creek road outside Rovana.
From March 19th to March 25th, the eastern Sierra received 5-8 inches of water with snowfall
amounts of 66 inches recorded at Mammoth Mountain Ski Area (Please see
http://patrol.mammothmountain.com). Wind loading associated with these storms created
extremely unstable snowpack conditions with many skier triggered slides reported from both
the backcountry and the ski area.

Accident Report
A group of 7 skiers, comprised of Eastside locals and visitors, climbed Elderberry Canyon on
Mt. Tom on Saturday, March 26th. The group planned on skinning the canyon to the
North Ridge, where they would ski back down the way they came up. By 1:30pm they had
reached the ridgeline (right around 12,000’) at the top of the canyon and were beginning their
descent. The first two skiers safely skied a broad east facing bowl-like portion of the canyon,
just below the ridge. The remaining portion of the party waited in a safe zone above as the
3rd and 4th skiers entered the slope. Just after doing so, the entire slope released on them in a
soft-slab avalanche. Crown sizes varied from approximately 2 to 4 ft. In addition, one of the
flanks ran from the top of the bowl down the south ridge approximately 700 to 1,000 ft. Both
skiers were caught and carried down the slope with the large amount of debris about 1,500’
before being buried on a large bench-like moraine.
After seeing the slide, the remaining 3 skiers above quickly hurried down to begin the rescue.
Upon doing so, they caused a second avalanche, slightly higher and to the north of the first
slide. This slide caught all 3 skiers. One was able to escape, one rode the slide, staying on
top for roughly 1,000’ and a third escaped after a short distance after breaking her fibula.
Once the 4 uninjured skiers reached the deposition zone, a beacon search began. The first
victim was recovered within 20 minutes. The second victim was buried under 3.5 meters of
debris and took about an hour to reach. CPR was attempted. One victim is a middle-aged
male from Bishop, Ca, the other a middle-aged female visiting from Montana. Names are not
being released at this time.
No crown profile or formal avalanche observations were made at the time of recovery. A
large number of natural releases had occurred on all aspects over a wide range of elevations
in Elderberry Canyon. It is also important to note the amount of snowfall over the past few
days, as well as the strong ridge-top winds which had transported a large amount of snow
into the canyon.
As more information becomes available, we will release it. For more information on this
accident, please contact Nate Greenberg.

Director
Nate Greenberg

President
Walter Rosenthal

Secretary
Howie Schwartz

Treasurer
Robert ‘SP’ Parker

Forecaster
Sue Burak