Inbounds Avalanche Buries 5 at JHMR on Saturday, All Survive

An avalanche caught five skiers on Saturday morning at Jackson Hole Mountain Resort. Everyone survived. The slide was triggered near the top of the freshly-opened Thunder Lift in an area next to the Expert Chutes zone.

The slab broke loose from the base of a cliff with a crown measured around two feet deep and 150 feet wide. A JHMR ski patrol search team armed with two dogs, a Recco device and avalanche beacons immediately began searching the area, uncovering the victims, which included a group of children skiing with the Jackson Hole Ski and Snowboard Club.

Avalanche danger was listed as considerable above 7,500 feet in the Teton area according to the Bridger Teton Avalanche Center, thanks to heavy snowfall falling atop weak layers in the snow.

The danger has since gone down to Moderate, but snowpit videos dug on Teton Pass posted by the American Avalanche Institute clearly identify the weak layer. See here and here.