A report from a Snowbird safety official can be found on the Utah Avalanche Center's website. The report details events surrounding last week's inbounds slide that killed one woman.
Jim Collison of the Snowbird safety department says in his report that two avalanche explosives were used in the area of the slide prior to the resort opening the terrain. His report also says approximately 300 people used the area prior to the avalanche.
The report states an snowboarder triggered the avalanche at 12:30 p.m. while crossing the slope. The snowboarder was not caught in the slide. Witnesses saw a woman hiking up the slope to retrieve a lost ski when the slide occurred and yelled warnings to her. After the avalanche no one was seen and nearby skiers and snowboarders began to look for the victim. A hasty search team was dispatched to the scene by Snowbird. The search team had rescue dogs with them but due to the amount of people and equipment on scene the dogs could not find the victim, according to the report.
The victim, 27-year-old local resident Heather Gross, was found 58 minutes after the avalanche by a probe team. She was found three feet below the surface.
Another avalanche occurred the same day in a back country area near the Canyons ski resort. A separate report for that incident was also posted on the Utah Avalanche Center website.
The report says an experienced group of five skiers ducked a rope at the Canyons Ski resort to access the back country terrain near Red Pine lake.
In that avalanche the second skier went down the slope and triggered the avalanche. The report says he deviated from a planned route the group believed was the safest because he wanted to ski untracked snow.
The three skiers at the top of slop saw the slide break behind their friend. They shouted at him and heard a muffled response. One of the three instructed everyone to switch their beacons to receive and skied after the victim.
The man was found wrapped around a tree with another tree pinning him in place. The rest of the party rescued him and brought him to Red Pine lake. From there Canyons ski patrol put him on a snowcat and he was taken to nearby medical helicopter. His injuries included a broken pelvis and vertebrae.
The report credits the group for their excellent rescue but says they "made a serious lapse in judgement skiing the slope." The report also says one of the skiers "did not feel good about the decision making going on," but didn't voice his concern.
The report says this concern was one of several human factors at play for this avalanche accident.
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For more information on human factors in avalanche accidents:
http://www.snowpit.com/articles/traps%20reprint.pdfUtah Avalanche Center avalanche accident reports:
http://utahavalanchecenter.org/accidents
