Today tragedy struck our mountain. After massive amounts of snow over the last 5 days, Jackson Hole Mountain Resort spent the morning bombing the mountain to trigger as many avalanches as possible before declaring the area safe for skiing. As we ate an amazing Christmas ham and egg breakfast, we could hear the reverberation of massive explosives going off through the Valley.
My plan was to write most of the day, Tim went to Glory for his first ski in 2 days, and Jeff, MaryLou, Kyle and Jason packed up their gear to go to the Mountain.
The news started to spread at about 2 pm that there had been an inbounds avalanche. Rumors circulated, both Tim and I got calls that 3 people had died off of Thunder in a steep section called Toilet Bowl. It was catastrophic.
Tim had been attempting a climb up Glory and for the first time in his years of skiing Jackson backcountry, he got turned back. The boot pack had disappeared in 5 feet of snow and anytime he left the original trail, he fell into snow up to his armpits. After struggling up about 1/3 of the way, he turned around and skied back. I was so glad to see him after the reports from the Village.
Jeff, MaryLou, Kyle and Jason were soon back as well and we all were relieved. Everyone was safe and accounted for. Reports slowly rolled in from local websites. As it turned out, 1 Jackson local died in the avalanche. He had skied an area which had been heavily bombed all morning and deemed safe. It was skied throughout the morning with no trouble. But this time something was different and the slide was triggered, burying the skier in 8 feet of snow. It’s the resort’s worst nightmare.
Jackson, which has never had an avalanche death at the resort, now joins Snowbird and Squaw as a ski hill with an inbound avalanche death over the past month. Startlingly, inbound avalanche deaths, where slopes are carefully monitored, equal backcountry deaths, where there is little or no snow control, in the US for December, 2008.
Our hearts hurt for all these victims and their families. It’s hard to believe, but yes it is possible to have too much snow.
Thanks for the post, Mary Lynn. Thoughts and prayers are of course with Dave’s family and friends. It is already a tough year, and looks to continue that way… Just a quick note on JHMR avalanche history, though – it’s not really the first avy death (in-bounds, or otherwise) at JHMR. There’ve been patrollers – Raymer and Driscoll – who died during control work, and then the young man who died in Casper Bowl a few years ago (really a fall, but later attributed to avy…) Also, Steve Haas died in an avalanche a couple of years ago in Hourglass (closed area). Of course, there’ve been numerous other incidents (some resulting in deaths, and others not) both within closed areas and outside of resort boundaries…
Here’s more on avy deaths history in WY: http://www.jhavalanche.org/area.html
Be safe, enjoy our privileges, and remind friends and relatives that you love them!
Our prayers go out to all of you touched by this terrible event……..thanks to the heavens that all of our loved ones arrived home safely………..Mother Nature gives us wonderful and amazing gifts to experience but she also has the power of the universe in her pocket. Just as we must respect the power of the ocean as we enjoy it’s beauty…….the same goes for the snow and your beautiful mountains. Rejoice for what gifts we have and we have to go with Mike on this one…….SAY “I LOVE YOU”!!
Gratefully,
D&L
That’s a great update, Mike. Thank you for the correction.