Tragic in-bounds avalanche in Idaho - and a fundraiser in memory of a friend

[ilovepugs]

I'm sad to say that my husband's friend, Molly Hubbard, recently passed away in an avalanche at Silver Mountain Resort in Idaho. Molly was skiing in-bounds on an open black diamond trail (on which avalanche mitigation work was completed earlier that morning), when a slide was triggered, resulting in the deaths of three skiers. She wasn't found until two days after the avalanche occurred, after her concerned family contacted the resort.

Molly was just about to finish 8 years of post-graduate training in pediatric neurosurgery and was, by all accounts, an absolute dynamo and a passionate outdoorswoman. She planned to climb Mount Rainier in July of this year as a capstone to her hard fought professional achievement, and more importantly, to raise money for SheJumps in support of mentorship and programming for women in outdoor sports.

With @ski diva's permission, I'm sharing the fundraiser that she started, and that lives on in her memory. I hope that you will consider donating to SheJumps in memory of this incredible woman. Please visit the fundraiser here: https://shejumpsrainier2020.causevox.com/mhubbard

Thank you so much for your support.

 

[ilovepugs]

Here’s an article from Outside discussing avalanche safety in light of this tragedy. It makes me think I should buy a beacon for my next big mountain, powder hunting trip: https://www.outsideonline.com/2407741/silver-mountain-idaho-inbounds-avalanche


“If you want to completely ensure your safety in this one small part of the skiing risk continuum (remember: you’re more likely to suffocate in a tree well or get splatted by some out-of-control goon), the fix is to stay off higher-risk terrain altogether. But that’s harder to do than you might think. The sweet spot for an avalanche release is a 38 degree slope angle, which can be a challenging blue or a moderate black, depending on the resort. In fact, pretty much all the skiing that’s rated advanced to expert at your favorite Western ski area is technically avalanche terrain. Few are going to quit skiing that terrain because of the remote threat of an inbounds slide. For the skiing populace writ large, a newfound passion for powder and steeps only takes us deeper into avalanche country like the committing lines on Silver Mountain’s Wardner Peak or Taos’s Kachina—the sites of the fatal incidents.

“While we assume the inherent risk, there are some things we can do to protect ourselves. Developing a mountain sense is step one. Treating inbounds avalanche terrain like the backcountry during the early season and big storms is essential to that end. Just because your local avalanche center is careful to say that its forecasts don’t apply to the ski areas in your region, doesn’t mean you should tune them out if you’re skiing inbounds. If it’s high hazard in the backcountry and you’re in the midst of a heavy storm cycle, your mountain sense should tell you to ski the area differently. When I caught up with McCloskey from Alta the day after the Silver Mountain accident, he was on a chairlift in a storm. As he’s done every ski day for the past 17 years, he was wearing an avalanche transceiver. And he’d just asked a woman on the chair—a local from Salt Lake—if she was wearing one, too. Wearing a transceiver in avalanche country just makes sense.”

 

[newboots]

@ilovepugs - So very sorry to hear of your and your husband's loss. She sounds like an incredible person, one who was very much needed in this world. A loss for all of us, and so tragic.

And thank you for the link!

 

[newboots]

P.S. Even if you're not in a position to donate, you should visit the page. It's lovely and heartbreaking.

 

[ilovepugs]

P.S. Even if you're not in a position to donate, you should visit the page. It's lovely and heartbreaking.

Thank you, @newboots. Heartbreaking is the word -- reading through the progression of the messages almost put me in tears.

 

[canannie]

so sad, so young, Sorry for your husbands loss

 

[nopoleskier]

So very sad, what a tragic loss.

 

[Like2Ski]

What a terrible loss. So sorry to hear it.

 

[MissySki]

Ugh what a terrible loss of such a remarkable person, so sorry..

 

[geargrrl]

A note about Dr Hubbard: the ski area was not notified she was missing until 7 AM the following morning. The patrol had figured out *someone* was missing the night before, due to a van with a dog in it left in the parking lot. Her family did not call the ski area until the next day. I think the lesson here is that if you are going out solo, please have a evening check in routine with someone.

 

[ilovepugs]

A note about Dr Hubbard: the ski area was not notified she was missing until 7 AM the following morning. The patrol had figured out *someone* was missing the night before, due to a van with a dog in it left in the parking lot. Her family did not call the ski area until the next day. I think the lesson here is that if you are going out solo, please have a evening check in routine with someone.

Yes, that’s a really important takeaway. Thanks for pointing it out.