Utah Divas please check in!

[Robyn]

Unfortunately there were at least 2 inbounds avalanches today. The most serious of which is an avalanche at Snowbird which buried at least one person, a 27 year old female skier. Condition uknown right now but rumors are not good. https://www.snowbird.com/imagelib/pr/avalanche.pdf

The second avalanche occured at Vail in the Lover's Leap area (location of the missing Burnin' Luv from SkiNurse) although reports are nobody was seriously injured.

Utah Divas, please check in and let us know you're okay. My thoughts are with anyone affected by these two events.

 

[altagirl]

There's a 4 page thread on the Snowbird one at TGR now.

Apparently the woman involved did pass away. Reports vary, but apparently she was swept over at least one cliff and was buried for somewhere between 30 minutes and an hour. Life flighted to the hospital but could not be revived.

This was in open/inbounds terrain, too, which is always scary. And a good reminder to wear a beacon if you have one, even if you're staying inbounds. And probably carry your probe and such as well so you can help search quickly.

Vibes to her family and friends.

And I don't know much about the other avalanche(s?) today. Though it sounds like there were three big ones? Scary day. But not surprising - the avalanche forecast was predicting the worst with that rain crust, heavy winds, etc. Very sad.

 

[Telluride Ski Babe]

We have been in a heightened avalanche watch...the snow is incredibly unstable. Thanks for bringing it to everyone's attention Robyn. I hope all are okay.

 

[Robyn]

Yes, I've read the thread at TGR (although I don't post there) and don't believe the victim, Heather Gross, is a Diva but I still want to make sure all of our Utah Divas are okay given the other slides today. Very, very scary.

 

[altagirl]

Sounds like the other one that involved a rescue/life flight was a guy on TGR, who is hospitalized but should recover. Hopefully there aren't any more!

The one at Snowbird is really scary. People are saying that it had been open for several hours and they were traversing past the area that slid because it was so tracked out already. And I've skied that area so many times... and my husband skis it even more than I do - and usually alone. Though even if you had someone there to rescue you - if you got swept over those cliffs... wow that's a bad area for that to happen.

 

[dloveski]

My heart goes out to the family of this 27 y.o. woman. I was running on Wasatch Blvd and the Airmed came out of LCC right overhead on the way to University Hospital and I felt right then that something bad had happened. We are in such early season conditions that I'm surprised they opened the chutes. The layers of our struggling and fragile base are unstable and in the early season, even with a beacon, one is more likely to suffer trauma in a slide due to the rocks/trees than later in the season when we have a 100+ base. A slide is bad anytime, but in early season, you have much more to hit on the way down.

I bought three beacons pro forma today for my boys and a friend who do b/c shots. But I will tell them, wait until we have a few more storms to build the base before trekking out of bounds.

And, I agree with AG, that perhaps wearing the beacons in-bounds is not a bad idea.

I am so sad for this young lady and her family.

 

[Sheena]

Definitely very scary news. and very sad.

My heart goes out to the friends and family of this skier

 

[cinnabon]

:( Wow, this is really sad.

 

[Shellski]

What a terrible tragedy. And very scary.

 

[ski diva]

Very, very sad. Somehow you imagine if you're inbounds, you're safe. This shows it can happen anywhere.

My heart goes out to the woman's family.

 

[bklyn]

I wore my beacon at Vail yesterday, avy conditions are bad all over UT and CO.

 

[SkiNurse]

So sorry about this.

I hadn't heard about the one at Vail though. But it doesn't suprsise me. Several years ago, I was at Copper in Spaulding Bowl and an avalanche happened moments in Patrol Chute after I had crossed it. A gal got caught, but was ok. That area had been blasted ealrier that day also.

You just never know.

 

[Severine]

:( How very sad indeed. :(

 

[volklgirl]

My heart and condolences go out to any and all persons and families struck by these tragedies.

STAY SAFE out there ladies! Watch your a**es and come back alive!!!!

 

[Slidergirl]

there were two in Utah yesterday

There was another avalanche yesterday in Utah. This one was in the backcountry near The Canyons. It was off of Square Top Peak and Red Pine Lake. One of the 4 skiers was injured in the slide and was airlifted to the hospital. He will eventually be OK.
People were just so hungry for fresh snow that they underestimating the avalanche danger early in the season, I guess.