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CAUGHT IN AN AVALANCHE
By Ed Bushnell
 Two
close calls and one fatality show that even the most experienced
skiers and snowboarders can find themselves in a deadly situation.
Avalanche forecasters like to
say low avalanche danger does not equal no avalanche danger. Rob
Werner realized the truth of these words on March 2, 2002, when he
was caught in an avalanche and swept several hundred feet down the
East Face of Taylor Mountain.
There had been no new snow in the
several days before March 2, and the temperature was cold. A
moderate wind from the west kept the air chilly throughout the day,
and the snow remained dry. An avalanche report from the
Bridger-Teton National Forest listed the danger as low, and the snow
seemed stable to Werner and his friend as they ascended the
mountain. Other skiers had safely skied the same slope earlier in
the day.
All these facts - evidence that
it was safe to be skiing in the backcountry - were irrelevant to
Werner as he struggled desperately to stay above the cascading snow
carrying him down the mountain before eventually shooting him over a
15-foot cliff.
"I was underneath the snow,"
Werner said. "I couldn’t breathe, I couldn’t see anything."
Werner was on Taylor Mountain
above Teton Pass with a friend and his dog, "Griz." The skiers had
seen plenty of ski tracks but no sign of avalanche activity before
the incident. Werner had just started down an east face of the
mountain with his dog following close behind when a layer of snow
approximately one foot thick and 50 yards wide fractured just above
him and began to slide down the mountain.
"I
was almost trying to run on top of the snow," Werner said. "Then I
was in it."
Werner lay helpless on his back
as the snow swept him several hundred feet down the mountain, then
over the cliff. After a few seconds of darkness, he popped back
above the snow and was hurled over the wall of a gully, away from
the main body of the avalanche. He finally came to a stop, face
down, his lower body and one arm buried in the snow.
"Miraculously, I didn’t have a
scratch," Werner said. "I couldn’t believe it."
Although Werner was unharmed, he
lost his dog in the incident. Werner returned to the location of the
slide in June and found Griz, whom he buried on a nearby hillside.
Although no terrain in the
mountains is completely safe from avalanches, the snow control work
done by ski patrollers makes avalanche incidents extremely rare
within the boundaries of ski resorts. However, as more skiers and
snowboarders have ventured into the backcountry in recent years,
avalanche incidents have increased.
The Jackson Hole area was
blessed with several years of stable conditions in the late 1990s as
backcountry use grew, and there were no deaths from avalanches in
the Tetons for the last half of that decade. Then, in the horrible
winter season of 2000-2001, five people lost their lives in
avalanche incidents - three in one month.
The most recent winter season of
2001-2002 was not nearly as deadly; however, several incidents, one
of which was fatal, occurred.
It’s easy for armchair critics
to dismiss avalanche incidents as a result of errors in judgment for
the skiers and snowboarders involved. However, sometimes the warning
signals are vague, and only hindsight allows us to realize what went
wrong.
The windy conditions of the day
Werner was caught in an avalanche on Taylor Mountain most likely
blew snow off of west-facing slopes in the Tetons, depositing it on
the top of east-facing slopes. Snow deposited on slopes from wind -
termed "wind-loading" by avalanche experts - is known to increase
avalanche danger. However, the potential presence of wind-loading,
without any other warning signs such as recent avalanche activity or
warm weather, is a subtle warning sign that may not deter many
backcountry skiers and snowboarders.
Another warning sign that the
avalanche danger may soon increase is warming temperatures. As the
temperature climbs above freezing on warm winter or spring days,
water begins to trickle through and weaken the snowpack.
 Local photographer and telemark
skier Jonathan Selkowitz was caught in an avalanche near Togwotee
Pass at the northern edge of Jackson Hole on a sunny April morning.
Selkowitz was setting up a photo shoot on a moderately steep bowl
that narrowed into a funnel when a snowboarder above him triggered
the slide.
Selkowitz was swept off his feet
and rode helplessly above the wet slide as it descended the
mountain. His ride was surprisingly smooth for an avalanche, and he
was able to take pictures as he was carried down the mountain. When
the slide stopped 1,000 feet below the fracture line, Selkowitz was
unharmed.
Selkowitz said he had reached
the top of the mountain at approximately 10 a.m. and began his
descent shortly thereafter. Although he admits he should have been
at the top of the mountain a little earlier in the name of safety,
he said the slope appeared in good condition. The snow was "Corn
Snow," Selkowitz said, which is created after many nights of
freezing temperatures followed by warm sunny days. Backcountry
skiers often view corn snow as relatively avalanche-proof, an
assumption Selkowitz said he will not make in the future.
Selkowitz and Werner were lucky
to escape their respective avalanche incidents unharmed. David
Michael Dollarhide was not so lucky, and was the only avalanche
fatality of the 2001-2002 winter season.
Little is known about the
circumstances surrounding Dollarhide’s death, for he was skiing
alone when he was caught in the avalanche that killed him.
Dollarhide often traveled alone in the mountains; perhaps not the
safest way to travel in the mountains, but sometimes the most
rewarding.
Dollarhide parked his car near
Cache Creek on March 9 and skied up a canyon into the Gros Ventre
Mountains. He stayed at a ski cabin several miles up in the
mountains, using it as a base camp for several day-long ski trips.
Searchers were able to follow
his ski tracks from the cabin and reconstruct his route the day he
died. Fresh snow had recently fallen and there had been significant
avalanche activity. Perhaps aware of the danger, Dollarhide traveled
mostly ridges, staying off peaks susceptible to slides. However, he
was caught in an avalanche as he crossed an open snowfield when
returning to the ski cabin near the end of his tour and suffocated
to death.
All three incidents involved
seasoned backcountry skiers, who had taken avalanche awareness
classes and were experienced in recognizing potential avalanche
dangers. There were subtle warning signs in every case, but
conditions are rarely perfect in the mountains.
Werner did not ski in the
backcountry for the rest of the season after his incident, and said
he’s reluctant to travel in the mountains again.
"I
don’t know how I’ll feel this winter," Werner said. "It definitely
spooks you."
Ed Bushnell, a writer and skier
living in Jackson Hole, managed to ski the Tetons every month for
the past two years.
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