Preliminary Report on Anthracite Fatality

Zone: Northwest Mountains

Location: Anthracites: Friendly Finish

Date of Observation: 12/18/2020

Subject: Preliminary Report on Anthracite Fatality

Aspect: North East

Elevation: 10,580 feet

Avalanches:

A solo skier was caught in a large slab avalanche while descending a run known as “Friendly Finish” in the Anthracites. The skier did not survive the avalanche.

Preliminary observations suggest that the slab avalanche was several feet thick, likely breaking on a layer of old, faceted snow that was buried about a week ago.  Previous to descending the victim spoke with a group of two skiers who were also traveling in the area. When the two skiers completed their descent and returned to their parked snowmobile they found the victim’s snowmobile parked without any sign of him. They snowmobiled to a place where they could see the slope he told them he was planning to descend and saw a fresh avalanche. They located the victim with a transceiver search and extricated him from the debris. Tragically he did not survive the event.

The CBAC and CAIC will be conducting an accident investigation tomorrow.  More details on the incident are forthcoming.

Weather:

Snowpack:

Photos: