Avalanche Danger

[Wax]

I posted a thread on the riding area forum but there are more people that are on the forum. I hope the moderators will leave it here.

An avalanche has claimed another man in Wyoming. The avalanche was in the Togwotee area. It happened yesterday, 1-9-19. Two other riders were able to get the man free from the snow but were unable to to revive him.

Don’t want to spread fear but the conditions are prime for avalanche’s. Please be aware if you are heading to the Togwotee area or any other area.

I do believe this is the second person that has lost their life this year in Wyoming due to an avalanche.

Few details at this time.

 

[richracer1]

Here's an article about it.


https://buckrail.com/snowmobiler-ki...IxQ-IpOR08QqbvxcN61CQ8mXDery_RuvdO7apWc1KixvA

 

[Wax]

I guess I need to apologize to everyone. I was not aware of the date from the article that was posted on a local tv’s web site.

Again my apologies for that.

The snow conditions are still very prone to avalanche’s. Please ride safe.

Wax

 

[Wax]

Moderators:

 

[Wax]

richracer1: That article was from last year. There was another avalanche yesterday in the same exact area that killed another snowmobiler.

There still isn’t much information about the exact circumstances.

 

[richracer1]

That was just posted 5 hours ago and mentions the avy death from 22 April 2018 being in the same area??????????????

 

[tuneman]

Very sad, and yes, another fatality yesterday. The first Wyoming fatality this season was last December in Horse Creek/Blind Bull.

Info for all Wyoming fatalities are here, in case you're interested:

http://www.jhavalanche.org/areaFatalities

 

[Wax]

It sure appears that way.

 

[AaronBND]

http://www.jhavalanche.org/eventDetail/event/15831

 

[frntflp]

Sadly, no beacon. ... RIP

 

[Matte Murder]

Wow. There are photos linked to that article. Really small hill, did NOT look like there would be any dangerous avalanches coming from that spot. Guy was buried 6’ too. I’m pretty Avy aware and that spot looked like a place I would have ridden on a high Avy day. The article didn’t say what the conditions were. Only that the Avy broke on a weak layer.

 

[revrider07]

I was at holiday inn in west Yellowstone and Avalanche.org had a free awareness session only like 7 attended. I was blown away at this it was free. When it was over 25 sledders or more was in the bar. One hour of time to learn some information.

 

[Adam12]

Wow. There are photos linked to that article. Really small hill, did NOT look like there would be any dangerous avalanches coming from that spot. Guy was buried 6’ too. I’m pretty Avy aware and that spot looked like a place I would have ridden on a high Avy day. The article didn’t say what the conditions were. Only that the Avy broke on a weak layer.

Exactly how I felt after looking at the pictures. How often do we mess around on smaller slopes like this without a second thought?

 

[turboless terry]

Pictures always look mellower than it actually is.

 

[Wax]

Those small slides are a direct result of the terrible snow fall this year. As many have posted and friends that ride the area, this is some of the lowest snow totals in recent years.

The low snow totals are what is the start of these smaller slides. I’m sure in your avalanche class they touched on the “layers” of snow and what the results can be. Now if a couple of big, snorkel snow deep, storms come in, you will hear of more slides.

Make sure that you and your riding partners are tooled up with avalanche gear as well as knowing how to use the tools properly.

Be safe.

 

[Griff]

A lot can be learned by reviewing the incident reports.

But, after several classroom sessions and years of riding with gear I still didn't know what I didn't know....until I took an on snow rescue course in Cooke City. That was an eye opener, I learned a lot and my group is much better off for it.

Soap box here, take time for the training everyone, there are some great resources out there and free!

 

[tuneman]

That hill is much larger and steeper than it appears in the pic. Anything over 25 degrees can slide, but it's much steeper than that.

Just a word of caution for anyone riding Western Wyoming this weekend: There's some potential for significant snow in a few days, but the recent sub-zero temps and fog have produced a ton of hoarfrost. Best to keep out of the avy prone spots until things set up.