SKIERS STARTED AVALANCHE THAT KILLED 3
16th January 2020
Last modified on May 16th, 2021
A preliminary investigation has been carried out into last week’s tragedy at Silver Mountain Resort in Idaho. PlanetSKI reports.
The accident happened on Tuesday January 7th.
The slope had been declared safe by the ski patrol after it carried out control work first thing in the morning.
The bodies of two people were recovered and a third person was not found until Thursday after extensive searching.
PlanetSKI reported on the tragedy at the time from the neighbouring state of Utah.
The Idaho Panhandle Avalanche Center has released the findings of a preliminary investigation saying the slide was 91m wide and 275m long.
It released 27m from the top of Wardner Peak and was triggered by skiers.
It went down to a ski run below called 16 to 1.
“They had done their control work just like they always do,” the director of the avalanche centre, Jeff Thompson, told the local newspaper The Spokesman-Review.
“In fact, I think they did more than they normally do to open that slope.”
“There are no fingers to be pointed from IPACs standpoint,” he said.
“Sometimes explosives and mitigation practices aren’t enough,” he said.
“Mother Nature has a mind of her own.”
The full investigation continues.
Elsewhere a snowmobiler has been killed in an avalanche in Idaho.
The accident happened in Baker Creek near Ketchum.
Another escaped the slide.
An investigation is underway
