Southern San Juan
AvalancheLena Lander · Dec 18, 2016 · Southern San Juan
Weather
New snow overnight was 4" the morning of 12-16. Snowfall rate increased rapidly starting around 9:30 am. By 11am the ski area had received an additional 5" of snow. The elevation on the Knife Ridge is around 11,000 ft. The aspect of the avalanche site is 40 degrees.
Snowpack
The snow pack in this area was fairly shallow and faceted, prior to this storm. The Knife Ridge route is run by Wolf Creek Ski Patrol after every storm and had been addressed with explosives the morning of 12.16.16 prior to the release.
Avalanche
According to the skier's involved with the avalanche, they passed the avalanche terrain warning signs at the base of the hike to the Knife Ridge. The group had discussed, that they had forgotten their beacons.shovels and probes at home, but decided to enter the terrain. They decided to ski off the Knife Ridge in to the Big Cornice/Gully 1 area. The first three skiers skied the path and waited for the fourth skier at the bottom. When the fourth skier was near the bottom of the slope, it broke above him and the soft storm snow began pushing him downhill from behind. He fell forward and was buried face down under 2' of snow. He lost a ski as he was being buried and came to rest below a small tree (see photo). His friends were calling out to him and when he did not respond, they began to make their way up hill to where they could see his ski sticking out of the snow. They called 911. Once there, they dug the buried skier out with their hands. He was uncovered within 3-5 minutes. When they uncovered his face, he was unconscious. They removed snow from his face and mouth and he regained consciousness. Patrol arrived and assisted with further extrication and medical treatment. The slide was 50' wide 50' long. The fracture occurred within the storm snow and did not step down into the old facet layer. The crown line was soft and 6-8" deep. Two additional slides were documented in the ski area the same day on very similar aspects.