Accident Report          Forest Service Utah Avalanche Center

 

Saturday, December 3, 2005

 

No Name Bowl / Park City Ridgeline – Four Skiers Caught

 

Report by Brett Kobernik

 

Location:

No Name Bowl on the east side of the Park City Ridgeline

(Click here for a diagram of the slide path)

(Click here for photos)

 

Accident Summary:

Four skiers were caught in a large avalanche on Saturday, December 3rd, 2005.  The skiers had decided to go to No Name Bowl on J’s recommendation.  They were looking for good powder skiing.  The group had skied two runs successfully and returned to the top.  At around 12:45 pm they then traversed farther out to the north to ski where there were still fresh tracks.  J, R, and JN skied the slope and regrouped where they thought they were clear of the slide path.  RR was two or three turns into the bowl when it fractured.  He went for a ride as the 600’ wide avalanche started down hill.  It overtook the other three skiers and all luckily only ended up partially buried or mostly buried.

 

Rescue Summary:

Two of the victims were buried deep enough that they were not able to dig themselves out.  The other two were able to deg themselves out then help dig out the rest.  They regrouped by about 1:00 pm to decide how to evacuate the area as they had lost most of their gear including skis, poles, and some of their clothing such as gloves, etc.  They then called for help and were evacuated by helicopter by 4:45 pm.

 

Avalanche Data:      (Click here for crown profile)

The avalanche was classified as HS-AS-D2-R4-G.  It was on a northeast facing slope, 36-38 degrees in steepness, with the starting zone at 9200’.  The average depth of the crown face was around 20” with 14” at the shallowest and about 34” at the deepest.  It was about 600’ wide and ran about 1200’ vertical.  Weak faceted snow from early November was the weak layer with a near pencil hard slab on top of it with some lighter density new snow on the surface.  The lookers (gunners) left side of the bowl had a shallower snowpack and weaker facets then the highest area of the starting zone.  It’s assumed that this was the reason they were able to ski two laps each before going over to ski where the snow was weaker, causing the collapse. 

 

Weather History:  (Click here for seasonal weather history charts)

The Wasatch started receiving snow in late October and early November which then underwent near surface faceting.  A series of storms started just after Thanksgiving which formed the slab over the weak layer.

 

Comments:

All of the skiers had near 30 years of backcountry skiing experience each except J who still had around 10 years experience.  When RR was interviewed, he said that they were aware of the weak snow near the ground and that No Name Bowl was prone to avalanching.  Group dynamics played the biggest role in this accident as the lure of fresh powder and having fun with friends overrode their avalanche hazard decision making.  This is a common theme when experienced backcountry travelers get caught.