Accident Report Forest Service Utah Avalanche Center

Sunday, January 1st, 2006

Mt Timpanogos/One male snowshoer missing after being caught in avalanche

Provisional report by Brett Kobernik

Location:

Mt Timpanogos/Near Emerald Lake

Accident Summary:

Two men were caught in a large hard slab avalanche Saturday afternoon while snowshoeing near Emerald Lake. One man ended up on top of the debris uninjured. He was unable to locate his friend, who is presumed still buried in the debris.

Rescue Summary:

By around 4:30 pm the weather cleared enough for a helicopter to fly and extricated the one man that was not completely buried. Due to poor weather conditions, no organized rescue was possible Saturday night. On Sunday a rescue party was organized but it was determined that avalanche danger was too high for rescuers to proceed. Search efforts have been called off until later in the week due to high avalanche danger and another strong storm forecast to affect the area Monday into Tuesday.

Avalanche Data:

No data available at this time.

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

A warm and very windy storm which started on Friday, December 29^th was still affecting the area on Saturday when the accident took place. The new snow up to the time of the accident contained about 1 ½” of water. The strong winds associated with the storm blew the new snow into large fresh wind slabs. These slabs were active with explosives at ski resorts.

Comments:

Not much information is available due to current avalanche danger. We will update this accident when we obtain more information.