From: Bob Comey; BTAC |
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Summary: 2 skiers caught, carried, 1 skier buried and killed
The fouth avalanche fatality of the season in Teton County, Wyoming
occured yesterday 2/10/03 at about 1 PM. Two local alpine skiers triggered a slide in a steep dangerous avalanche path known as Hourglass Couloir. This couloir is located in a permanently closed area of the Jackson Hole Mountain Resort. The starting zone of this path is at an elevation of 10,090 feet and faces east-northeast. Six to 12 inches of new snow was measured at the upper study plots of the resort on the morning of this incident. Strong southwest to northwest winds accompanied this snowfall. The skiers triggered a soft slab with an estimated crown depth of two feet. Both were caught and swept the entire length of the slide path.
One was buried two feet deep the other was not buried and ended up upon the debris of the slide without
significant injury. A skier in the resort saw the unburied victum on
the debris and responded with a transciever, located the buried victum and dug him out. Patrol response and CRP folllowed to no avail.
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Jackson Hole News & Guide
Beacon fails in skier death
Friends say avalanche victim Steve Haas lived to ski
During the first five minutes skier Steve Haas was buried in the
avalanche that killed him Monday, his partner searched in vain with a
probe pole because his transceiver had broken.
The avalanche beacon of Tom Burlingame, Haas' partner, was destroyed in the slide that swept the men down Hourglass Couloir and into Tensleep Bowl at the Jackson Hole Mountain Resort, according to Burlingame's report to the Teton County Sheriff's Office. Burlingame was joined about five minutes into his search by a skier with a functional transceiver.
The third skier, Morgan Wion of Wilson, found Haas in seven minutes using his beacon.
The two men spent the next 10 minutes digging Haas from under the three to four feet of snow that covered him in Tensleep Bowl.
Burlingame, a Victor, Idaho, resident began CPR while Wion held Haas' head, but it was too late.
Haas, 41, was dead from suffocation, having spent more than 20 minutes under the snow, according to sheriff's office reports.
Jackson Hole ski patrol took over CPR efforts and used a sled to
transport the victim to the resort medical clinic. An ambulance brought him to St. John's where he was pronounced dead
Burlingame had little to say for this article about the event, offering
only one comment about his friend Haas. "He was great guy and great
skier who made a mistake," Burlingame said.
Haas and Burlingame triggered the avalanche in Hourglass Couloir, an
in-bounds but closed area at the Mountain Resort. Anna Olson, resort
spokeswoman, said a snow slab broke at about 12:45 p.m., sweeping the men 600 vertical feet down the long, steep couloir and depositing them in Tensleep Bowl, an open and frequently skied area below Hourglass.
The avalanche began after the Haas dropped into the couloir and while
the Burlingame was waiting and watching from above, Olson said.
The avalanche started above both skiers. Burlingame rode the surface of the slide and survived with only minor injuries.
Hourglass Couloir is a "very active and dangerous avalanche path,"
according to the Bridger-Teton Avalanche Center. The slide began at about 10,100 feet above sea level on a wind-loaded north-east facing
slope with a pitch of about 40 degrees. The Mountain resort reported that seven inches of new snow fell Sunday night.
Burlingame and Haas rode the Aerial Tram to the top of Rendezvous Mountain and skied north of the tram dock along North Ridge to access the closed Hourglass Couloir.
Haas was a member of Jackson Hole Air Force, a close-knit fraternity of
elite skiers known to challenge themselves with technical lines in
rough, cliff-riddled terrain.
Jackson Hole Ski patroller and friend Kirk Speckhals described Haas as the "ultimate ski bum" who lived for the slopes. "He was the ski bums' ski bum," Speckhals said.
Haas enthusiasm was matched by boldness, knowledge and expertise. "He knew all the complexities of different areas [and] was a very good guide in terms of finding the terrain and knowing how to get there and get back," Speckhals said. "He had a very high level of confidence in himself to ski a lot of steep couloirs and technical runs that a lot of people would have shied away from."
Friend Mike Back said he and other members of Haas' tight crew had
decided to only discuss their fallen friend amongst themselves.
Speckhals said Haas favorite ski run was "Cowboys and Indians," but
declined to reveal the location of the run. Speckhals said he has known Haas for the approximately 15 years
Haas has lived in Jackson. The friends skied together for the last time a week ago in Jensen Canyon, which is south of the resort. Speckhals said he believes Haas moved to Jackson from New York.
S
peckhals, who worked with Haas at Evans Construction, said his friend had a strong work ethic. "As a worker at Evans, he was willing to be the first guy in," Speckhals said. "That's what he did, he drove dump trucks and he skied."
Evans' Human Resources director Ben Graham said that Haas worked for the company each summer from 1993-2001, often working 50 hours per week from April until November. "It worked out well that he liked to ski so much because our business slows down in the winter so that we don't need as many workers."
Graham remembered Haas as a hard worker who always had a smile on his face. "He was a good worker who was dependable, hard working and got along well with the other employees," Graham said. "Everyone here had nothing but good things to say about him."
Ski photographer Wade McKoy, a longtime acquaintance, said it was
evident how much joy Haas derived from skiing. "He always had a smile on his face and you always saw him in the tram line or out on the hill. He
skied every day," McKoy said. "It was great to cross paths with him
because he had a really positive attitude about skiing."
Speckhals added Haas passion for skiing was not tainted by ulterior
motives. "He didn't ski for the cameras; he didn't ski to brag in the
bar."
McKoy photographed Haas several times over the years but not for the ski magazines. "He'd be passing by and he'd ask me for a shot so he could send them to his mom," McKoy said.
Jerry Blann, mountain resort president, offered condolences to Haas' family in a prepared statement that also detailed the resort's policy on closed areas. "We permanently close certain areas for obvious reasons including reducing the risk to guests skiing or snowboarding below. Our ski patrol conducted a dog and transceiver search of the debris to ensure no other skier or snowboarder had been unwillingly caught," Blann said. "Although we are always saddened to see loss of life at the resort and our thoughts are with the family of the deceased, the actions of these two skiers cannot be condoned in any way."
The Bridger-Teton Avalanche Center rated avalanche danger at upper elevations Monday as "considerable," which means "dangerous unstable slabs exist on steep terrain on certain aspects" and "human triggered avalanches probable."
At the upper elevations, new soft slabs to two feet in depth exist on
steep avalanche prone slopes, according to the center. These slabs
easily could be human triggered and have the potential to pull out deeper layers of recent snow in rocky areas and near cliff edges.
The avalanche report is available at http://www.jhavalanche.org or by calling
733-2664.
Monday's death is the fourth avalanche fatality in Teton County this season and the fifth in Wyoming. Teton County Search and Rescue on Feb. 1 found the body of a 27-year-old Jackson snowboarder in avalanche debris in a gully on Teton Pass. He was buried in the last week of January beneath Avalanche Bowl.
On Jan. 25, a Michigan snowmobiler died on Togwotee Pass. The county's first fatality was Jan. 5, when a French snowboarder died of trauma on the north side of Teton Pass.
