Henderson Mountain Skier Avalanche Fatality

On Sunday, December 11, two skiers joined another group of three friends to ski and snowboard a short run on the shoulder of Henderson Mountain. The group of three had already skied a lap on the slope and the two others joined them for a run. Skiing one at a time the three skied to the bottom, leaving the two others at the top. With 6 tracks on the slope another skier descended. After two turns the slope avalanched with the crown line breaking at the tips of the top person’s skis. The slope was 40-43 deg steep where it was triggered. The avalanche broke 3 feet deep, 80 feet wide at the crown, 150 feet wide mid-path and traveled 250 vertical feet. The slide carried him into a terrain trap of trees where he was completely buried. A snowboarder in the runout zone was buried to his waist. He was uninjured and extricated himself quickly. The four did a beacon search and uncovered the victim in 15-20 minutes. They performed CPR but the trauma was fatal. The avalanche is classified SS-ASu-R4-D2-O with a runout angle of 34 deg.