Archived News - 2008

Archived Avalanche News Stories - 2008

December 29, 2008 -Pass avalanche kills moose

A moose was the victim of an avalanche on the west side of Teton Pass during the recent series of snow slides that twice closed Highway 22. Highway crews found the carcass Monday in debris on the highway in the Coal Creek area while clearing the road. Workers figure the animal might have triggered the avalanche, which dumped 15 feet of snow on the road. More ...

November 29, 2008 - Training Doesn't Reduce Avalanche Risk, Study Shows

A study by the University of Calgary shows that avalanche training may not reduce your chances of getting caught in a slide. Researcher Albi Sole says his study shows the risk of being involved in an avalanche is generally overstated. He says drownings are more common. And the risks of going into the back country in Canada are about the same as being a motorist. More ...

November 26, 2008 - Simulating Avalanche, Debris Flow and Rock Fall

The extreme avalanche winters of 1951 and 1999 in Switzerland clearly demonstrated the need for hazard mapping in mountainous areas. Hazard mapping helps in devising mitigation measures such as the construction of natural and artificial protection against avalanches, debris flow and rock fall. The authors developed a new system called RAMMS (Rapid Mass Movements) comprising avalanche, debris-flow and rock-fall, protection and visualisation modules linked to a GIS. More ...

November 20, 2008 - Explosive discovery under porch

One Crested Butte neighbourhood had a brief scare after police learned that an explosive used for avalanche control had been stashed by a renter under the front porch of a house. “The police were freaking out.” Ryan Hoynacki told the Crested Butte News. “There must have been six or seven cops there.” Hoynacki moved into the house recently, and was told by the departing tenant that he had left the explosive under the porch. More ...

November 19, 2008 - Mountain News: Telluride brings in big guns

Telluride’s new ski terrain in Prospect Bowl is so big and steep that the U.S. Forest Service has authorized a pair of 105-mm howitzer cannons to provoke avalanches before skiers get there. Only a handful of ski areas in the United States are permitted such howitzers. More ...

August 3, 2008 - White House reverses experts on Yellowstone policy

The National Park Service wanted to close a section of Yellowstone Park in winter because of the risk of avalanche. No way, protested local businesses that wanted tourism dollars. The spat ended up in Washington, where the Bush White House intervened against the National Park Service. More ...

July 29, 2008 - Talisker added to Lawsuit over deadly avalanche at The Canyons

A wrongful death lawsuit filed in response to an in-bounds avalanche at The Canyons now names Talisker Corp. officials who recently purchased the ski resort, which is the largest in Utah. More ...

July 28, 2008 - Families of Jungfrau military accident to see investigation files

Families of victims of the Jungfrau army accident a year ago are finally being given access to military police files on the tragedy. Five young recruits and their sergeant were swept away by an avalanche and fell 1,000 metres to their deaths. More ...

June 14 , 2008 - Alta studying new lift to cut avalanche risk

Alta Ski Area is toying with building a lift up the south-facing slope of Flagstaff Mountain and letting skiers help reduce avalanche risk by compacting the snowpack. Backcountry skiers fear it would make it far too easy for the masses to reach prime out-of-resort locations. The group Save Our Canyons will monitor the evolving proposal closely. More ...

June 11 , 2008 - New Zealand Avalanche programme turns 25

New Zealand - It is 25 years since a safety programme was introduced on one of the country's most notorious highways. The Milford Road avalanche control programme has been credited with both saving lives and contributing millions of dollars to the local tourist economy. More ...

May 21 , 2008 - Alaska delegation pushes for avalanche monitoring (again)

U.S. Sen. Ted Stevens, R-Alaska, introduced yet another bill that would require federal agencies to monitor avalanche threats throughout the United States. It would require that both the Interior Department and the Department of Agriculture develop a coordinated avalanche protection program. More ...

May 20 , 2008 - Lawsuits filed in slide death at The Canyons

The Canyons, American Skiing Co. and Wolf Mountain Resorts were sued by the widow and the mother of a man killed in an avalanche at the resort in December. The slide that killed 30-year-old Jesse Williams, of Grand Junction, Colo., happened within the boundaries of The Canyons and was about 175 feet wide. The avalanche also trapped 11-year-old Max Zilvitis near the Ninety-Nine 90 Express lift. The Snyderville Basin boy survived after he was buried for about 40 minutes. More ...

May 14 , 2008 - Group Probes Avalanche Prevention Plan

A conservation group has filed a request for documents relating to an upcoming decision by Glacier National Park regarding avalanche control on the railroad tracks on the park’s southern border, out of concern that Burlington Northern Santa Fe Railway executives may have influenced the decision after the public comment period had closed. More ...

April 17, 2008 - Pakistans Lowari Top: It devours, freezes and kills

Heavy snowfall blocks the Lowari Top in Pakistan for all kinds of traffic every winter and cuts off district Chitral from the rest of the country for at least four months. After closure of the Top, people have to cross it on foot to reach their destinations, but most of the time the trekkers fall prey to avalanches, freezing cold and winds. This winter the Top has killed 12 persons, seven on January 8 and five on April 5, and injured scores of others. An avalanche had hit the workers executing Lowari tunnel project in January, but luckily, they were pulled out unharmed. More ...

April 16, 2008 - Massive Avalanche Cuts Power to Juneau

An avalanche Wednesday has cut all hydroelectric power in Juneau. Alaska Electric Light & Power spokeswoman Gayle Wood says the massive avalanche was about three miles from the Snettisham power house. The mile-and-a-half wide slide took out more than a mile of transmission line. More ...

March 20, 2008 - No way to run a national park

Who has the most clout in Glacier National Park in northwestern Montana? Thousands of citizens who took part in an environmental impact study, or a railroad that wants to control avalanches as cheaply as possible? If you guessed the railroad, it seems you’re right. More ...

March 16, 2008 - No more avalanche forecasts for Juneau ; city ends contract

Juneau has not renewed its contract with an avalanche forecast center that operated for one year, spurring a mixed reaction from residents. Butch Holst, who has lived in one of the avalanche zones for 30 years, said he didn't care for last year's forecast system. "It was scaring the living daylights out of people," Holst said. "People were running for the hills every other day." More ...

March 6, 2008 - Dog caught in Colorado avalanche wanders home

More than 25 people searched for ‘Monkey,’ a rescue dog who triggered Grand County slide. Not only did the case of the victim caught in an avalanche this week have a happy ending, but it’s one they are still laughing about at the Grand County Sheriff’s Office.. More ...

March 3, 2008 - Avalanche Spotted on Mars

A robotic spacecraft circling Mars has snapped the first image of a series of active avalanches near the planet's north pole. The image reveals at least four avalanches of fine ice and dust breaking off from a steep cliff and settling on the slope below. The cascade kicked up massive debris clouds, with some measuring more than 590 feet across. More ...

March 2, 2008 - Visit the scene of Stevens Pass avalanche

Near Stevens Pass, along a gravel hiking trail that follows an old railroad grade, people can visit what once was Wellington, the site of the deadliest avalanche in American history. The Iron Goat Trail provides summer hikers a safe way to explore the area where 96 people lost their lives on March 1, 1910. More ...

March 2, 2008 - Multiple Avalanche Burials, rarer than you think?

There is a great deal of focus by amateur backcountry enthusiasts on multiple burial avalanche accidents. It is a major factor in avalanche beacon choice with transceivers such as the Pieps DSP, Ortovox S1 and Barryvox Pulse simplifying the whole process with easy to read graphical displays. But should skiers and boarders be losing so much sleep over the multiple burial scenario? More ...

February 19, 2008 - Japanese Ski resorts need to stress safety

The avalanche earlier this month that claimed the lives of two Aichi University students on a beginners run in Otarimura, Nagano Prefecture, has raised calls for ski resorts to better inform visitors of the risks of snowslides. More ...

January 30, 2008 - Snow slides dam Big Wood River, hit Ketchum houses

A large avalanche in Ketchum’s Warm Springs neighborhood swept over the home of Chuck and Nancy Ferries along Huffman Drive Monday morning. The slide marks the second time in less than a month that the couple’s home was partially buried by a large avalanche. The Ferries were not home when the second slide swept over their home this week. More ...

January 21, 2008 - Rogers Pass gets a blast of support

Each winter Rogers Pass draws hundreds of backcountry skiers. However, it is also home to deadly avalanche paths that endanger the highway and the railway every year. In an attempt to prevent avalanches, soldiers from the 1st Regiment, Royal Canadian Horse Artillery from Shilo, Manitoba, arrive at Rogers Pass to assist Parks Canada’s Avalanche Control (AVCON) program in triggering the snow before it slides on its own. They bring three 105-millimetre howitzers, which can be deployed to any of the 18 fixed gun positions. More ...

January 13, 2008 - Avalanche Strands at least 80 people in Tajikistan

At least 80 people were stranded on a mountainous road in Tajikistan for nearly three weeks after an avalanche wiped out a section of highway linking the capital, Dushanbe, to the country's north. At least three people died in the incident, while the others -- children and women among them -- have been waiting weeks to be rescued. More ...

January 10, 2008 - Cost-effectively formed tunnel in Austria

Construction and Maintenance Technologies - Due to a number of avalanches in recent years, the 300-metre long avalanche protection gallery - built in 1994 - has had to be extended by a further 115 metres. For cost-effective construction of the concrete sections, each with 14-metre standard cycle lengths, the contractors are using a PERI formwork solution based on the VARIOKIT construction kit. Through the use of standardized and rentable series production components, it has been possible to do without special elements. This has meant that the overall costs have been greatly reduced – particularly with regard to the small tunnel length and the short construction period. More ...

January 02, 2008 - Avalanche Victims Aided with SPOT Satellite Messenger

When Natalie Bertsch bought her husband a GPS-enabled SPOT(tm) Satellite Messenger, little did she know that only a week later he would use SPOT while coming to the aid of four friends swept away in an avalanche near Laramie, Wyoming. On Jan. 2, 2008, Brian Bertsch contacted an emergency 9-1-1 call center by pressing a single button on his handheld SPOT. More ...

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