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Avalanche on the hill

Submitted by threefish on Sat, 15/01/2011 - 5:10pm.
Posts: 34
Joined: 12-04-2007

Anyone hear any more on this?
[quote]
Seven people were on an expert ski run at the Fernie Alpine Resort in southeastern B.C., when an avalanche roared down the mountainside Saturday afternoon.

The resort says none of the seven were entirely buried by the snow slide, but one young skier received a leg injury and was taken to hospital by ambulance.

The resort said the slide happened in an inbound area of the resort.

“The avalanche was triggered by skiers and was reported to be approximately 30 metres wide and one metre deep,” resort manager Andy Cohen said in a release.

The slide happened in an area known as Currie 1, 2, 3, which is rated as expert terrain.
[/quote]
source: http://www.theglobeandmail.com/news/national/british-columbia/one-injure...
Submitted by GravityAssisted on Sat, 15/01/2011 - 5:42pm
Posts: 75
Joined: 15-09-2008

I saw snow debris from an older slide in the exact same spot earlier today. I am surprised that another slide happened again. This is something to keep in mind in the back country.
Submitted by tpaterson on Mon, 17/01/2011 - 6:34pm
Posts: 6
Joined: 10-01-2007

Does anyone know if they were locals or not?
Submitted by buzz on Mon, 17/01/2011 - 7:17pm
Posts: 452
Joined: 26-10-2006

It was a group of I believe 14-16 year olds and their two coaches from the Fernie Alpine Ski Team (FAST).
Submitted by csussman1 on Tue, 18/01/2011 - 10:37am
Posts: 3
Joined: 22-06-2010

none of the articles online seem to mention that the area was closed and roped off. glad to hear that everyone is ok
Submitted by buzz on Tue, 18/01/2011 - 1:23pm
Posts: 452
Joined: 26-10-2006

That is because it was NOT closed or roped off. It was open and is a regular run within bounds of Fernie Alpine Resort. Avalanche control work had been completed, and was deemed safe within the bounds of our knowledge.
Submitted by csussman1 on Wed, 19/01/2011 - 7:53am
Posts: 3
Joined: 22-06-2010

i was there most of the day on saturday and never saw it open...i know it is in bounds at FAR, but to my knowledge it's been closed the last two weekends, though i do believe it opened for a period during the middle of last week.
Submitted by SnowValleyNews.ca on Wed, 19/01/2011 - 8:54am
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Posts: 1054
Joined: 23-12-2006

yikes.

what layer did this happen on? was it a really old crust? Wind deposits on a more recent crust? is there any official report?


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Submitted by csussman1 on Wed, 19/01/2011 - 9:51am
Posts: 3
Joined: 22-06-2010

i would think it was on top of the crust layer that formed at the end of december, don't think there is an official report though....reports said the slide was 1 meter deep, but also heard that it was actually closer to 2 meters...somewhere in between those would be consistent with the amount of new snow that fell in the first two weeks of jan, all on top of the crust from end of dec.
Submitted by keith on Wed, 19/01/2011 - 3:03pm
Posts: 311
Joined: 30-03-2008

it was open. they checked with patrol to be sure and dropped in.

the two coaches with that group would never break a FAR closure.
Submitted by theory.plus.action on Wed, 19/01/2011 - 6:11pm
Posts: 21
Joined: 16-06-2009

one of the coaches in question HAS acutally poached a FAR permanent closure and broke his femur while doing it. But on this day he didn't do anything wrong other than hit a shallow area of the snowpack and be unlucky enough to trigger an avalanche. Good to see everyone came away relatively unharmed.
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