The following written content from Joseph Guzman
In what has become a historically deadly week for avalanches in the US, a Washington State Patrol trooper was killed in an avalanche while snowmobiling.
The U.S. just saw the deadliest week for avalanches in more than 100 years.
- Last week’s grim death total was the most in a seven-day period since March of 1910, when an avalanche swept away two trains in Wellington, Wash. and killed 96 people.
- On Saturday, four skiers were killed in the backcountry of Utah’s Millcreek Canyon areas and four others were injured in a skier-triggered avalanche.
- In total, 21 people have died in avalanches across the country during the 2020-2021 season as of Monday.
At least 15 people were killed in avalanches from Jan. 31 to Feb. 6 in Utah, Montana, Colorado, California, Arkansas, and New Hampshire, according to the Colorado Avalanche Information Center (CAIC). In total, 21 people have died in avalanches across the country during the 2020-2021 season as of Monday. Last season, a total of 23 people died in avalanches and the U.S. typically sees an average of 27 deaths each year.
Last week’s grim death total was the most in a seven-day period since March of 1910, when an avalanche swept away two trains in Wellington, Wash. and killed 96 people.
On Saturday, four skiers were killed in the backcountry of Utah’s Millcreek Canyon areas and four others were injured in a skier-triggered avalanche that occurred at an elevation of just under 10,000 feet. The fatalities tied for the highest-known death toll for an avalanche in Utah. An avalanche near Moab’s Gold Basin killed four people in 1992.
In Colorado, more than 500 avalanches have been reported since Jan. 30. One skier was killed on Thursday while skiing in Colorado’s East Vail Chutes. On Feb. 1, four backcountry skiers were buried southeast of Opihr, in an area known as The Nose. Three men were killed and one was rescued. Read more from The Hill
The following written content from Hollie Silverman and Joe Sutton
A Washington state trooper was killed in an avalanche while snowmobiling Monday in Kittitas County, Washington, the county sheriff’s office said in a press release.
Search-and-rescue crews recovered trooper Steve Houle, 51, of Cle Elum from the avalanche. He was a 28-year veteran of the Washington State Patrol, the Kittitas County Sheriff’s Office said in the release.
He is at least the 15th person to die in an avalanche in little more than a week. The first seven days of the month marked a record for the deadliest week of US avalanches.
The avalanche struck in the French Cabin Creek area of the Okanogan-Wenatchee National Forest, north of Cle Elum, in Kittitas County, nearly 100 miles southeast of Seattle.
“On behalf of the Sheriff’s Office, I would like to extend our deepest condolences to Trooper Houle’s family, friends and the Washington State Patrol,” Sheriff Clay Myers said. “This is a tragic accident and will be felt hard in our close-knit law enforcement community.”
At least 14 people died in avalanches last week, the deadliest week of US avalanches on record Washington State Patrol Chief John Batiste said the Houle was a “fixture” in the county and will be greatly missed.”
A lot of troopers have come and gone through Kittitas County and he’s been one of those stabilizing troopers that everyone know,” Batiste said during a press briefing Monday night.
“He was great at what he did not just as a trooper but an expert at commercial vehicle enforcement,” the chief said. “He’s someone you could always depend on.
“Authorities had received a report that at least two people were overcome by an avalanche — one man was able to dig himself out, but was unsuccessful in locating his partner, the KCSO said in the release.
Deadliest week for avalanches on US record
This isn’t the first snowmobiling-related-avalanche fatality — one person died after five snowmobilers were caught in an avalanche on Montana’s Swan Range on Saturday, according the Colorado Avalanche Information Center.
Saturday also saw an avalanche in Utah’s backcountry near Salt Lake City that claimed the lives of four people. Just a week earlier, another man died in an avalanche near Park City Mountains Canyons Village resort a week ago, just a few miles from the site of Saturday’s avalanche.
Three skiers, all local government officials, were killed in a Colorado avalanche last Monday with their bodies recovered Wednesday.
A backcountry skier and snowboarder were caught in an avalanche near Etna Summit in California on February 3. The snowboarder survived but the skier was buried by snow and despite an hour of CPR by his partner, he was unable to be revived and died.
In Alaska, three climbers were reported missing on February 2 after they had not returned from a hike on Bear Mountain in Chugach State Park. During the search, Alaska State Troopers discovered what appeared to be a recent avalanche. In the avalanche slide area, troopers found the bodies of the three missing climbers buried in the snow.
