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2025 Archive Index - All Editions

In This Edition:

Notes from a Swiss Avalanche Researcher’s 1949 US Travels

In 1949, the ski industry in the United States was just beginning to emerge. The first chairlift in the U.S. started spinning at Sun Valley in 1936 as a way of boosting railroad tourism and a handful of other ski areas had been established with rope tows and T-bars. The Forest Service issued the first Special Use Permit for a ski area to Alta in 1938 and as lifts began creeping into higher elevation terrain, more and more skiers began getting caught in avalanches. Though avalanche accidents involving roads, railroads, and mining operations had been documented since at least 1874, there was little knowledge at the time about avalanche risk. Andre Roch from the Swiss Federal Institute for Research on Snow and Avalanches made a trip to the U.S. in the winter of 1949. The report from that trip has been recently digitized and offers a fascinating glimpse into the early days of skiing in the USA—in fact, the trip Roch took would make for an epic ski road trip even by today’s standards.
More ... (SnowBrains)

Avalanche infrastructure maintenance on Teton Pass

JACKSON, Wyo. — The Wyoming Department of Transportation (WYDOT) performed routine maintenance on avalanche mitigation infrastructure on Teton Pass on Tuesday. According to a press release from WYDOT, crews utilized helicopter operations in the Shovel Slide area of Teton Pass on Sept. 23 from 10 to 11 a.m. Motorists saw closures of up to 5 minutes at a time while the Gazex avalanche mitigation units are refueled before the snow flies. The Gazex machines use explosions to trigger small, controlled avalanches in the winter to prevent dangerous, unpredictable conditions.
More ... (Buckrail)

Alaska Troopers still unable to recover bodies from spring avalanche

Alaska State Troopers and volunteer searchers have so far been unable to recover the bodies of three heli-skiers caught in an avalanche last spring in the Chugach Mountains near Girdwood. Despite repeated efforts over the summer the men's bodies remain on the mountain, troopers spokesman Austin McDaniel said in an interview Wednesday.

The terrain has been a huge obstacle, McDaniel said. "You have a very steep mountain ravine that this avalanche slid down into and compacted, high up in the mountains in an area that's only accessible by helicopter," McDaniel said. Under that compacted snow is a fast-moving glacial river, McDaniel said. Troopers had flown over the area in March after the avalanche struck and pinged beacons the men were wearing at between 40 and 100 feet deep in the snow, McDaniel said. Since then, he said, the troopers' helicopter has flown over the site at least twice a month, using advanced optical sensors to search for the men's bodies, to no avail.

Chugach Powder Guides has refused to comment on the fatal avalanche. A lawyer acting as a spokesperson for the heli-ski company did not respond to a phone message Wednesday.
More ... (Alaska Public Media)