Southern Absaroka Range, Wyoming
On Saturday, January 4, 2025, at approximately 11:00 am, a group of four skiers unintentionally triggered an avalanche on a north-facing, sparsely treed slope above a steep-walled gully approximately one mile from the parking pullout for Breccia Mountain. The avalanche was remotely triggered from below as the party attempted to cross a gully beneath a wind-loaded ridge. The triggered weak layer was formed during a cold, dry period early in the season. The weak layer was responsible for the region’s numerous human and snowmobile-triggered avalanches the week preceding this accident. This avalanche propagated 350’ uphill to a wind-loaded 38-40 degree slope, broken by cliff bands and across three distinct avalanche paths. The avalanche crown was 400’ across and ranged from one to four feet thick. The debris was a mixture of hard slab and softer surface snow, which slid 625 feet (400 vertical feet) into a terrain trap (HS-AS(r)-R4-D2.5). The debris carried two members of the group, resulting in one serious injury and one fatality.
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