Sierra Madre Mountains, Wyoming
On Friday, February 9, 2024, at approximately 1:30pm two snowmobilers remotely triggered an avalanche while riding beneath a steep, rocky, east-facing and wind-loaded slope at 9,800’ in an area locally known as Avalanche Alley, one and a half miles southwest of Bridger Mountain (Fig 1). The avalanche was a very large, hard slab that broke near the ground in old snow (HS-AMu-R3/D2-O). The avalanche broke one to seven feet deep, 2100’ wide but fell only 300-400 before partially but critically burying a 34-year-old male while the other rider rode out of the moving debris (Map Fig 2). The second rider circled back to the scene to begin the rescue but was unable to uncover the buried rider before asphyxiation ocurred.
Bridger-Teton Avalanche Center staff would like to thank the Carbon County Sheriff’s Department, especially Sargent Pat Patterson, and the Department’s SAR team for escorting CAIC staff to the scene. We would also like to thank the survivor for openly sharing information about this tragic incident.
View the full report here.