Inbounds Avalanche at Snowbird Kills One

An inbounds avalanche at Snowbird resort in Utah killed a 27 year old woman named Heather Gross yesterday.  The avalanche occured on terrain that was hike accessible on Mt Baldy around 10,5000 ft.  Gross was midway down the mountain in the Eye of the Needle area when she was caught in the slide.

Gross was buried for 50 minutes when she was found by rescuers using probes. She was flown to University hospital in  extremely critical condition, where she died.

Snowbird is known for it's state of the art avalanche control and this is the first inbounds death there since 1977.

Yesterday the Utah Avalanche Center had issued their daily advisory saying avalanche danger was moderate. Part of the advisory from Sunday said 

"The avalanche danger is on the upper end of MODERATE today.  This means human triggered avalanches are possible and I'd be surprised if we don't hear about any after the day is done.  The most likely places to trigger these are on mid to upper elevation slopes that face west through north through southeast."

The Salt Lake Tribune has an article with more details and some background information on Heather Gross.

Our condolences go out to Heather Gross's family and friends.