Weather
- Air Temp
- 20
- Cloud Cover
- scattered
- Wind Loading
- previous
First day of clearing following significant winter storm.
Avalanche
- Size
- D2 R3
- Type
- SS
- Aspect
- N
- Trigger
- AS
- Elevation
- 8500 ft
Burial with critical injury. Patient status unknown. Glassing from the road indicates that wind loaded snow beneath cliffs released across the slope. Crown depths appear to be around one foot thick with one of several visible crowns perhaps eighteen inches thick. Deposition zones support a small D2 avalanche. More information to follow this week when more information becomes available and photographic evidence is examined more closely. Edit, 12-29-25 - Avalanche Center Director submitted a formal request for information to the Teton County Sheriff's Office on December 22nd. No patient or witness contact information was shared by the Deputy who responded to the scene due to HIPAA concerns, though the Deputy did share some basic information on the events leading up to the accident and the rescue. BTAC staff will update this observation with as much confirmed information as is available as soon as possible. Here are some preliminary details based on the conversation with the Deputy: -The party of two triggered an avalanche prior to the accident on the skiers right side of the ridge on the NE aspect before skiing into the triggered slope. 1-2-26 - the first slide was later reported to be a dry loose avalanche -The patient was reported to be buried between 7 and 13 minutes. 12-29-25 - Adjusted avalanche size relative to path from R1 to R3, aspect to N from NE, added width, vertical fall, type, problem type, bed surface and photos. Adjusted width to 65' after photo analysis and measurement to widest point. Avalanche deaths affect many mountain towns every year. Recreationalists, rescuers and their families can be traumatized directly or indirectly. Help is available for those involved and those adjacent to these tragedies. Find more information on mental health first aid and other resources here or with a local public mental health office. 1-2-26 Avalanche Comments On Saturday, December 20, 2025 at approximately 2:00pm, two skiers unintentionally triggered an avalanche on a north-facing, steep, rocky, sparsely treed slope approximately one mile south of the main parking lot at Teton Pass. The terrain was wind-loaded with drifts along the crest of the ridge and piles of wind-driven sluff debris beneath short rock outcroppings. The party triggered a loose snow avalanche at the top of a larger, adjacent northeast facing gully before skiing into the top of a smaller feature that avalanched after a ski cut. The avalanche propagated above the skier, about 65 feet across a 40-45 degree slope. The debris ran 1,000 feet (600’ vertical fall) to the base of the gully, carrying and critically burying the first skier among trees. The crown face appeared to average one and a half feet in thickness (SS-AS(u)-R3-D2).