Quick report
- Slope Angle
- 50°
Avalanche
- Slab Width
- 91 m
- Weak Layer
- New Snow/Old Snow Interface
- Trigger Type
- Snowboarder
- Vertical Fall
- 152 m
- Avalanche Type
- Hard Slab
- Slab Thickness
- 76 cm
- Trigger Detail
- Unintentionally Triggered
- Start Zone Aspect
- Northeast
- Avalanche Problem
- Persistent Weak Layer
- Start Zone Elevation
- 3048 m
Incident
- Number Caught
- 2
- Number Killed
- 2
- Number Carried
- 2
- Number Fully Buried
- 2
Richard Jones, 19 and Allen Chatwin, 18, died in a large avalanche they triggered off of Pioneer Ridge, a backcountry area west of Brighton Ski Resort.
Twelve young snowboarders rode the Crest lift at Brighton and proceeded past the ski area boundary to Pioneer Peak to build some jumps in the Dog Lake area. As the two victims traversed a very steep, 50-degree slope just below the ridge, they triggered a 300 foot wide, 2-8 feet deep hard slab that took out the entire bowl. Luckily, all of the other snowboarders were off to the side at the time.
No one in the party carried any beacons although they did have several shovels with them for building jumps. Ski patrollers from Alta and Brighton responded and located the victims using avalanche rescue dogs. They had both died from asphyxiation.