| OCR Text |
Show Alta Avalanche Accident Record The best proof that alpine terrain can safely be developed for public recreation is to compare the avalanche accident record of Alta as a mining camp and as a ski area. The mining era lasted less than 10 years during which the camp had a peak population of about 5,000, followed by a longer period of reduced operations. Verifiable records of avalanche accidents in the vicinity of Alta go back only as far as I875. During the next 35 years there were 67 recorded avalanche fatalities in Little" Cottonwood Canyon. Three slides in 3 different years "gobbled up" over 10 persons apiece. Yet this period was after the heyday of the mining camp, which extended from 1868 to 1873* Persons are still living who escaped the slide of 187^ which destroyed the town of Alta and took some 60 lives. Other eyewitnesses tell of the annual trek of undertakers to Little Cottonwood Canyon when melting snows revealed the victims of the preceding winter. In contrast to this gruesome record, Alta's decade as a recreational area has seen exactly two avalanche accidents involving persons. In one case the victim was killed, in the other he was rescued. In both cases, the accidents happened in areas which had been closed by the Alta "snow ranger." Closure signs and personal warnings had been disregarded. The difference between these records is too great for coincidence, especially since the winter recreational use has always exceeded the mining population. It was 10,000 in 1938 and has risen to 100,000 in 19^8. Since the complaint is often made that this record was achieved by a policy of super-cautiousness, with highways and ski slopes closed a good proportion of the time, a few statistics are relevant. |
