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Show No. 64- 6 JACKSON, WYOMING. ( SNOW KING) 12 March 1964 WEATHER FACTORS Intensity of a storm beginning the night of 11 March increased on the morning of 12 March. Snowfall and precipitation intensity were low but increasing, with a warming trend in mid- morning. Maximum temperature for the period was 34 degrees; minimum temperature, 23 degrees. Visibility was poor due to cloudiness, snowfall and falling snow. ACCIDENT SUMMARY The avalanche accident involved R. P., a professional ski patrolman with over five years experience and an experienced mountain climber, and F. E., a ski patrolman and ski mountaineer with four years experience. R. P. was responsible for avalanche hazard evaluation in the Snow King Ski Area. The two patrolmen had patrolled, toured, and worked on avalanche control together during the last five winters. About 11: 15 a. m., the patrolmen left the lower terminal on Snow King Mountain and proceeded to the upper terminal where they intended to remove a small cornice - about 30 inches of overhang which had built up overnight due to wind and four inches of snowfall - on the east ridge of Snow King. This is a routine procedure in the area. The men roped up with a 45 foot, 3/ 8 inch manila rope, chosen repeatedly by them for this type of routine cornice work in preference to the more cumbersome 120 or 150 foot, 3/ 8 or 7/ 8 inch mountain climbing nylon rope. They were three- quarters of the way up the ridge and had released cornices and small, new slabs. It was decided to climb the remaining distance on foot along the windblown ridge crest, above the Upper Grizzly access cut. Regular control work is not always carried out along the upper portion of the ridge. The patrolmen could not remember whether the upper portion of the ridge had released at any time earlier in the winter. They stopped on the drift at the head of the first avalanche gully east of Grizzly Run and decided to stamp on it to see if they could make it slide. F. E. established a static belay using his ski poles at the top of the drift and at the edge of the timber. R. P- moved out to the end of the rope, stamping as he went, with no slide occurring. He called for more rope. Leaving his poles behind, F. E. moved out and down about 15 feet and set his skis. As R. P. stamped the slope, old wind slab under the new snow fractured simultaneously in many places, with a fracture about six feet deep. Both patrolmen were catapulted into the narrow slide gully, about 20 feet wide and directly below their position. The slide path was quite thickly forested with young fir trees, 3 to 5 inches in diameter and 15 to 25 feet high. F. E. was carried about 150 feet down the slope before catching among several small trees. The rope snapped at the knot, and R. P. continued down the slide for about 1,000 feet. 101 |