Fairfield resident Shannon Wolf was one of six people killed by avalanches in the Rocky Mountain states over an eight-day stretch spanning last week.
Wolf, 44, died Thursday, Jan. 28, after his snowmobile triggered an avalanche on a steep slope in the Boardman Pass area, about 15 miles northwest of Fairfield.
According to a report from the Sawtooth National Forest Avalanche Center, Wolf was riding with four other snowmobilers on the north side of state Highway 20, near Chimney Creek, when the accident occurred about 3:15 p.m.
Blase Reardon, a specialist for the avalanche center, said Wolf, who was wearing an avalanche beacon, was buried for 25 minutes and attempts to revive him with CPR were unsuccessful.
"Search-and-rescue crews and Life Flight were dispatched out as fellow riders dug ... Shannon Wolf out of the approximate 6 feet or more of snow he was buried in and started CPR but were unable to revive him," Camas County Sheriff Dave Sanders wrote in a news release.
Reardon said two other riders were on the same slope, but were not caught in the avalanche.
He said a St. Luke's medical helicopter was dispatched to the scene within 20 minutes, but had difficulty finding a place to land.
Reardon said that it appeared as if the medium-sized avalanche was 250 to 300 feet wide.
"It was a west-facing slope that broke on the weak layer that's been buried there since December," he said. "It's unusually weak and slow to stabilize."
According to the U.S. Avalanche Accidents Database, at www.avalanche.org, Wolf was one of six people involved in fatal avalanches in either Idaho or Utah between Jan. 22 and Jan. 30.
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The first of those incidents took place on Bald Mountain when 54-year-old Tim Michael, a resident of Lower Board Ranch near Ketchum, died just off trail in the Seattle Ridge area.
Over the course of the week, two other skiers were killed in Utah, including one near the Snowbasin ski resort. Two other snowmobilers were killed in avalanches on Jan. 29 and 30, the latter in an incident west of Driggs, Idaho.
"It's been a really bad week for avalanches," Reardon said. "The snowpack here is similar to that around the Mountain West. We're going to be concerned about that layer for a while."
Readon said the snowpack above the weak layer has continued to consolidate because of warmer temperatures, helping decrease the chance of slides.
However, he said that while it may be more difficult to set off an avalanche, if one is triggered it's much more likely to be fatal.
"The consequences are greater—if an avalanche goes, it's going to break really big," he said. "They're difficult to predict and our usual practices might not be enough to keep us out of trouble."
Reardon recommended that skiers, snowmobilers and anyone else in the backcountry avoid slopes steeper than 35 degrees.
Jon Duval: jduval@mtexpress.com
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Large slides on Della Mountain west of Hailey, shown here on Saturday, are an obvious reminder of the instability of the snowpack in the Wood River Valley. The end of January proved particularly dangerous, as avalanches claimed six lives in eight days throughout the Rocky Mountain states, including a Fairfield resident killed on a snowmobile Thursday.
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Photo by David N. Seelig
