FOREST SERVICE UTAH AVALANCHE CENTER ANNUAL REPORT 2001-2002 

1

Snow and Avalanches in Utah 

Annual Report 2001-2002

Forest Service Utah Avalanche Center 

In partnership with: 

Friends of the Forest Service Utah Avalanche Center 

National Weather Service 

Utah Division of Comprehensive Emergency Management 

Salt Lake County 

Utah State University 

Utah State Parks and Recreation 
ANNUAL REPORT 2001-2002 FOREST SERVICE UTAH AVALANCHE CENTER 

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Cover photo: A monster avalanche in Mineral Fork about five feet deep and nearly a mile 

wide. It was a spectacular example of the very large, deep avalanches that occurred 

throughout the second half of the winter. Photo by Craig Gordon 

Copies of this report can be obtained by writing or calling: 

Forest Service Utah Avalanche Center 

2242 W. North Temple 

Salt Lake City, UT 84116 

(801) 524-5304 phone 

(801) 524-4030 fax 

 

Or view online at: 

www.avalanche.org
FOREST SERVICE UTAH AVALANCHE CENTER ANNUAL REPORT 2001-2002 

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The Forest Service Utah Avalanche Center—An Overview 

 

Our goal: 

Help keep people on top of the Greatest Snow on Earth instead of buried beneath it. 

Where do avalanche accidents occur? 

Ninety nine percent of all avalanche fatalities occur in the backcountry—areas outside of 

ski area boundaries where no avalanche control is done. Ski areas and highway 

avalanche control crews routinely knock down avalanches with explosives before the 

public arrives each morning. They have done their jobs so well that since 1980, less 

than one percent of avalanche fatalities have involved general public on open runs at ski 

areas or on open highways. 

What kind of people get caught in avalanches? 

Ninety two percent of people killed in avalanches since 1985 have been recreationists, 

and they are almost always very skilled in their sport. In almost all cases their skill in 

their sport significantly outpaces their avalanche skills. Looking at the most recent 5 

years of national data, nearly twice as many snowmobilers have been killed as any other 

user group, followed by climbers, backcountry skiers, snowboarders and miscellaneous 

recreationists such as hikers and snowshoers. 

How do people get caught? 

In over 90 percent of avalanche fatalities, the avalanche was triggered by the victim or 

someone in the victim’s party. As Pogo says, “We have met the enemy and it is us.” 

Which is actually good, because it means that, 90 percent of the time, we can avoid 

avalanche accidents through our route finding and snow stability decisions. 

In summary, avalanche fatalities occur almost exclusively in the backcountry, almost 

always involve recreationists, and almost all avalanche incidents can be avoided if we 

choose. 
ANNUAL REPORT 2001-2002 FOREST SERVICE UTAH AVALANCHE CENTER 

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How we help solve the problem: 

We give backcountry travelers the weapon of knowledge. In order to avoid triggering 

avalanches, backcountry travelers need: 

Critical, up-to-date avalanche information. 

Our avalanche advisories give the public critical avalanche information they need to 

make their life-and-death decisions in avalanche terrain and we forecast snow stability 

and weather trends into the future. Our information helps the public to decide what kind 

of terrain is safe, what kind is dangerous and we give them useful clues to look for when 

they venture into avalanche terrain. 

The public can access these advisories in the following ways: 

 Recorded telephone message updated each day 

 Live interviews each day on three different public radio stations 

 The Internet 

 Faxes sent out each morning to businesses and Forest Service offices 

 In times of extreme or unusual avalanche conditions, we issue an avalanche 

warning that reaches all the broadcast and print media as well as NOAA weather 

radio. 

Finally, we “preach the avalanche gospel” as much as possible to the local, national and 

international media. This season, for instance, several documentaries played on 

national television including National Geographic and several on the Discovery Channel, 

PBS and the Weather Channel. The Forest Service Utah Avalanche Center staff is 

featured in most of these documentaries. 

Avalanche education: 

We teach about 50 free, basic avalanche awareness classes each season. These not 

only give the public an overview of the avalanche problem, but also some basic 

avalanche skills. These classes encourage the public to take a more involved avalanche 

class offered by the private sector. 
FOREST SERVICE UTAH AVALANCHE CENTER ANNUAL REPORT 2001-2002 

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Our Philosophy 

Just because people hear the information doesn’t mean they listen. Therefore, we try to 

make the advisories entertaining so that people will remember what they hear and enjoy 

the experience enough to use the advisories regularly. We try and use all the standard 

tools of effective writing and speaking such as using active voice, first person, personal 

examples and stories to illustrate points, humor where appropriate and reading the 

bulletins in a natural voice, like talking to a friend. The recorded bulletins are informal, 

chatty and funny, yet informative. 

 

We believe local forecasters do a much better job than distant forecasters. 

Local people know local conditions better. They can get out in the mountains every day, 

they see weather and snow out their window and they talk with people on the street 

about it. Because of this, we believe that local people should issue avalanche bulletins 

for local areas, as long as they have the avalanche skills to do so. For this reason, four 

crews of avalanche forecasters operate in Utah, one in Logan, another in Salt Lake City, 

one on the Manti Skyline and a fourth in Moab. 

We believe in a strong field-based program. 

Avalanche forecasting is just as much art as science. And because of this, computers 

never have, and most likely never will, be able to forecast avalanche hazard as well as 

an experienced and skilled human being. Avalanche forecasting works best when the 

forecaster has an intimate, daily connection to the snowpack. We notice that the longer 

we spend in an office, the more out of touch with the snowpack we become. Therefore 

we always put in one or more field days before our forecasting shift, and we seldom 

have more than two forecast days in a row. 

This is our philosophy and it seems to be working. More people access the FSUAC 

bulletin each season than any other avalanche advisory in North America, and the 

number keep increasing by an average of 20 percent per year. The numbers of people 

going into the backcountry keep increasing exponentially, yet the death rate has risen 

more slowly. We also see an increasing demand for avalanche education and 

information, not only by Utahans, but also by the national and international media. 

 

We are very passionate about our work because it’s more than a job, it saves lives. 
ANNUAL REPORT 2001-2002 FOREST SERVICE UTAH AVALANCHE CENTER 

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A look Under the Hood 

The UAC is operationally separated into four entities: 

• Bear River drainage (Logan area – northern Utah and southeast Idaho) 

• Wasatch Mountains (Ogden, Salt Lake, Park City and Provo area mountains) 

• Manti Skyline (Fairfield Canyon – Wasatch Plateau) 

• La Sal Mountains (near Moab) 

Greg Johnson heads the Logan operation with Spencer Logan as an assistant. Spencer 

is employed by Utah State University. In past years, Mike Jenkins of Utah State 

University ran the Logan center on a part time basis. For the past two seasons, Greg 

Johnson, a Forest Service employee ran the center, supported partially by Olympic 

funds. We hope to find funding to continue the Forest Service operation of the Logan 

center in the future 

In Moab, Eric Trenbeath heads the center after being an assistant for the past couple 

seasons. The Moab office is located in the Moab Ranger District on the Manti-Lasal 

National Forest. 

The Manti Skyline (Wasatch Plateau) avalanche forecast was issued for weekends-only 

by Craig Gordon and Eric Trenbeath. Funding for this program comes from a generous 

grant from the National Recreation Trails Program administered through Utah State 

Parks. Craig and Eric work part time as snowmobile avalanche educators and part time 

as forecasters for the Manti Skyline. In its second full season of operation, it continues 

as a very successful program. 

 

Last, but not least, the vast majority of the backcountry use occurs in the Wasatch 

Range of northern Utah. A staff of seven full time workers covered the Ogden, Salt Lake 

City, Park City and Provo area mountains—arguably the most heavily used mountain 

range in the U.S. Bruce Tremper, in his 16th season, is the Director. This season, 

Tremper spent most of his time working on Olympic-related avalanche issues while 

Evelyn Lees oversaw the day-to-day operations. Although Bruce Tremper spends most 

of his time in the Wasatch operation, he offers technical oversight to all three operations 

to insure consistency in quality. The rest of the very experienced Salt Lake staff include: 

Evelyn Lees, Tom Kimbrough and Carol Ciliberti, plus, Ethan Greene and Drew 

Hardesty worked the past two seasons under Olympic funds. This season, using 

Olympic funds, we hired Evan Stevens as a contract computer programmer for our office 

and doubled as a valuable second person in the office to help out during the morning 

crunch time. Unfortunately, at the end of the season, Carol Ciliberti accepted a 

forecaster position with the National Weather Service in California so she will not return 

for next season. Also, with the loss of Olympic funds one additional position will have to 

be cut for next season. 

All are Forest Service employees under the Wasatch-Cache National Forest. The Salt 

Lake office is co-located with the National Weather Service at the Salt Lake International 

Airport. 
FOREST SERVICE UTAH AVALANCHE CENTER ANNUAL REPORT 2001-2002 

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Lastly, a private, nonprofit group, the Friends of the Utah Avalanche Center, contracts a 

number of “volunteer” observers, who are reimbursed for their expenses at around 

$10.00 per day. They also hire the intrepid Bob Athey as a full time backcountry 

observer. 

The Utah Avalanche Center is a Forest Service program under the Wasatch-Cache 

National Forest and the Manti-La Sal National Forest, in partnership with Utah State 

University, the State of Utah Department of Public Safety, Division of Emergency 

Management, Salt Lake County, the National Weather Service and private contributions 

through the Friends of the Utah Avalanche Forecast Center. 

The public can access the bulletins in the following ways:

Telephone:

Salt Lake City - (24 phone lines) (801) 364-1581 

Logan (multi-line PBX system at Utah State University) (435) 797-4146 

Park City (multi-line PBX system at Park City Resort) (435) 658-5512 

Ogden (multi-line PBX system at Weber State University) (801) 626-8600 

Provo (multi-line PBX system at Brigham Young University) (435) 378-4333 

Alta (multi-line PBX system through the Town of Alta) (801) 742-0830 

Moab (single phone line) (435) 259-7669 

Manti Skyline (courtesy of Utah State Parks) (800) 648-7433 

Snowmobile hotline (courtesy of Utah State Parks) (800) 648-7433 

Radio Stations (live on-air reports each morning around 8:00 am) 

KRCL 91 FM 

KPCW 92 FM 

KCPW 105.7 FM 

Internet:

http://www.avalanche.org 

http://www.wrh.noaa.gov/Saltlake 

http://www.csac.org 

Fax:

We operate an automated fax distribution of the bulletin for selected businesses and 

Forest Service offices that post a hard copy for the public to read. 

To contact our office: (801) 524-5304 (phone) 

 (801) 524-4030 (fax) 

e-mail: uafc@avalanche.org
ANNUAL REPORT 2001-2002 FOREST SERVICE UTAH AVALANCHE CENTER 

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How we Generate Avalanche Advisories 

We often think of ourselves as natural detectives. We gather as much information as 

possible, and then we communicate our analysis to the public. Each day we look at 

weather, talk to ski area avalanche control programs, helicopter ski companies, highway 

control programs and volunteers, but our most important source of information comes 

from us, from our up-close-and-personal work with snowpack. Last, but not least, we 

regularly travel into the mountains, where we not only get our best information, but we 

see our theories tested in an unequivocal way, when our customers recreate in 

avalanche terrain. 

We split our time more or less equally between the mountains and the office. With our 

staff of five people, we have a rotating schedule in which one person sits in the driver's 

seat in the office as the forecaster for that day while the others either head into the 

mountains to look at snow, work in the office on various education or computer projects 

or take their scheduled days off. 

Field Day: 

A typical "field day" might begin at 6:00 in the morning when we wake up, listen to our 

trusty NOAA weather radio, get on our home computer and look at the data from all the 

automated weather stations in the mountain. Like everyone else, we call our own 

avalanche advisory to get the latest information. Then we jump in the car or on the bus 

and head for the mountains. 

We usually travel on skis and we use a snowmobile to access more remote areas. We 

usually travel with a partner using all the usual safety equipment like electronic 

avalanche beacons, shovels, probes, belay rope and radios. We seldom have a regular 

patrol area, but we simply go to the area that concerns us the most, or to a place that we 

know is representative, where we can look at snow on a variety of aspects, elevations 

and terrain types. We almost always go into the backcountry--meaning areas outside ski 

area boundaries where no avalanche control is done. We put climbing skins on our skis 

and huff-and-puff to the top of a mountain, take off the skins, ski down into another 

valley, put the skins back on again, go to another ridge, and so on. 

And yes, it can certainly be dangerous if you don't know what you're doing. It takes 

years of experience and training to be an accomplished avalanche forecaster, not to 

mention to be able to do it safely. Most of our staff have degrees in some kind of 

physical science such as meteorology, geology or engineering, three staff members 

have master’s degrees and two are working towards their PhD. We also have a number 

of years experience doing avalanche control at ski areas, plus, we all are accomplished 

mountaineers with many decades of accumulated mountain experience. Finally, we all 

stay in top physical condition so we can efficiently cover lots of terrain. 

We gather information from many different places in many different ways. For instance, 

we dig snow pits on several different slopes to get a good feel for the distribution pattern 

of snow stability. A snow pit, like the name implies, is about a 5 foot (1.5 meter) hole in 

the snow we dig and then we do a variety of stress tests to determine the stability of the 

snowpack. We also look at the crystallography of the various layers, and measure 
FOREST SERVICE UTAH AVALANCHE CENTER ANNUAL REPORT 2001-2002 

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temperatures and sometimes density. This isn't nearly as complicated or timeconsuming as it seems, as we usually spend no more than 15 minutes in a single snow 

pit. We would rather dig several quick pits in several areas than do one detailed pit in 

several different areas because once we figure out what kind of avalanche dragon we're 

dealing with, we want to know the distribution of the pattern so we can communicate the 

pattern to the public. 

We also test the snow in other ways, such as sawing off cornices, which bounce down 

the slope, keep close track of the pattern of recent avalanches and we always pay very 

close attention to the present snow surface because it's much easier to map a layer of 

snow when it's still on the surface then after it's buried by the next storm. Finally, when 

we get home, we leave a detailed message on our answer machine in the office, which 

the forecaster will hear early the next morning. We also fax a written version of our 

observation, including the snow pit profiles, so that the forecaster has less to write down 

the next morning. Finally, we often call the person who will forecast the next day and 

talk to them in more detail, making sure not to call after bedtime, which is 8:00 pm, since 

they have to be up by 3:00 am the next morning. 

Office:

The office days are brutal. We usually arrive at our office, co-located with the National 

Weather Service near the Salt Lake Airport, around 4:00 am--earlier on big storm days. 

There's only one avalanche person in the office, so the pressure and time constraint is 

intense. 

First, the lead weather forecaster for the National Weather Service briefs us on the 

general weather setup and then we jump on the weather computers ourselves and type 

up a detailed mountain weather forecast that goes onto the Internet by 6:00 am. Then, 

we check our answer machines and write down all the field observations not only from 

our staff, but from our army of volunteer observers, ski areas, helicopter skiing 

companies and highway control programs. After that, we furiously kick into high gear 

and write backcountry avalanche advisories customized for five different zones in 

northern Utah, record those advisories into six different answer machines, each one 

customized for its area, do three live radio interviews, all while trying to answer the 

phone from ski areas calling to leave observations or talk about avalanche hazard. The 

recorded advisories are out by 7:30, and by 8:15 am, when we're done with the last live 

radio interview, we finally collapse with relief, take that bathroom break we've needed for 

the last couple hours and take a walk outside and watch the sun rise and hope that our 

information is accurate. An average of 800 people call the avalanche recording and 

twice that number get it over the Internet, most of them head into the backcountry to test 

our theories, sometimes with their lives. 

Then it's lunch time, just when most people are eating their breakfast. After lunch, we 

start answering phones, collecting data, updating clipboards and just catching up. 

Finally, by 10:00 am we start the whole process again to put out an afternoon update, 

which is usually finished by about noon to 1:00 pm. Then our day is done. We head 

home and get some sleep. 
ANNUAL REPORT 2001-2002 FOREST SERVICE UTAH AVALANCHE CENTER 

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Season Highlights 

3⁄4 The long awaited Olympic Winter Games were a smashing success. Although a 

number of different agencies and entities went through years of planning and 

preparation for bad weather or dangerous avalanche conditions, the weather and 

snowpack cooperated with high pressure and stable snow. 

3⁄4 Three avalanche fatalities occurred during the 2001-02 season, a backcountry skier in 

the Uinta Mountains and two snowboarders in the backcountry near the Brighton resort. 

This is slightly less than the recent average of four avalanche fatalities per season and 

much less than the six fatalities from last season. 

3⁄4 An unusually persistent weak layer continued to produce very large and dangerous 

avalanches for much of the season. This instability produced some of the largest 

avalanches seen in many areas. Although there were a number of very close calls, 

only three avalanche fatalities occurred. 

3⁄4 Media interest in avalanches continued at its high level. The Utah Avalanche 

Center staff conducted two interviews on national television, seven off-camera 

interviews on national TV, 21 national print interviews, 12 local television 

interviews, two national radio interviews, two local radio interviews and 30 local 

print interviews. 

3⁄4 It was another very active year for avalanche incidents and accidents with 92 reported 

unintentional human triggered avalanches in the backcountry, 32 people caught 9 

partial burials, 5 total burials, 4 injuries and 3 deaths. 

3⁄4 Preparations for the Olympic Winter Games produced a legacy that will help avalanche 

forecasting efforts for years to come. Projects include: significant improvements to the 

web site including terrain maps, photographs of recent avalanches, information for 

media and a simplified icon-based advisory. Other projects included the 

implementation of a Swiss nearest neighbors program for avalanche forecasting, 

creation of a number of state-or-the-art Powerpoint lessons for avalanche education 

and informational brochures and trailhead displays. 
FOREST SERVICE UTAH AVALANCHE CENTER ANNUAL REPORT 2001-2002 

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0

50000

100000

150000

200000

250000

300000

350000

400000

Calls and Internet Accesses

19771978197919801981198219831984198519861987198819891990199119921993199419951996199719981999200020012002

Season

Total Product access per Season

Weather Internet Hits

Advisory Internet Hits

Salt Lake Telephone

Moab Telephone

State Snow-mobile Hotline

Alta

Telephone

Park City Telephone

Provo Telephone

Ogden Telephone

Logan Telephone

Use of UAC products continues to rise despite a relatively dry year and less backcountry use because of the 

Olympics. As Internet access of the products increases, call counts decrease. 

November December January February March April

0

5,000

10,000

15,000

20,000

25,000

Average number of calls to UAFC advisory 1994-2001
ANNUAL REPORT 2001-2002 FOREST SERVICE UTAH AVALANCHE CENTER 

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Total Utah Avalanche Product Use 

1998-2002

Salt Lake Telephone

Logan Telephone

Ogden Telephone

Provo Telephone

Park City Telephone

Alta

Telephone

Moab Telephone

State Snow-mobile Hotline Advisory Internet Hits

Weather Internet Hits

Season History – Wasatch Range 

Early Season 

This was the season of feast and famine, long dry periods punctuated by strong storms. The 

biggest feast of the winter was the first one, appropriately beginning on Thanksgiving Day. 

After a very dry fall, storm clouds gathered and Alta received over 30 inches of snow on 

Thanksgiving Day. The storm provided a double punch and the holiday weekend ended with 

the Cottonwood Canyons getting what became known as the “100 inches in 100 hours.” 

With world media attention focused on Utah for the Winter Olympics, there could not have 

been a better start to the season. The last week of November continued stormy. The month 

ended with the Alta Guard station totaling 150 inches of snow and 14.5 inches of water. 

December 

Early December continued wet with small storms arriving regularly. The big Thanksgiving 

storm produced many avalanches but by mid December the snow pack became quite 

homogeneous and very stable. The storms tapered off and the Christmas holidays were 

mostly dry with only a few dustings to freshen up the conditions. December totals at Alta 

were 82 inches, with 7.6 water content. It was the best beginning of winter that most anyone 

could remember. But then everything changed. 

January 

In avalanche work, as in human history, seemingly minor events can have major 

consequences when projected into the future. This year the minor event occurred on 

January 6 in the form of a warm and moist storm that plastered the snow surface with a rain 

or rime crust. This crust sat undisturbed on the surface in increasingly colder temperatures for 
FOREST SERVICE UTAH AVALANCHE CENTER ANNUAL REPORT 2001-2002 

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a week, allowing the strong temperature gradients to metamorphose the snow around the 

crust into a very weak, faceted snow layer. This layer was unusually persistent and 

continued to produce stupendously huge avalanches for most of the season. 

Minor snowfalls in mid January buried the crust and a large storm beginning on January 27 

initiated a significant avalanche cycle. As backcountry travel increased a few days after the 

storm the first serious human triggered avalanches of winter began. On January 31, a ski 

patroller and avalanche worker from The Canyons resort triggered a slide in the backcountry 

of the western Uinta Mountains that killed him and his dog. January added 100 inches of 

snow to the Alta Guard numbers, with 7.66 water. 

February 

February, the month of the long-anticipated Olympic Winter Games, was thankfully dry. No 

big storms delayed Olympic events, snarled traffic or closed canyon roads. Even the opening 

and closing ceremonies came off without weather problems despite threatening cold fronts. 

While the weather and snow pack gave few problems for the avalanche control teams at the 

venues, the backcountry was a different story. Human triggered slides with several close 

calls occurred throughout the month. A Snowbird patroller was injured in the backcountry on 

February 17 and a snowmobiler barely survived a burial in the Uinta Mountains. All of these 

avalanches ran on the January 6 crust, which would become a pattern for the rest of the 

winter. The Alta Guard Station recorded a paltry 55 inches of snow for the month. 

March 

Utah avalanche workers were acutely aware of the potential for another large avalanche 

cycle on the dreaded January weak layer. All we needed was more snow but, conveniently, 

the snow didn’t arrive until after all the visiting athletes and media had departed. Several 

days of snowfall beginning on March 12 started another round of avalanches on the fateful 

January crust. Some of these slides were huge, breaking 4 to 8 feet deep and 300 to 2,000 

feet wide. One of these deep releases caught and killed two snowboarders in the 

backcountry near the Brighton Ski Area. Numerous close scrapes involved skiers and 

snowmobilers triggering large, and sometimes huge, backcountry avalanches. One of these 

skier-triggered slides on the northwest face of Gobbler’s Knob was large enough that it was 

visible from miles away in Salt Lake City. By the end of the month, warming spring 

temperatures changed the type of avalanches from dry to wet but faceted the January layer 

remained a player as the most common weak layer. The month was fairly wet with 142 

inches of snow recorded at the Guard Station. 

April 

April began as March had ended, hot and dry. Wet slides continued to release naturally, 

especially when overnight temperatures remained above freezing. Finally, after three weeks 

without new snow and the day after we issued its last advisory, the storms returned. A very 

strong cold front arrived on April 15th with near hurricane velocity winds. The storm knocked 

down trees, signs and power poles all over Utah and filled the air with choking dust. In the 

next week, 42 inches of snow fell on top of the chocolate brown layer of dust. Backcountry 

recreationists had their last fling with some of the best powder of the season on mostly stable 

snow. Then, finally, spring arrived. Amazingly, the resorts in Little Cottonwood Canyon 

ended up above normal for the season while virtually the rest of the state suffered under yet 

another drought year with around 70 percent of normal for most of northern Utah and around 

40 or less percent for the rest of the state. 
ANNUAL REPORT 2001-2002 FOREST SERVICE UTAH AVALANCHE CENTER 

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Alta November - April Snowfall

300.0

350.0

400.0

450.0

500.0

550.0

600.0

650.0

700.0

750.0

194619471948194919501951195219531954195519561957195819591960196119621963196419651966196719681969197019711972197319741975197619771978197919801981198219831984198519861987198819891990199119921993199419951996199719981999200020012002

Winter

Inches of Snowfall

Average

Season History – Logan Area Mountain – by Greg Johnson 

November and December 

Winter started with a series of intense storms in the northern Wasatch similar to the 

Wasatch Range. The mountains went from patches of snow on November 21 to an 

average snowpack depth of 65 inches by December 7th. Relatively strong winds 

accompanied the series of storms, which kept the avalanche danger either considerable 

or high. The storm snow quickly settled out and we were blessed with a snowpack 

without any weak layers for at least the next week. High pressure brought in light winds 

and very cold temperatures until about the 15th when we got a quick shot of snow. We 

received a report of a skier triggering a size 3 avalanche (on a scale of 1-5) on Sherman 

Peak. The rest of December and into early January was benign. While the Cache 

Valley was locked up in deep freeze, the mountains stuck above the inversion and 

remained very pleasant. We reported the avalanche danger never rising above 

moderate, while excellent recreation conditions existed. 

January 

On January 7th a warm moist storm created a crust on the snow surface, which would set 

the stage for the rest of the winter. It only took about a week until we all started to realize 

the snowpack had decided to turn dangerous. A classic facet / crust scenario was 

playing out. After the crust formed we received about 18 inches of new snow that settled 
FOREST SERVICE UTAH AVALANCHE CENTER ANNUAL REPORT 2001-2002 

15

into a 12 inch slab. Cold temperatures caused a layer of faceted crystals to form under 

the crust very quickly and facets were starting to form above it as well. As the slab 

slowly thickened and the facets got weak the avalanche danger slowly crept up. The 

balance was finally tipped by about the 23rd and the facet / crust interface became active 

to human-triggering. On Jan 28th a strong storm brought about 12 inches of snow and 

strong southwest winds. This storm was unusual because the Cache Valley picked up a 

record 24 to 36 inches. We issued an avalanche warning along the entire Wasatch 

Front. The facet / crust interface had a dangerous load and a handful of natural 

avalanche occurred. An extremely cold air mass moved into the area on the evening of 

the 30th. Mountain temperatures ranged from 10o

F to 40oF below zero, which preserved 

storm instabilities. 

February 

February was not very exciting with only about 3 feet of total new snow. People did 

trigger avalanches on occasion when snow did fall and/or the wind blew. The lack of 

snowfall and below normal temperatures continued to develop the weak faceted snow in 

the lower half of the snowpack and especially around the January crust. At the same 

time, the lack of snowfall allowed snowmobilers to access an enormous amount of 

terrain and track it out. Many locations that are usually very prone to human-triggered 

avalanches resembled more of a ski area. This is probably why there were very few 

reported avalanches were snowmobilers normally ride. 

March 

Arctic air resided over much of the intermountain west for the first week of March. Near 

record low temperatures occurred on the 3rd. On March 8th we issued an avalanche 

warning but perhaps was a little over stated considering only 10 inches of snow fell. 

Nonetheless, the January facet/crust was still down in the snow and still active. Unlike 

the central Wasatch, we did not see an avalanche cycle. However, on the night of the 

12th an intense storm put down up to 2 feet of snow. We issued an avalanche warning 

for areas north of I-80 before the storm had materialized for the real dump down south. 

Once again an expected widespread natural cycle never happened, but conditions 

remained ripe for human-triggering. 

Spring came with the official start of spring. Temperatures shot up above freezing and 

the sun was out in full Utah force. No deep slab avalanches were reported or observed, 

but we did have a widespread wet cycle in the surface snow. Above normal 

temperatures remained without a snap back to winter until the avalanche center shut 

down on April 6th. By this time mountain temperatures rose to near 70 degrees and we 

had already lost 3 ft of our snowpack. 

Summary 

The winter of 2001 2002 was characterized by below normal temperatures and snowfall. 

As a result, the deep slab instability from early January was preserved and very weak, 

but the load of new snow never came quick enough to have a widespread natural 

avalanche cycle. However, human-triggered avalanches did occur and, no doubt, many 

more occurred than we heard about. 
ANNUAL REPORT 2001-2002 FOREST SERVICE UTAH AVALANCHE CENTER 

16

Season History – La Sal Mountains – by Eric Trenbeath 

October 

First snowfall of the season put a few inches on the ground. The ensuing high pressure 

nearly melted all of it and we rejoiced with the hopes that for once, we will be spared from our 

usual depth hoar instabilities. 

November 

After a dry start, and with the mountains almost totally bare, we all had cause to give thanks 

when a Thanksgiving storm arrived leaving 18” of new snow on the ground at the Geyser 

Pass Trailhead (GPTH) with up to 2’ at higher elevations. The wet trend continued for the 

following week and the mountains received another 18” of snow at the GPTH. 

December 

An instant base with continued doses of snow characterized the first half of the month making 

for some of the best early season snow conditions in years. The mountains picked up 8” with 

moderate winds on the 5th, prompting a danger rating of Considerable. We noticed new 

snow, sensitive soft slab avalanches. Seven inches fell over the course of the following 

week. Ten inches on the 15th again prompted a danger rating of Considerable and again, we 

observed more new snow avalanches. This brought the total at GPTH to 40”, a depth not 

reached again until March.... On December 20th, the first of many upcoming winds wreaked 

havoc and the early season party appears to be over. Wind drifting resulted in the 

development of stiff, hard slabs in exposed terrain, and we rated the avalanche danger at 

Considerable in these areas. The mountains received only scant amounts of snow the latter 

part of the month, but they certainly freshened up the snow conditions. 

The snowpack began to take on the character of extreme variability that stayed with us 

throughout the season. Strong winds scoured many South and West facing aspects to near 

the ground while loaded areas maintained a depth of 4’-5’. Faceted grains began to develop 

in shallow, shady areas. 

January 

High, dry, and windy conditions summed up January, with only light and infrequent 

snows coming to occasionally freshen up the conditions. Three inches fell on the 4th, 3” 

on the 16th, 4” on the 20th, 2”on the 22nd, and finally, between the 28th and 29th, a foot of 

snow falls at GPTH prompting a Considerable avalanche danger rating. Unfortunately, 

storm totals from this one are very location dependant and other areas receive only 6”-8” 

of snow. We observed little avalanche activity. 

Variable continued to describe the snowpack with shallow areas showing gradual 

deterioration and facet growth while deeper areas maintained remarkable strength in the 

lower pack. However, the deeper areas exhibited alarming, upper level weaknesses with 

easy shears in the form of facets between thin wind slabs and crusts. 

February 

Conditions went from bad to worse as things got even drier and windier. On February 8th A 

Southwest wind gusted over 50 mph, which striped out southwesterly facing slopes down to 
FOREST SERVICE UTAH AVALANCHE CENTER ANNUAL REPORT 2001-2002 

17

the ground and completely destroyed the snow surface in any other exposed terrain. Wind 

transported snow tipped the scales on some NE aspects resulting in natural, hard slab 

releases that averaged two feet deep. The weakness was the troublesome layer of facets 

between wind crusts in the upper pack. A trace of snow fell on the 15th and corn conditions 

appeared briefly on SE aspects on the 16th. A promising-looking storm system on a SW flow 

stalled out on the 17th and we only got a couple of inches out of it. The system then 

strengthened and we managed to squeak out 6”-10” over the next few days. We finished up 

with a bleak, 57% of average snowpack. 

The variably weak snowpack began to put us on edge as mountainous regions all around us, 

from the San Juan’s to the Wasatch Plateau begin to produce large avalanches. Snow pits 

and stability tests showed either a crumbling house of cards, or the continued presence of an 

easy and well-defined upper, mid level shear in areas where facets had not completely taken 

over. A tour on the 25th showed widespread collapsing and cracking, and bottomless faceted 

grains in shady areas. We noticed a large natural into old snow on a NE aspect. 

March 

Hopes for making up our snowpack in March didn’t really materialize though we did receive a 

few small storms. The mountains received 4” of snow between the 1st and 2nd. Eight inches 

fell on the 8th, bringing snow stake totals back up to 40” for the first time since December. 

Strong winds, and more snow in the forecast seemed to be the right recipe for our weak 

snowpack to finally fail, and we raised the avalanche danger to High. Then the storm quit as 

quickly as it began and avalanche activity was confined only to new snow. Meanwhile, the 

Wasatch Plateau went through a major avalanche cycle with natural full depth releases up to 

1000 feet wide. Snow continued to trickle in on the La Sal Mountains with 5” between the 

11th and 14th, 2” on the 15th, and another 4” by the 18th. None of these storms produced 

enough weight to trigger a full depth cycle though new snow avalanching was frequent. By 

the end of the month, warm daytime temperatures with good overnight freezes, brought on a 

corn cycle and a much needed dose decent skiing conditions. 

April 

After a brief corn cycle, April saw a rapid disappearance of our thin snowpack, and by the first 

weekend most south and west facing aspects melted out. 

Season History – Manti-Skyline – by Craig Gordon 

November 

A couple of early season storms brought limited amounts of snow to the upper 

elevations in early November. As is usually this case, we issue a general informational 

advisory in an attempt to get our users geared up for the upcoming season and to start 

thinking about avalanches. 

A vigorous storm system moved into the region on Thanksgiving Day and by the 25th

strong winds and heavy snow prompted us to issue an avalanche warning for the region. 

While the Skyline didn’t receive the copious amounts of snow like it’s neighbors in the 

Cottonwood Canyons, we faired pretty well with storm totals of close to 6 feet. The 

snowpack went from zero to hero in the matter of 4 days. 
ANNUAL REPORT 2001-2002 FOREST SERVICE UTAH AVALANCHE CENTER 

18

December 

Several smaller storms rolled in throughout the month however, in between these snow 

storms the range experienced a number of strong and erratic wind events that wreaked 

havoc with the snowpack. 

January 

 The powder party was over and several more strong wind storms created an amazingly 

uneven distribution of snow depths and strengths in much of the upper elevation terrain. 

While clear skies, cold temperatures, and small storms made for a month of recycled 

powder, I kept reminding the local users that the weakening snow surface would lead to 

avalanches once winter returned from its sabbatical. By the end of the month these 

weather conditions began to weaken the lower layers of the snowpack as well. 

February 

The month started off with a small storm that deposited 8 inches of snow and coupled 

with strong winds, this combination sent the region into a sporadic, natural, hard slab, 

avalanche cycle. While “pockety” in nature these slabs ran on weak facets close to the 

ground and were a sign of things to come when the right load was applied to a fragile 

snowpack. Another strong wind storm on the 8th loaded slopes in some unusual places 

and I mentioned atypical loading patterns on the advisory for the weekend of the 9th/10th. 

However, two snowmobile-triggered avalanches occurred on the 9th, which resulted in 

partial burials. Fortunately both riders were excavated in a timely fashion and they 

sustained no injuries. The month ended with the usual spit and sputter of small storms, 

though no significant load to really clean things out. Throughout the month the 

snowpack weakened substantially, especially at lower elevations and in areas that had 

less than about 3’ of total snow. The advisories began to sound like a broken record as I 

hammered the message of Armageddon-like avalanches should it ever snow again. 

March 

Finally, a storm system moved into the area on the 8th depositing 20 inches of snow with 

2.5 inches of water. Strong pre and post-frontal winds accompanied this system and 

while visibility remained marginal at best. When it finally cleared, we saw large natural 

avalanches in some very unusual places. While I felt as though we were out of the 

woods in terms of natural activity, the advisory issued on the 9th called for a 

“considerable” danger of human triggered avalanches. The 9th dawned clear and my 

partner Eric Trenbeath and I were scheduled to teach an avalanche awareness class to 

the local search and rescue organization. However, before meeting with the group a 

drive around the region revealed just what we had anticipated. As my partner put it “the 

place peeled apart”. We could see many, natural, hard slab avalanches throughout the 

range with crowns averaging 3 feet in depth. Several paths ran close to the ground and 

were up to 1000 feet wide. This “in your face” sign of instability wasn’t enough to deter 

some riders and snowmobilers triggered five avalanches over the weekend. Two riders 

were completely buried, one of them for 20 minutes. Both were recovered unscathed. 

While many of the major paths had run during this cycle, due to the spatial variability of 

the snowpack, there were still plenty of slopes that remained in a suspended state 

waiting for the right trigger to come along. On March 14th another 18 inches of snow fell 

prompting us to issue an avalanche warning for the area. 
FOREST SERVICE UTAH AVALANCHE CENTER ANNUAL REPORT 2001-2002 

19

While the snowpack seemed to be adjusting to all the added weight, the advisories 

continued to warn of the possibility of triggering a deep, hard slab avalanche. While 

isolated in nature, I mentioned the most likely places to find these conditions would be in 

steep rocky terrain or on slopes that did not slide during the March 9th avalanche cycle. 

Sure enough, on the 24th two snowmobile triggered avalanches occurred on steep, rocky 

slopes that didn’t slide during the March 9th cycle. One rider was completely buried for 5 

minutes with his helmet poking out of the snow. While he was recovered quickly he did 

sustain some minor injuries. 

April 

The weekend of April 13th brought an end to our regularly scheduled advisories and the 

snowpack is suffering severely from unseasonably warm temperatures and marginal 

refreezes. 

As always, we issue an informational year-end update to assist the public with clues so 

they can make their own snowpack stability assessment after the regular advisories end 

for the season. 

The Skyline forecast is just one tool we use to educate the snowmobiling community. 

Over the course of the season we also provide free avalanche awareness talks and field 

sessions. Target groups include snowmobile clubs, local search and rescue groups, as 

well as private and government entities. This year 552 individuals have attended these 

classes. 

Utah Avalanche Incidents and Accidents 

It was yet another active year in Utah. 

The fateful weak layer forms on January 6th. 

The season of avalanche accidents began in earnest on what turned out to be an 

auspicious date for all avalanche workers in Utah—January 6th. On this Sunday, what 

became known as the “January 6th crust” was created when a very warm, wet air mass 

produced rain nearly to 9,000’ and a rime crust above that elevation. The following day 

on the advisory, Drew Hardesty said “Mark this day on your calendar.” Rain is rare in 

Utah’s mountains in winter and as the old avalanche adage goes, “unusual weather 

produces unusual avalanches.” 

Rain crusts often create a persistent weak layer within the snowpack but not for the 

reasons most people think. After colder weather returns, rain crusts (and sometimes 

rime crusts) often concentrate temperature gradients around them and create layers of 

weak, faceted snow on both the top and bottom of the crust. Thus, it’s the associated 

weak snow that continues to produce avalanches, not necessarily the slippery nature of 

a hard crust itself. Often these layers are quite persistent in time but this particular weak 

layer was astoundingly persistent and it continued to produce very large and very 

dangerous avalanches throughout the season. 
ANNUAL REPORT 2001-2002 FOREST SERVICE UTAH AVALANCHE CENTER 

20

On this fateful Sunday, a party of experienced backcountry skiers headed up the Y 

Couloir—a low elevation, steep chute in Little Cottonwood Canyon. As the rain arrived, 

the rapidly-wetted new snow disgorged down the couloir catching one woman and 

injuring her arm. Luckily, they suffered no other injuries. 

Backcountry skier killed in the Uinta Mountains 

During the second half of January various backcountry travelers triggered about a dozen 

large avalanches in the backcountry on the January 6th crust, which caught people on 

three different occasions. Finally, on January 31st, the inevitable happened—the first 

fatality occurred on that fateful layer. 

The death of Brian Roust shook the avalanche community to its core because Brian was 

not only a fellow avalanche worker, but he was very experienced and cagy. Yes, Brian 

fit the description of the typical avalanche victim as he was male in his late 20’s and was 

very skilled in his sport. But he did not fit the profile in that he was a very experienced 

avalanche worker who had patrolled at Park City and was a route leader at the Canyons 

Resort at the time of the accident. Not many avalanche professionals die in avalanches. 

Brian was skiing in one of his favorite backcountry areas on the Thousand Peaks Ranch, 

which is private land in the western Uinta Mountains in the Weber River drainage east of 

Oakley. At least three different parties were skiing in the area and one party of four had 

skied in the area the day before. As the party of four skied one bowl, Brian and his 

partner skied an adjacent bowl with his two dogs. The party in the other bowl triggered a 

large avalanche some distance away from their ski track but no one was caught. Brian 

and his partner saw this avalanche occur and were on their way back up to the top to 

regroup with others and talk about the situation. 

Brian, a notoriously fit backcountry skier, was out ahead of his partner as they climbed. 

When Brian neared the top of the slope, he triggered the avalanche that killed him. We 

do not know yet whether he was going up or down when he triggered the avalanche. 

The avalanche carried Brian and his dog down the slope and buried them. 

Brian’s partner and members of the other party searched the debris with avalanche 

rescue beacons. The first beacon they found was loose in the snow and not attached to 

anything—which was a beacon that Brian had attached to his dog and the avalanche 

had apparently stripped off. The searchers found Brian when they located the second 

beacon, buried 4 feet deep and he was apparently dead from the trauma of hitting trees 

on the way down. 

We do not know whether Brian called the avalanche report before heading out, although 

the Uinta Mountains are outside our forecast area. On that day, Tom Kimbrough’s 

forecast prophetically called the conditions “tricky and dangerous” and that the 

avalanches “break unexpectedly above you and wider than usual.” 

On the same day, an experienced ski patroller triggered an avalanche in the backcountry 

of Cardiff fork, and rode the avalanche about 1000 vertical feet. 
FOREST SERVICE UTAH AVALANCHE CENTER ANNUAL REPORT 2001-2002 

21

Looking down from the fracture line of the avalanche on Windy Ridge triggered by the victim. 

Many more close calls 

In yet another accident involving an experienced avalanche worker occurred on 

February 17th when two Snowbird ski patrollers were skiing in Mary Ellen, a backcountry 

area adjacent to Snowbird. One of them triggered a hard slab avalanche that swept him 

over cliffs, fracturing both arms. He was not buried. Snowbird ski patrol quickly 

responded and he was flown out by helicopter. 

On February 18th, a snowmobiler was buried in the Wolf Creek in the Uinta Mountains 

with just one hand sticking out. 

On February 21st a backcountry skier in Banana Days triggered an avalanche on top of 

his other touring partners with one person caught 

In an extremely close call, on Saturday, February 23rd, a snowmobiler from Sandy 

triggered an avalanche that buried him in the Current Creak area east of Heber. He was 

high marking a slope when he triggered a 1-2 feet deep, slab, which completely buried 

him. Of the five in the party, two were wearing beacons, which unfortunately did not 

include the victim. As the party searched the debris, they luckily heard his snowmobile 

still running beneath the debris. When they dug out the snowmobile they found the 

victim near his sled buried 5 feet deep. He remained in the hospital for several days in 

critical condition and eventually recovered. They did not call the avalanche advisory 

before heading out. 
ANNUAL REPORT 2001-2002 FOREST SERVICE UTAH AVALANCHE CENTER 

22

Two close calls in the Manti Skyline 

Two very close calls occurred in two days on the Manti Skyline (Wasatch Plateau near 

Fairview). The first was on March 9th when two snowmobilers were high marking the 

same slope and they triggered an avalanche with the fracture propagating above the 

upper rider. The upper-most rider outran the avalanche but the avalanche caught his 

friend at mid slope and buried him with just his hand sticking out. His partner spotted his 

hand and dug him out in about five minutes. Everyone in the group carried beacons and 

shovels. 

The second, extremely close call happened the following day when five riders were high 

marking some steep, heavily wind loaded bowls in the Potters Pond area of the Manti 

Skyline. They stopped for a break at the bottom in what they thought was a relatively 

safe area. One rider took off his helmet and gloves while the other riders lined up 

nearby. One last rider high marked the slope above them and triggered a monster 

avalanche with a slab fracture1500 feet wide and 4-5 feet deep. The rider was able to 

ride off the slab and three of the riders at the bottom—with their machines still running—

were able to ride out of the way, but the avalanche completely buried the one person 

with their helmet off, who could not get back on his snowmobile in time. 

Luckily, he thrust his hand upward before the avalanche came to a stop. Although his 

beacon was faithfully transmitting, he had inadvertently left it in the car that morning. 

The rest of the riders searched the debris with their beacons but did not pick up a signal. 

In a final stoke of luck, one of the searchers stepped on the hand of the victim, which 

was barely under the snow surface. They quickly dug him out with a total burial time of 

about 20 minutes. He was blue and not breathing but he started breathing on his own 

when they extricated him. Neither group had checked the advisory before heading out. 
FOREST SERVICE UTAH AVALANCHE CENTER ANNUAL REPORT 2001-2002 

23

Two snowboarders killed near Brighton Resort 

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. 

Looking upwards toward the fracture line of the avalanche triggered by snowboarders on Pioneer Ridge, west of Brighton 

Ski Area. The two victims were traversing the upper slope when they triggered the avalanche. 

The rest of the season remained very dangerous with some of the largest avalanches of 

the season—and in some cases the largest avalanches anyone had ever seen—

occurring in the second half or March. Although three more people were caught, 

including one snowboarder buried to his shoulders, no one else died. 
ANNUAL REPORT 2001-2002 FOREST SERVICE UTAH AVALANCHE CENTER 

24

National Trends in Avalanche Fatalities 

As of this writing, 32 people have died in avalanches in the U.S. This nearly eclipses the 

record of 33 established just last year. Usually several climbers die each spring in 

avalanches in the big mountains of the Pacific Northwest or Alaska, so we expect that 

fatalities this season will overtake last year’s record. Looking at the graph of avalanche 

fatalities in the US by year, the numbers continue their relentless march upward with no 

sign of abating. We all wish our stock portfolios looked like this. It’s fair to say that 

avalanche fatalities have become an epidemic. 

We don’t have to look far to find the cause of the epidemic. When we separate out the 

snowmobiler fatalities by year, the graph jumps exponentially in recent years. This 

season—so far—18 snowmobilers have died in avalanches, which shatters the previous 

record of 15 just last season. In the past 5 years, snowmobilers have accounted for 

twice as many fatalities as any other group. 

Why is this? 

Quantum leaps in technology in the past 10 years have allowed snowmobilers to access 

nearly any kind of terrain that a skier can and they can access that terrain right after a 

storm when the snow is most unstable. Almost anyone, regardless of their athletic ability 

or avalanche training, can quickly and easily access dangerous avalanche terrain. 

Snowmobilers can cover as much as 100 times the amount of terrain in a day as a skier. 

Thus, if instabilities exist, snowmobilers often find them. 

Sales of snowmobiles have increased dramatically in recent years and snowmobiling 

has become the primary form of winter recreation in most mountainous areas of the 

West. Places that were completely empty 10 years ago are now regularly tracked-out. 

Because snowmobiles are a relatively new addition to avalanche terrain, most 

snowmobilers know very little about avalanches. Few snowmobilers in Utah carry 

beacons or shovels or have taken an avalanche class. 

What can we do about it? 

Most avalanche centers were created to provide critical information to backcountry 

skiers and climbers, who led the fatality statistics at the time. As snowmobilers have 

populated virtually every non-wilderness mountain range in the West, avalanche centers 

have to not only continue to provide information to the traditional users—skiers, 

snowboarders and climbers—but to expand into additional areas and adapt to a 

completely different user group. Most avalanche centers have done a heroic job of 

adapting avalanche courses and advisories to snowmobilers but one glance at the 

fatality graphs and it’s clear that we are loosing the battle. 

Funding for most avalanche centers has remained static for many years. Forest Service 

recreation budgets seem to remain static as well with little apparent hope of increasing 

Forest Service efforts towards the avalanche problem. Many avalanche centers, 

including Utah, have successfully applied for grants from State off-road recreation funds. 

Efforts to find funding from within the snowmobile manufacturing community have so far 

seen little success, both in Canada and in the U.S. Presently, outside of the Forest 

Service, the American avalanche community has little national leadership, mostly 

because there is so little national money. From the perspective of our staff—people who 
FOREST SERVICE UTAH AVALANCHE CENTER ANNUAL REPORT 2001-2002 

25

work hard to keep people alive in the backcountry—the situation looks frustratingly 

bleak. 

We can only hope that the snowmobile community takes a hard look at itself and 

decides that it needs to become financially involved in the problem. We have seen this 

happen with every other user group through the years, ski areas, climbers, backcountry 

skiers, and most recently, snowboarders. Each group has had to learn about 

avalanches the hard way and each group has eventually stepped up to the plate and 

taught themselves about avalanches and found the money to combat the problem. 

We in the Utah Avalanche Center presently lack the resources and stamina to fight the 

battle ourselves, but we are more than willing to lend our expertise and leadership in 

expanding avalanche programs into the snowmobile community if funding becomes 

available. 

Data for the following graphs and additional graphs can be viewed at 

www.avalanche.org and click on Salt Lake. 

Avalanche Fatalities in Utah 1951-2002

0

1

2

3

4

5

6

7

1951195219531954195519561957195819591960196119621963196419651966196719681969197019711972197319741975197619771978197919801981198219831984198519861987198819891990199119921993199419951996199719981999200020012002

Winter

Number of Fatalities

5-Year Moving Average
ANNUAL REPORT 2001-2002 FOREST SERVICE UTAH AVALANCHE CENTER 

26

Date Location Details Triggered Caught

Partially 

Buried

Totally 

Buried Injured Killed

11/21/01 Cardiac Bowl Left Chute 1

11/21/01 Cardiac Bowl Keyhole/Little Superior Bowl 2

3/22/01 Alta (closed) 1

11/23/01 Grizzly Gulch 1

11/23/01 Albeon Basin 1

11/23/01 Upper Days Fork remotely triggered 3

11/23/01 Tony Grove remotely triggered 2

11/27/01 Tony Grove remotely triggered 1

11/28/01 Brighton Backcountry snowboarder triggered 1

11/29/01 Flagstaff 1 1

12/4/01 Dutch's Draw wind drift 1

12/14/01 Primrose Cirque 3

12/15/01 Olympus Cove snowboarder triggered 1 1

12/16/01 Whiskey Peak snow machine triggered (near Monte Cristo) 1

12/23/01 Grizzly Gulch 2

12/25/01 Wolverine Cirque shallow wind slab 1

12/30/01 Wooley Hole 1 1

1/6/02 Y Couloir 1 1 1

1/7/02 Benson and Hedges Couloir 1

1/16/02 Flagstaff snowboarder triggered 1 1

1/18/02 Silver Fork 2

1/22/02 South Monitor 1

1/22/02 Chablis Bowl triggered 15' below crown face 1 1

1/24/02 Raymond 1

1/24/02 Raymond remotely triggered by skier 1

1/24/02 Twin Lakes Pass remotely triggered by skier 1 1

1/24/02 Meadow Chutes remotely triggered by skier 1

1/24/02 Mineral Fork 1

1/25/02 West Monitor carried 200' 1 1

1/25/02 Grandview Peak 1

1/24/02 Gobblers Knob 2

1/23/02 Bald Mountain (Unita Mtns) snow machine triggered 1

1/23/02 Elizabeth Pass (Uinta) snow machine triggered cornice fall 1

1/29/02 Twin Lakes Pass snowboarder triggered 1

1/29/02 American Fork remotely triggered 1

1/30/02 Ben Lomand Peak remotely triggered from below 1

1/30/02 James Peak several remotely triggered slides 1

1/31/02 Windy Ridge (Uinta Mtns.) Backcountry skier killed 2 1 1 1 1

1/31/02 Cardiff Fork Reed-Benson Ridge 1 1 1 1

2/1/02 Silver Fork Davenport Hill 1

2/17/02 American Fork Twin Snowbird Patroller carried over a cliff 2 1 1

2/18/02 Wolf Creek (Uinta Mtns.) Snowmachiner burried with one hand out 1 1 1

2/21/02 Chablis Bowl 1 remote and 1 sympathetic 2

2/21/02 Banana Belt 1 skier triggered slide onto his touring party 1 1 1

2/21/02 Clayton Peak 1

2/22/02 Bald Mountain (Unita) snow machine triggered 1

2/23/02 Tower Peak snowmobiler buried for 20 min 1 1 1

2/24/02 Hallway Coulior 1

2/24/02

Duchesne Ridge (Uinta 

Mtns.) 1 1

2/25/02 Mineral Fork 1 skier caught and carried 1 1

Incidents and Accidents 2001-02

This list includes only unintentional human triggered avalanches in the backcountry.
FOREST SERVICE UTAH AVALANCHE CENTER ANNUAL REPORT 2001-2002 

27

Avalanche Incidents and Accidents, continued: 

3/2/02 Mineral Fork

ski cut with no results then skier released

with a second sympathetic release 1 1

3/4/02 Silver Fork skier carried 100' 1 1

3/4/02 Dromedary Peak 1

3/4/02 Dromedary Peak 1

3/3/02 Four Eagles (Uinta Mtns.) 1

3/5/02 Four Eagles (Uinta Mtns.) 1

3/5/02 Alexander Basin Depth Hoar Bowl 1

3/7/02 Silver Fork 1 skier caught and carried 1 1

3/9/02 West Monitor triggered by kicking cornice 1

3/9/02 Cardiff Fork Holey Toledo 1

3/9/02 Wasatch Plateau "Big Drift" 1

3/9/02 Wasatch Plateau

1 snowmobiler buried with one hand out for 5

min 1 1 1

3/10/02 Wasatch Plateau

1 snowmobiler buried with one hand out for 7

min, forgot to turn beacon on 1 1 1

3/10/02 White Pine skier caught and buried up to his neck 1 1 1

3/10/02 Wilson Drainage 1 1

3/13/02 Lower Mineral Fork triggered from skin track after 1 run 1

3/14/02 Brighton, 10,321 1

3/14/02 Western Uinta Mtns. 1

3/14/02 Butler Fork triggered from 33 deg ridgeline 1

3/16/02 Dog Lake near Brighton triggered by out-of-bounds snowboarders 1 3 2 2

3/16/02 Cathrine's Pass 1

3/17/02 Sound of Music (Dewy's) remote triggered 1

3/18/02 Gobblers Knob

Cabin Run - triggered from the flank on 33

deg slope, crown ~ 2000' 1

3/19/02 Elizabeth Pass (Uinta Mtns.) snowmobiler buried to shoulders 1 1 1

3/19/02 Patsy Marly 1

3/16/02 Provo Mountains 1

3/27/02 Twin Lakes Pass 1 skier caught and carried 1 1 1

3/29/02 Reynolds Peak 1 skier caught and carried 1 1

3/31/02

Rip's Ridge (Park City 

Ridgeline) 1 skier caught and carried 1 1

3/31/02 Wasatch Plateau Seeley Canyon 1 2 1 1

Total 92 32 9 5 4 3
ANNUAL REPORT 2001-2002 FOREST SERVICE UTAH AVALANCHE CENTER 

28

Date Deaths Sex Location Activity Skier Climber

Snow

boarder

Snow

mobiler

Other

Recreation 

(snowshoe, 

hiker, 

hunter) Worker Resident

9-Mar-58 2 Males Snowbasin Rescuer 2

29-Mar-64 1 Male Snowbasin Worker 1

31-Dec-65 1 Male Park City In-bounds skier 1

12-Feb-67 2 Males Pharoah’s Glen Climbers 2

19-Feb-68 1 Male Rock Canyon Hiker 1

29-Jan-70 1 Male Alta In-bounds skier 1

29-Jan-73 1 Male Park West In-bounds skier 1

6-Jan-76 1 Male Alta Out of bounds skier 1

3-Mar-77 1 Male Snowbird In-bounds skier 1

19-Jan-79 1 Male Helper Worker 1

2-Apr-79 1 Male Lake Desolation Backcountry skier 1

11-Jan-80 1 Male Evergreen Ridge Out of bounds skier 1

1-Feb-81 1 Male Cardiff Hiker 1

1-Mar-81 1 Male Millcreek Backcountry skier 1

22-Mar-82 1 Male near Park West Backcountry skier 1

2-Jan-84 1 Male Superior Peak Backcountry skier 1

22-Feb-85 1 Male Near Powder Mountain Backcountry skier 1

19-Mar-85 1 Female Park City In-bounds wet slide 1

13-Nov-85 2 Males Sunset Peak Backcountry skiers 2

6-Jan-86 1 Male Provo Canyon Backcountry skier 1

17-Feb-86 1 Male Big Cottonwood Canyon Backcountry snowboarder 1

19-Feb-86 1 Male Alta In bounds skier 1

20-Nov-86 1 Male Sugarloaf, Alta Hiker in unopened area 1

15-Feb-87 1 Male Twin Lakes Reservoir Backcountry skier 1

25-Nov-89 1 Male Tony Grove Lake, Logan Backcountry skier 1

12-Feb-92 4 3-M/1-F Gold Basin, La Sal Mtns Backcountry vskiers 4

1-Apr-92 1 Male Mineral Basin, near Snowbird Backcountry skier 1

16-Jan-93 1 Male Sundance (closed area) Backcountry skier 1

25-Feb-93 1 Male Pinecrest, Emig. Cyn. Backcountry skier 1

3-Apr-93 1 Male Wolverine Cirque Backcountry skier 1

18-Feb-94 1 Male 10,420 Peak, B.C.C. Backcountry skier 1

7-Nov-94 1 Male Snowbird (pre-season) Backcountry skier 1

14-Jan-95 2 Males Ben Lomond, near Ogden Snowmobilers 2

23-Jan-95 1 Male Midway Resident killed in roof slide 1

12-Feb-95 1 Male Gobbler’s Knob, B.C.C. Backcountry skier 1

2-Feb-96 1 Male Solitude patroller Worker 1

27-Mar-96 1 Male Maybird Gulch, L.C.C. Backcountry skier 1

7-Dec-96 1 Male Bountiful Peak Snowmobiler 1

26-Dec-96 1 Male Flagstaff Peak Backcountry snowboarder 1

11-Jan-97 3 Males Logan Peak Three campers 3

25-Jan-97 1 Male Provo Canyon Climber 1

17-Jan-98 1 Male Near Coleville Snowmobiler 1

18-Jan-98 1 Male Sanpete County Snowmobiler 1

26-Feb-98 1 Male Near Weber State hiker (possible suicide) 1

7-Nov-98 1 Male Snowbird (pre-season) Snowboarder 1

2-Jan-99 2 Males Wasatch Plateau Snowboarders 2

29-Jan-99 1 Male Mt. Nebo Snowmobiler 1

6-Feb-99 1 Male Little Willow Canyon Hiker 1

11-Jan-00 2 M/F Squaretop Out of bounds Skiers 2

14-Dec-01 1 Male Willard Basin Snowmobiler 1

27-Feb-01 1 Female Near Canyons Resort Out of bounds Skier 1

10-Mar-01 2 Males Uinta Mtns near Oakly Snowmobiler 2

28-Apr-01 2 Males Stairs Gulch, BCC Climbers 2

31-Jan-02 1 Male Windy Ridge, Uinta Mtns. Backcountry Skier 1

16-Mar-02 2 Males Pioneer Ridge near Brighton Out of bounds Snowboarders 2

Total 69 1958 season - Present 34 5 7 9 8 5 1

Past 10 seasons 11 3 6 9 5 1 1

Shaded areas indicate greatest concentration of fatalities. Past 5 seasons 4 3 5 6 5 0 0

 62 Males, 4 Females

Avalanche Fatalities in Utah 1958-2002 - By Activity
FOREST SERVICE UTAH AVALANCHE CENTER ANNUAL REPORT 2001-2002 

29

Utah Deaths by Natural Hazard

1951 - 2001

Lightning

38%

Flash Floods

18%

Avalanches

44%

0

200

400

600

800

1000

1200

1400

Number of Incidents

Triggered Caught Partly Buried Totally Buried Killed

Avalanche Incidents in Utah 1985-2002
ANNUAL REPORT 2001-2002 FOREST SERVICE UTAH AVALANCHE CENTER 

30

Season 

(year 

ending) Triggered Caught

Partly 

Buried

Totally 

Buried Killed

1951 0

1952 0

1953 0

1954 0

1955 0

1956 0

1957 0

1958 2

1959 0

1960 0

1961 0

1962 0

1963 0

1964 1

1965 0

1966 1

1967 2

1968 1

1969 0

1970 1

1971 0

1972 0

1973 1

1974 0

1975 0

1976 1

1977 1

1978 0

1979 2

1980 1

1981 2

1982 1

1983 0

1984 1

1985 79 39 15 6 3

1986 66 27 12 5 5

1987 50 18 6 3 2

1988 39 6 1 1 0

1989 64 9 1 0 0

1990 65 34 14 2 0

1991 46 19 7 1 0

1992 76 27 14 9 5

1993 65 29 9 5 3

1994 74 42 5 3 1

1995 79 31 7 9 5

1996 51 15 3 2 2

1997 84 62 37 9 6

1998 96 57 17 8 3

1999 68 48 19 7 5

2000 42 22 8 9 2

2001 161 71 17 12 6

2002 104 37 95 4 3

Total 1951-

present 1309 593 287 95 69

Total 1985-

present 1205 556 192 91 51

Average - past 15 seasons 2.7

Average - past 10 seasons 3.6

Average - past 5 seasons 3.8

Avalanche Incidents in Utah 1951-Present
FOREST SERVICE UTAH AVALANCHE CENTER ANNUAL REPORT 2001-2002 

31

U.S. Avalanche Fatalities by Activity

1996-2002

146 Total Fatalities

Skiers

24%

Snowboarders

14%

Misc Recreation

10%

Climbers

5%

Others at Work

1%

Residents

1%

Patrollers

0%

Snowmobilers

44%

Motorists/Highway 

workers

1%

U.S. Avalanche Fatalities by State 1996-2002

(N = 143)

CO

22%

AK

22%

MT

19%

UT

13%

WA

7%

ID

5%

WY

8%

CA

4%
ANNUAL REPORT 2001-2002 FOREST SERVICE UTAH AVALANCHE CENTER 

32

U.S. Snowmobile Avalanche Fatalities by Year 

1968-2002

0

2

4

6

8

10

12

14

16

18

20

19681969197019711972197319741975197619771978197919801981198219831984198519861987198819891990199119921993199419951996199719981999200020012002

Winter

Number of Fatalities

5-Year Moving Average 

U.S. Avalanche Fatalities 1950-2001

0

5

10

15

20

25

30

35

19531954195519561957195819591960196119621963196419651966196719681969197019711972197319741975197619771978197919801981198219831984198519861987198819891990199119921993199419951996199719981999200020012002

Winter

Number of Fatalities

5-Year Moving Average 
FOREST SERVICE UTAH AVALANCHE CENTER ANNUAL REPORT 2001-2002 

33

Avalanche Fatalities by Country - 1991-2001

(N=1477)

France

20%

U.S.A.

19%

Austria

18%

Switzerland

16%

Italy

12%

Canada

9%

Slovokia

2%

Norway

3% Germany

1%

World Avalanche Fatalities 1976-2001

125

153

185

148

133

153

138 149

174

224

204

123

150

78

100

192

99

146

110

140

170

146 138

209

145

176

0

50

100

150

200

250

1976

1977

1978

1979

1980

1981

1982

1983

1984

1985

1986

1987

1988

1989

1990

1991

1992

1993

1994

1995

1996

1997

1998

1999

2000

2001

Winter

Number of Fatalities
ANNUAL REPORT 2001-2002 FOREST SERVICE UTAH AVALANCHE CENTER 

34

Olympic Avalanche Preparations

Avalanche Education 

Although the Utah Avalanche Center continues to be committed to avalanche education 

in Utah, the Olympic Winter Games took up much of our time and we had to cut back on 

our usual heavy load of avalanche classes. Nevertheless, we still managed to teach 46 

classes to 1989 people. 

This season, we finally made the full transition from slides to Powerpoint. Although the 

transition required a hefty amount of time to scan slides and transfer our lectures into the 

computer, we utilized our additional staff for the Olympics to finally complete the job. 

Having made the painful transition, the UAC staff love the new technology. It offers a 

number of advantages. We can: 

3⁄4 Pre-assemble several different versions of each talk, customized for each user 

group and customized for length and complexity. No more duplicating slides or 

tearing apart talks, rearranging slides and loading them back into trays. 

3⁄4 Share out talks and images with other staff members as well as other avalanche 

centers. In the past, duplicating slides was prohibitively expensive and time 

U.S. Avalanche Fatalities by Decade

0

5

10

15

20

25

30

35

40

50's 60's 70's 80's 90's

Decade

Percentage of Total

Backcountry 

Skiers

Climbers Snowmobliers

Snowboarders

In Bounds Skiers
FOREST SERVICE UTAH AVALANCHE CENTER ANNUAL REPORT 2001-2002 

35

consuming. Now we can e-mail them, post them on the web or mail them on a 

CD. 

3⁄4 Annotate images with text and draw arrows and lines on photographs instead of 

pointing with the laser pointer. We can also animate lines, drawings or images. 

3⁄4 Show video clips of what we are trying to illustrate, which is an extremely 

powerful tool. We can also show video sequences of avalanches in motion at the 

beginning of talks on the big screen instead of on a small TV screen. 

3⁄4 Assemble our talks at home on our own computers instead of getting blurry eyes 

over the light table at work and borrowing slides from each other. 

3⁄4 Take photographs with our digital cameras the day of a talk and show it to the 

audience that same night. 

3⁄4 Easily grab images off the Internet or e-mail images or talks to each other. 

In short, we found the transition to be somewhat painful and expensive but now we are 

reaping the rewards of less work and being able to utilize a very powerful tool. 

Education takes many forms besides the traditional class. Much of our education this 

year focused on other ways of reaching people. For instance, we added photos and 

maps to our web forecast, photo galleries of recent avalanches, installed informational 

trailhead displays and allowed users to have the forecast automatically e-mailed to them 

every day. 

For a third year, Craig Gordon focused on the snowmobile education program, partially 

funded by a National Recreation Trails Program Grant administered through Utah State 

Parks. He continued to develop snowmobile-specific talks. Craig also wrote a very 

educational series of articles in Snowscoop—a snowmobile publication. He has done an 

excellent job of building a rapport with the snowmobile community, introducing 

avalanche knowledge and technology. 

Goals for next year include reaching out towards snowboarders, by facilitating avalanche 

education for middle and high school age kids. We also want to find a way to reach outof-bounds skiers and boarders, as an increasing number of accidents have occurred 

these past few seasons when skiers and boarders leave ski area boundaries. The 

trailhead information displays should help with this problem if ski areas can post them at 

backcountry access points. 
ANNUAL REPORT 2001-2002 FOREST SERVICE UTAH AVALANCHE CENTER 

36

Date Staff Event No. people

Summer Tremper Several classes for Olympic Public Safety Personnel 40

9/29/01 Gordon Utah Snow show 65

10/28/01 Tremper/Lees National Avalanche School 190

11/12/01 Gordon Blaster's School - NSP 130

11/14/01 Gordon Private Snowmobile Club 33

12/1/01 Lees/Tremper REI Avalanche Awareness 200

12/5/01 Trenbeath Grand County Search and Rescue 27

12/7/01

Trenbeath

Color Country Snowmobile Association, Brian Head, 

Utah

23

12/10/01 Trenbeath Grand County Winter Strike Team 13

12/11/01 Kimbrough AAI Level II 10

12/11/01 Hardesty/Kimbrough Black Diamond Avalanche Awareness 75

12/12/01 Tremper Wasatch Mountain Club 100

12/12/01 Gordon/Trenbeath USFS Team Leadership-Ephraim 12

12/13/01 Johnson Beacon Instruction 8

12/18/01 Gordon USFS Timpanogas Cave, Pleasant Grove District 25

1/2/02 Gordon Private Snowmobile Club 19

1/3/02 Lees/Athey/Kobernik UAC Level 1 Refresher 8

1/7/02 Tremper Uinta NF Leadership Team 10

1/7/02 Gordon Snowflakes Snowmobile Club 33

1/8/02 Tremper REI - Science of Avalanches 120

1/9/02 Kimbrough Avalanche Awareness 8

1/11/02 Trenbeath Fishlake National Forest 25

1/14/02 Tremper Wasatch SG All employees Meeting 60

1/15/02 Gordon Point Power Sports Snowmachine Talk 100

1/17/02 Tremper Park City Avy Awareness 50

1/17/02 Johnson Logan Cache Country SAR 25

1/18/02 Trenbeath/Medara Moab Information Center 37

1/19/02 Gordon Timpanogas Ridge Runners Snowmachine Club 20

1/19/02 Trenbeath/Medara Moab Information Center 30

1/23/02 Johnson Logan Ranger District 15

1/24/02 Johnson, Logan Basic Avalanche Awareness 19

1/25/02 Trenbeath Carbon County Recreation 13

1/26/02 Trenbeath Carbon County Recreation 10

2/10/02 Tremper Olympic training for FEMA 150

3/8/02 Trenbeath/Gordon Sanpete County Search and Rescue 15

3/9/02 Trenbeath/Gordon Sanpete County Search and Rescue 12

3/15/02 Greene University of Utah 10

3/26/02 Gordon Avalanche Awareness, Brighton 60

1/19/21 Staff Friends of UAC Level 1 25

1/15,16/02 Greene American Avalanche Institute Level II 40

1/18,19/02 Tremper/Johnson

Evanston, WY SAR, Fire, USFS District 

Snowmachine Avy Awareness 30

1/24-26/01 Greene USFS 2

3/16,17 Hardesty,Kobernik,ArmUniv. Utah Basic Awareness 20

3/24,25 Greene/Kimbrough National Ski Patrol Level II PCMR 10

3/7,9,10 Hardesty, Athey, KoberUniv. Utah Basic Awareness 20

3/8-11/02 Greene AK Mtn Safety Center Level 1 30

5/5-10/02 Hardesty NOLS AK Level II 12

46 Courses Total 1989

UAC Avalanche Education 2001-02
FOREST SERVICE UTAH AVALANCHE CENTER ANNUAL REPORT 2001-2002 

37

Media Contacts 

International Sports Broadcasters filming an avalanche piece featuring Forest Service Utah Avalanche Center Director, Bruce 

Tremper. ISB supplied the program to countries throughout the world and it played on shuttle busses and in hotels in Utah during 

the Olympic Winter Games. The Weather Channel also ran an avalanche story at intervals during the Olympic Games featuring 

Bruce Tremper.

Our goal was for avalanches to NOT be part of news coverage for the Olympic Winter 

Games. Happily, this turned out to be the case, but not necessarily from any of our 

efforts. With high pressure and stable snow, avalanches dutifully stayed in the 

background and the number of our national media contacts actually decreased 

somewhat from last season. We had only two interviews on national television, seven 

off-camera interviews on national TV, 21 national print interviews, 12 local television 

interviews, two national radio interviews, two local radio interviews and 30 local print 

interviews. 

Although we had only two national television interviews, both of them received very wide 

distribution. For instance, International Sports Broadcasters were in charge of 

distributing the Olympic video feed to everyone in the world outside of the United States. 

An avalanche piece played regularly throughout the world and on many of the shuttle 

busses for the Olympic Winter Games. Second, an avalanche piece for the Weather 

Channel played at regular intervals throughout the Games. Bruce Tremper appeared on 

both of these programs. 
ANNUAL REPORT 2001-2002 FOREST SERVICE UTAH AVALANCHE CENTER 

38

Quotes from our staff also appeared in a number of other national publications including 

National Geographic Adventure, Outside Magazine and Science News Magazine the 

Boston Globe, Denver Post and the Baltimore Sun and Seattle Times. A radio interview 

about avalanches aired on National Public Radio. In addition, information provided from 

our staff appeared in NBC Nightly News, CBS News, Japanese and German television 

programs, Time Magazine and Newsweek Magazine. 

As always, we work regularly with the usual round of local media including all four 

television news programs and all the local newspapers in northern Utah. 

In preparation for the Olympic Winter Games, we developed a much more detailed 

media packet, which includes frequently asked questions, a simple avalanche primer, 

staff biographies, photos and graphics. This media packet will continue to help with 

media contacts in the future. 

We know that our avalanche information regularly reaches only a small portion of the 

population and on our modest budget, the only realistic way to educate a wider audience 

about avalanche hazards is to use the media. Because media contacts are so important 

in our business, we have made them a priority by developing media packets and 

regularly sending the UAC staff to media training. 

Because he deals with media so much, Bruce Tremper wrote an article for The 

Avalanche Review titled, “Winning the Media Game” in which he outlines effective 

strategies for dealing with media. He will also present the paper and give a talk to the 

national meeting of avalanche centers in the fall of 2002. 
FOREST SERVICE UTAH AVALANCHE CENTER ANNUAL REPORT 2001-2002 

39

Date Staff Agency Subject

Naional or 

International 

Television 

Interview

National or 

International 

Television 

Information

National 

or International 

Print 

Media

Local 

Television 

Interviews

National 

Radio 

Interviews

Local 

Radio 

Interviews

Local Print 

Interviews

6/4/01 Tremper Salt Lake City Magazine Terms for different kinds of snow 1

6/22/01 Tremper Ogden Standard Examiner Olympic Avalanche Preparations 1

8/2/01 Tremper Ogden Standard Examiner Olympic avalalanche forecasting 1

8/9/01 Gordon Ogden Examiner "Corn Snow" 1

8/16/01 Kimbrough Salt Lake Tribune Current avalanche hazard 1

8/24/01 Kimbrough Salt Lake Tribune Avalanche Danger 1

9/17/01 Kimbrough Salt Lake Tribune Avalanche Danger 1

10/3/01 Hardesty Park City Record Day in the life of a forecaster 1

10/3/01 Hardesty Provo Daily Herald Avalanche Danger 1

10/9/01 Tremper Ogden Standard Examiner General article about avalanches 1

10/21/01 Hardesty Deseret News Avalanche Danger 1

10/22/01 Hardesty Park City Record Avalanche Danger 1

10/23/01 Ciliberti Deseret News Avalanche Danger 1

11/1/01 Trenbeath Powder Magazine Ski Touring in the La Sals 1

11/1/01 Trenbeath Sports Guide Ski Touring in the La Sals 1

11/25/01 Hardesty Deseret News Avalanche Danger 1

11/28/01 Tremper Sports Guide Article about Utah Avalanche Center 1

11/28/01 Lees Tooele Transcript Avalanche Danger 1

11/29/01 Greene Salt Lake Tribune Avalanche Danger 1

11/29/01 Greene Salt Lake Tribune Avalanche Danger 1

12/1/01 Tremper Deseret News Double snowboarder fatalities 1

12/2/01 Tremper Salt Lake Tribune Double snowboarder fatalities 1

12/2/01 Trenbeath Moab Happenings MLSAC Open For Season 1

12/4/01 Gordon Salt Lake Tribune Avy Fatalities 1

12/7/01 Greene Salt Lake Tribune Persistent Weak Layer 1

12/11/01 Hardesty Tooele Transcript Oquirrhs Avalanche 1

12/14/01 Tremper Channel 13 TV Double snowboarder fatalities 1

12/14/01 Kimbrough KPCW Science Friday Avalanche Phenomena 1

12/17/01 Tremper Deseret News End of season article 1

12/27/01 Kimbrough Ogden Examiner Avalanche Danger 1

12/27/01 Tremper Baltimore Sun General article about avalanches 1

1/1/02 Tremper

National Geographic 

Adventure

Featured in a how-to article on 

avalanches 1

1/7/02 Tremper Travel Channel Big avalanche disasters 1

1/7/02 Tremper

National Geographic 

Adventure Avalanche Beacons 1

1/8/02 Tremper Worst Case Scenario Avalanche questions 1

1/8/02 Tremper Outside Magazine Rising avalanche fatalities 1

1/11/02 Tremper

National Geographic 

Adventure Hot avalanche tips 1

1/22/02 Tremper NOW Networks Avalanche questions 1

1/23/02 Tremper Channel 5 TV Interview during Olympic Media Summit 1

1/28/02 Tremper Baltimore Sun Interview during Olympic Media Summit 1

1/31/02 Tremper Boston Globe Interview during Olympic Media Summit 1

1/31/02 Tremper

National Geographic Radio 

Expeditions Training Olympic security personnel 1

1/31/02 Kimbrough Denver Post 100 inch storm 1

1/31/02 Trenbeath Moab Times Independent Avalanche Class Report 1

2/1/02 Kimbrough Outside Magazine Avalanche Danger 1

2/1/02 Tremper Weather Channel Interview on avalanches 1

2/2/02 Kimbrough Channel 5 -SLC Avalanche Danger 1

2/2/02 Tremper National Public Radio Interview about avalanches 1

2/2/02 Trenbeath Inside Outside Magazine Avalanche Awareness 1

2/3/02 Hardesty Channel 5 -SLC Avalanche Danger 1

2/5/02 Hardesty KSL radio Avalanche Danger 1

2/5/02 Tremper Time Magazine Public safety for the Olympics 1

2/5/02 Hardesty KSL Channel 5 - SLC Avalanche Danger 1

2/7/02 Tremper Channel 5 TV Avalanche Fatality 1

2/8/02 Tremper

International Storts 

Broadcasters

General avalanche interview - played on 

television stations throughout the world 1

2/14/02 Tremper Channel 4 TV Avalanche Fatality 1

2/14/02

Trenbeath

Moab Times Independent Avalanche Awareness and Water 

Report 1

2/15/02 Tremper Channel 2 TV Avalanche Fatality 1

2/27/02 Tremper Denver Post Olympic Avalanche Dangers 1

2/28/02

Trenbeath

Moab Times Independent Avalanche awareness and Water 

Report 1

3/11/02 Tremper NBC TV

Information on Olympic Avalanche 

Dangers 1

3/13/02 Greene NBC Olympics 1

3/13/02 Tremper Boston Globe Olympic Avalanche Dangers 1

3/13/02 Greene Boston Globe Olympics 1

3/15/02 Kimbrough CBS Olympics 1

3/17/02 Tremper Science News Magazine General article about avalanches 1

3/17/02 Tremper Seattle Times General questions about avalanches 1

3/17/02 Tremper German TV Greatest Snow on Earth 1

3/17/02 Tremper NHK TV, Japan Olympic Avalanche Dangers 1

3/17/02 Tremper Channel 2 TV 1/2 hour show on snowmobile safety 1

3/20/02 Tremper Montana State University Olympic Avalanche Dangers 1

3/21/02 Tremper Schnectady NY newspaper Olympic Avalanche Dangers 1

3/27/02 Tremper Newsweek Magazine Rising fatalities among snowmobilers 1

4/1/02 Tremper Channel 5 TV Double snowboarder fatalities 1

4/15/02 Tremper Channel 2 TV Double snowboarder fatalities 1

4/19/02 Tremper Channel 5 TV Avalanche conditions 1

Total 2 7 21 12 2 2 30

Total Contacts 76

UAC Media Contacts 2001-02 
ANNUAL REPORT 2001-2002 FOREST SERVICE UTAH AVALANCHE CENTER 

40

Trailhead displays of avalanche information were erected at many of the popular trailheads throughout northern Utah. 

Olympic Avalanche Preparations 

Avalanches are a daily part of life in Utah and the Olympic Winter Games bought an 

increased urgency to Utah’s avalanche preparations, especially for the Forest Service 

Utah Avalanche Center (UAC). With the influx of visitors during the Olympics, we 

wanted to be prepared for an influx of people recreating in the backcountry during the 

Games. We also wanted to be prepared for a major winter storm and any avalancherelated problems. 

Outreach to Olympic Visitors 

We assumed that most Olympic visitors probably did not know about the services 

provided by the Forest Service Utah Avalanche Center and many have little knowledge 

of avalanches, so the challenge was how to reach this diverse group with critical 

information before they can get themselves in trouble in the backcountry. During the 

Olympic Games, the UAC faxed their forecasts to hotels, ski shops, ski resorts and 

Forest Service offices. We prepared interpretive avalanche information displays for 

many of the popular trailheads in northern Utah and we created avalanche information 

brochures and distributed them widely. 
FOREST SERVICE UTAH AVALANCHE CENTER ANNUAL REPORT 2001-2002 

41

In addition, International Sports Broadcasters was in charge of distributing video feeds to 

all non-NBC affiliates throughout the world. ISB produced a feature on the Forest 

Service Utah Avalanche center, which played on all busses that transport Olympic 

visitors to the venues as well as in many hotels. 

Additional staff and products 

To handle the expected increase in demands for services, the UAC doubled its staff and 

provided twice-daily avalanche advisories are available during the Olympic Winter 

Games instead of the usual morning-only advisories. In addition to the usual “long” 

advisory we have created a one-page, icon-based advisory, which is a shortened 

summary of avalanche conditions with easy-to-interpret icons that tell the pubic exactly 

where they can expect to find avalanche danger. 

This icon bar is imbedded in forecasts that show avalanche danger at a glance. 

Upgraded web site 

We upgraded the web site (www.avalanche.org and click on Salt Lake City) by adding 

GIS maps of the most popular terrain with links to automated weather stations and 

photographs of what the terrain looks like as well as photos of recent avalanches. We 

added a detailed list of automated weather stations in the mountains with graphs of the 

most recent 24 hours of data. Finally, we created avalanche education primers for both 

the public and media were created lists of avalanche classes available. 

GIS Display of Terrain 

We developed a GIS display of terrain in the Salt Lake area mountains for display on the 

Internet. This included 3-D displays of the terrain, names of various drainages and 

avalanche paths, automated weather stations, links to photographs of the terrain, and 

links to accident descriptions. 
ANNUAL REPORT 2001-2002 FOREST SERVICE UTAH AVALANCHE CENTER 

42

Photos of recent avalanche activity 

The UAC created an archive of photographs of avalanche activity that occurred 

throughout the season with detailed descriptions of the activity or accidents. We posted 

these photos usually within a day or two of when they occurred. The photo page proved 

to be extremely popular with the public. It’s one thing to talk about a “recent avalanche 

that was four feet deep and 300 yards wide that took out trees,” and entirely another to 

see graphic photographs of it. People can see exactly how large it was, where it was 

and see in no uncertain terms, that it would be un-survivable. We received more 

complimentary calls and feedback from the public on the photos page than nearly 

anything else we have done in years. Although it is rather time consuming for our staff, 

already stretched thin, we plan to do our best to keep it up in the future, despite the postOlympics staff cutbacks. 

Swiss computer software 

The UAC partnered with the Swiss government to use Swiss state-of-the-art avalanche 

forecasting software called the “nearest neighbors model.” This computer model uses 

the current snowpack and weather conditions and searches through the past 15 years of 

data to find the closest matches (nearest neighbors) in the past and it displays the kind 

of avalanche activity that occurred on those days. The Swiss Federal Institute for Snow 

and Avalanche Research generously donated the software and adapted it for our data. 

Working with public safety personnel 

Security officers patrolled the perimeters and buffer zones of Olympic venues and some 

of these patrol routes border uncontrolled backcountry avalanche terrain. The UAC 
FOREST SERVICE UTAH AVALANCHE CENTER ANNUAL REPORT 2001-2002 

43

worked with the Utah Olympic Public Safety Command to teach avalanche classes and 

to produce a 15-minute avalanche safety video that security personnel watched in their 

pre-Olympic orientation training. 

Teaching avalanche classes to public safety officers before the Olympic Winter Games 

Working with media 

Media has always had an intense interest in avalanches and we expected media interest 

during the Olympic Winter Games to be intense, especially if avalanche conditions took 

a turn for the worse. In the past, the UAC staff were featured on a number of national 

and international television documentaries about avalanche including those produced by 

National Geographic, Discovery Channel, PBS and most of the national network news 

programs. We developed media packets for both print and television including 

frequently asked questions, lists of still photo sources, video sources and avalanche 

graphics. 

In the fall before the Olympics, we organized an Olympic Avalanche Media Summit to 

field questions about avalanche preparations by all the avalanche entities in Utah 

including the Forest Service, the Utah Department of Transportation and Snowbasin. 

Several national print media and the local media covered this event. 

The Forest Service sponsored a couple different media events called “Buried Alive” in 

which we invited the media to ski areas where they could be buried in a small snow cave 

while avalanche rescue dogs located them with scent and dug them out. One event 

occurred at Snowbasin and another at Snowbird. About five print media and five 

television media attended each one. 

During the Olympic Games, the Weather Channel, International Sports Broadcasters 

and NHK TV in Japan featured the Forest Service Utah Avalanche Center in their 
ANNUAL REPORT 2001-2002 FOREST SERVICE UTAH AVALANCHE CENTER 

44

stories. National Public Radio featured the UAC staff on a story about increased 

avalanche accidents in the backcountry. A number of national print media did stories on 

the UAC including the Boston Globe, Baltimore Sun, Science News Magazine, Seattle 

Times and we were interviewed for general avalanche information by Time Magazine, 

Newsweek Magazine, National Geographic Adventure Magazine, Outside Magazine and 

NBC News. 

Budget 

For the past several seasons we have been both blessed and cursed by the looming 

presence of the Olympic Winter Games. Thanks to the generous and far-sighted 

financial support from John Hoagland, the Director of the Forest Service 2002 Planning 

Team, we had a healthy shot of extra money in the program, which allowed us to do a 

number of innovative programs most of which will remain as a legacy after this Olympic 

year. It was also a bit of a curse as it made our program much more complex to 

administer. In northern Utah, for instance, we not only had to keep track of nine people 

instead of our usual four, but we had to supervise and implement a number of complex, 

new programs. 

Next season, we will drop back to a staff of four in Salt Lake City. In addition, we hired 

Greg Johnson to run the Logan center partially funded with Olympic funds and next 

season the Logan program may die entirely unless we can find some grant money. As 

we transition from feast to our customary famine, we will likely also have to drop a 

number of the computer projects we implemented for the Olympic Winter Games 

including the icon-based advisory, the Swiss Nearest Neighbors program, updates to the 

GIS display of terrain and the luxury of having an extra person in the office to help 

answer phones. There will simply not be enough money or personnel to keep them 

going. 

The budget numbers below reflect the total cost of avalanche forecasting in northern 

Utah including funds from the private, non-profit group, Friends of the Utah Avalanche 

Center (FUAC). FUAC raises around $40,000 per season and they spend most of that 

amount on their own and outside of the Forest Service. Only a portion of that money is 

transferred to the Forest Service for salaries. FUAC hires one contract backcountry 

observer and several “volunteer” observers, who are reimbursed for their expenses at 

$10.00 per observation. They also spend money on avalanche education in Utah. 
FOREST SERVICE UTAH AVALANCHE CENTER ANNUAL REPORT 2001-2002 

45

FY 2002 Budget - Wasatch and Bear 

River Ranges 

 

Where the Money Comes From 

 

Forest Service 2002 Planning Team $130,000.00

Friends of Utah Avalanche Center $40,000.00

Forest Service Base Funding $37,000.00

State of Utah Public Safety, CEM $25,000.00

Salt Lake County $20,000.00

National Recreation Trails Program $10,000.00

Utah State University $3,000.00

 

Total $265,000.00

 

 

Where the money goes 

 

Salaries - Salt Lake staff $170,000.00

Salary - Logan $26,000.00

Contract computer programmer $16,000.00

Contract and volunteer Observers $11,000.00

Equipment and supplies $10,000.00

Telephones $10,000.00

Contract web and computer support $6,000.00

Travel $6,000.00

Printing $4,000.00

Contract Swiss Nearest Neighbors $2,000.00

Olympic Detailer $2,000.00

 

Total $263,000.00
ANNUAL REPORT 2001-2002 FOREST SERVICE UTAH AVALANCHE CENTER 

46

Where the Money Comes From

Forest Service 2002 Planning 

Team, $130,000.00

Friends of Utah Avalanche 

Center, $40,000.00

Forest Service Base Funding, 

$37,000.00

State of Utah Public Safety, 

CEM, $25,000.00

Salt Lake County, $20,000.00

National Recreation Trails 

Program, $10,000.00

Utah State University, 

$3,000.00

Where the Money Goes

Salaries - Salt Lake staff, 

$170,000.00

Salary - Logan, $26,000.00

Contract computer 

programmer, $16,000.00

Contract and volunteer 

Observers, $11,000.00

Equipment and supplies, 

$10,000.00

Telephones, $10,000.00

Contract web and computer 

support, $6,000.00

Travel, $6,000.00

Printing, $4,000.00

Contract Swiss Nearest 

Neighbors, $2,000.00

Olympic Detailer, $2,000.00
FOREST SERVICE UTAH AVALANCHE CENTER ANNUAL REPORT 2001-2002 

47

Appendix 

Season November December January February March April Total

1944-45 --- 57.0 19.5 67.0 --- 57.0

1945-46 109.0 83.0 84.5 50.0 69.0 55.5 451.0

1946-47 69.0 63.0 61.0 53.0 68.0 60.0 374.0

1947-48 118.0 80.0 46.0 66.0 165.0 74.0 549.0

1948-49 71.0 160.0 132.0 58.0 97.0 5.0 523.0

1949-50 39.0 137.0 133.0 34.0 109.0 25.0 477.0

1950-51 60.0 66.0 112.0 58.0 53.0 0.0 349.0

1951-52 67.0 156 115.0 105.0 163.0 35.0 641.0

1952-53 44.0 65.0 112.0 40.0 93.0 57.0 411.0

1953-54 50.0 107.0 54.0 57.0 101.0 14.0 383.0

1954-55 37.0 53.0 134.0 129.0 60.0 59.0 472.0

1955-56 86.0 112.0 103.0 72.0 33.0 54.0 460.0

1956-57 36.0 50.0 86.0 41.0 97.0 76.0 386.0

1957-58 74.0 79.5 83.5 131.5 80.0 111.0 559.5

1958-59 38.0 47.5 81.0 107.0 84.5 28.0 386.0

1959-60 22.0 39.5 59.0 155.0 92.0 28.0 395.5

1960-61 75.0 40.0 1.0 62.0 113.0 35.0 326.0

1961-62 46.0 82.5 86.0 110.0 35.0 42.0 401.5

1962-63 31.0 17.0 85.0 39.0 93.0 136.0 401.0

1963-64 55.0 53.0 108.0 68.0 183.0 99.0 566.0

1964-65 95.0 141.0 150.0 66.0 44.0 77.0 573.0

1965-66 69.0 69.0 73.0 103.0 70.0 49.0 433.0

1966-67 53.0 84.0 168.0 72.0 61.0 106.0 544.0

1967-68 22.0 131.0 39.0 84.0 70.0 133.5 479.5

1968-69 87.5 132.6 113.0 148.0 35.0 50.0 566.1

1969-70 56.0 70.0 103.5 60.5 79.0 90.0 459.0

1970-71 79.0 142.0 58.0 73.5 87.0 42.0 481.5

1971-72 64.5 159.0 94.5 45.0 47.0 56.6 466.6

1972-73 ---- 122.0 64.5 77.0 124.0 109.0 496.5

1973-74 90.9 128.2 104.5 91.0 45.0 136.0 595.6

1974-75 25.5 146.5 104.0 88.0 151.0 90.0 605.0

1975-76 94.0 67.0 74.5 69.0 93.0 42.0 439.5

1976-77 13.5 17.0 50.5 73.5 129.0 31.0 314.5

1977-78 53.0 106.5 99.5 92.5 85.0 88.0 524.5

1978-79 62.5 96.0 78.5 86.0 71.0 94.0 588.0

1979-80 79.5 27.0 143.0 112.5 123.0 29.0 514.0

1980-81 40.0 34.0 73.0 82.0 110.0 52.0 391.0

1981-82 47.0 184.0 143.0 85.0 164.0 73.0 696.0

1982-83 66.0 165.0 75.5 68.0 150.0 112.5 637.0

1983-84 143.5 244.5 42.0 104.0 85.0 124.5 743.5

1984-85 112.5 105.0 44.0 61.5 99.5 34.5 457.0

1985-86 132.0 62.0 56.0 112.7 100.0 135.7 599.0

1986-87 73.0 12.3 96.0 73.0 104.0 23.5 381.8

1987-88 30.0 91.0 105.1 39.75 115.5 29.0 410.3

1988-89 172.5 124.5 70.75 97.5 64.75 52.0 581.5

1989-90 76.0 49.0 107.5 100.5 84.0 31.0 448.0

1990-91 109.5 91.0 82.8 49.7 110.9 136.3 580.2

1991-92 133.4 57.2 41.8 85 50.1 27.5 395.0

1992-93 118.8 119.2 165.3 102.9 63.0 81.2 650.4

1993-94 40.7 64.85 122.7 134.05 47.2 80.8 490.3

1994-95 205.9 73.8 199.7 56.3 128.9 80.7 745.4

1995-96 57 53 187 104 82 79 562

1996-97 78.3 164.8 141.5 91 53.8 69.7 599.1

1997-98 46.3 81.8 128.9 156.6 92.3 69 574.9

1998-99 76.5 43.1 105.3 98 46.5 89 458.4

1999-00 30.0 97.0 100.0 119.5 84.0 15.5 446.0

2000-01 88.0 71.0 66.2 79.5 53.0 112.0 469.7

2001-02 137 86.1 100.9 53.4 142.2 48.1 567.7

Average 73.0 91.3 95.6 83.0 90.1 66.2 499.6

Maximum 205.9 244.5 199.7 156.6 183.0 136.3 745.4

Year of 

Max 94 83 95 97 64 91 95

Snowfall at Alta 1945 - Present
ANNUAL REPORT 2001-2002 FOREST SERVICE UTAH AVALANCHE CENTER 

48

Season

SLC

3-minute

SLC

5-minute

Salt Lake 

Telephone

Logan 

Telephone

Ogden 

Telephone

Provo 

Telephone

Park City 

Telephone

Alta

Telephone

State 

Snowmobile 

Hotline

Moab 

Telephone Total Calls

1977 6,522 0 6,522 0 0 0 0 0 0 6,522

1978 11,258 0 11,258 0 0 0 0 0 0 11,258

1979 9,924 0 9,924 0 0 0 0 0 0 9,924

1980 14,469 0 14,469 0 0 0 0 0 0 14,469

1981 30,736 0 30,736 0 0 0 0 0 0 30,736

1982 33,099 0 33,099 0 0 0 0 0 0 33,099

1983 40,355 0 40,355 4,357 1,890 3,671 3,042 0 0 53,315

1984 39,647 0 39,647 5,300 2,725 4,076 2,577 0 0 54,325

1985 32,476 0 32,476 4,652 1,706 2,276 2,386 0 0 43,496

1986 36,535 0 36,535 5,469 5,464 2,292 2,562 0 0 52,322

1987 38,841 0 38,841 4,693 2,587 2,518 2,121 0 0 50,760

1988 39,614 4,020 43,634 4,000 2,500 2,500 2,500 0 0 55,134

1989 48,488 8,033 56,521 4,000 2,500 2,500 2,500 0 1,100 69,121

1990 52,898 10,947 63,845 4,000 2,500 2,500 3,000 0 1,693 77,538

1991 62,814 10,160 72,974 4,000 2,500 2,500 3,000 0 2,811 87,785

1992 62,429 9,970 72,399 4,000 2,500 2,500 3,000 0 3,216 87,615

1993 79,248 12,136 91,384 3,676 3,034 3,134 3,419 0 2,763 107,410

1994 71,880 13,204 85,084 4,110 3,500 2,610 3,663 0 3,000 101,967

1995 90,052 13,770 103,822 4,879 3,746 3,000 3,640 0 2,842 121,929

1996 89,965 11,529 101,494 3,729 2,744 2,813 3,338 0 1,794 115,912

1997 113,069 113,069 5,215 3,000 3,000 4,000 4,000 1,056 133,340

1998 106,267 8,579 106,267 5,797 3,000 3,000 6,500 7,000 5,000 2,000 138,564

1999 78,391 0 78,391 3,950 3,500 3,000 5,680 8,000 5,000 2,000 109,521

2000 61,744 8,939 70,683 6,250 3,500 3,000 5,000 3,000 5,000 2,000 98,433

2001 76,089 9,385 85,474 5,000 3,500 3,000 5,000 3,000 5,000 3,000 112,974

2002 71,762 7,765 79,527 5,000 3,000 3,000 5,000 3,000 5,000 2,000 105,527

Rounded off numbers are conservative estimates based on past numbers because no call counters exist.

Telephone Access

Advisory

Season

Logan 

Advisory

Manti 

Skyline 

advisory

Moab 

Advisory

Salt Lake 

NWS 

server* 

Salt Lake 

CSAC 

server*

Salt Lake 

avalanche.

org hits *

Total Hits 

Statewide

1998 3,500 50,000 15,000 68,500

1999 4,559 108,948 23,148 136,655

2000 32,888 4,559 78,750 10,864 127,061

2001 28,000 8,519 9,418 36,349 11,989 61,155 155,430

2002 30,000 10,168 8,596 35,000 8,062 85,760 177,586

Season

NWS 

Server

CSAC 

Server

Avalanche.

org Total

1998

1999 113,139 9,489 122,628

2000 84,750 1,787 86,537

2001 59,603 5,271 7,587 72,461

2002 60,000 348 23,539 83,887

* NWS = National Weather Service server

* CSAC = Cyberspace Snow and Avalanche Center server

Mountain Weather

Internet Access

* Avalanche.org is the official web site of the American Avalanche Association