Backcountry Death Stats

[pstm13]

Avalanches kill 6 in western United States
http://www.cnn.com/2014/02/11/us/avalanche-deaths/index.html

You may already have this info but I thought I would post it just in case.

 

[Aldaron]

Good call. I hadn't looked at the news searches today, and I only had the Utah ones from this weekend. Thanks for the heads up!

 

[pstm13]

2 deaths in Creaters of the Moon NM that you may not have from last year.

http://www.idahostatesman.com/2013/10/23/2830221/woman-finally-found-at-craters.html

 

[Aldaron]

And with that, the avalanches have taken the lead.

 

[Laura]

Don't know if you already check this but any deaths in a national park will be listed here:

http://www.nps.gov/morningreport/

 

[Aldaron]

Thanks! That site has been a big help in keeping track of the national park incidents.

 

[pstm13]

Mt Borah Deaths (2 avalanche 1 fall)

• An avalanche claimed the lives of 2 climbers in November of 1977. Read Mike Howard's write-up on the incident.
• In 1987 Dave Probst was killed on a decent from Borah down Rock Creek. He had just proposed to his girlfriend on the summit, so they were not married. They decided to head down Rock Creek between the summit and the false summit. He was unable to stop his glissade down the series of snow fields there and ended up trapped in the gap between the third snow field and the rock face. Snow that sloughed off in his fall buried him.

 

[pstm13]

At the risk of annoying you with info you already have I am going to post a link to the Fremont County S&R page. There are references to several avalanche deaths in past years. I'm not sure if you are focusing on deaths overall, current deaths or all of the above.

http://www.fremontrescue.org/News.htm

 

[Aldaron]

Trust me, no info is annoying!

What I'm doing right now is gathering stats for the calendar year of 2014. I made the criteria for a qualifying death:

1. Must occur on public land
2. Must not occur on or originating from pavement
3. Must not occur within sight of a house
4. Must occur in 2014

That's it. I'm sure some people may take exception with some of the criteria, but they all have a reason in an attempt to define "backcountry."

But, yeah, keep the info coming...I always need more sources, and I enjoy reading the stories.

 

[pstm13]

http://m.localnews8.com/news/Idaho-...an/-/22687724/24521298/-/ybc7w2z/-/index.html

 

[Aldaron]

And two more in Colorado. This is a crazy avalanche year.

 

[River]

Summary of avalanches.
http://www.avalanche.org/accidents.php

 

[pstm13]

Another avalanche death near Jackson Hole yesterday that is not on the avalanche.org site yet. Man they are dropping like flies in this area.

 

[River]

Interesting video about the Frenchman Ck Avalanche in the Sawtooths.

 

[Aldaron]

It's getting a little crazy out there. By this time in 2010 I had recorded 6 deaths in the backcountry. So far this year: 31.

 

[Duke]

@Aldaron, have you ever read any of David Paulides books or heard him interviewed? Backcountry disappearances vs deaths but very interesting.

An interesting 2 hr interview from WVBR here. The interviewer is a bit different and occasionally strays off to the very weird, but the stories Paulides relates appear to be factual and are interesting. He doesn't try to postulate the reasons, just reports the events.

 

[Aldaron]

@Aldaron, have you ever read any of David Paulides books or heard him interviewed? Backcountry disappearances vs deaths but very interesting.

I haven't seen those books before. But that sounds like something fun to read while I'm backpacking in the desert, including the Maze, for a week here in a few days!

 

[Udink]

I haven't seen those books before. But that sounds like something fun to read while I'm backpacking in the desert, including the Maze, for a week here in a few days!

It sounds like at least a few of us BCPers will be in that area this weekend. If you see my dark blue Grand Cherokee with roof box down there, please stop to chat!

 

[Aldaron]

It sounds like at least a few of us BCPers will be in that area this weekend. If you see my dark blue Grand Cherokee with roof box down there, please stop to chat!

Dang it...I'd love to chat! I'm actually not heading out until next Friday, though, and our first stop is a few days in Grand Gulch before heading out to the Maze.

 

[River]

Another in MT
http://www.mtavalanche.com/advisory/14/03/12