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Date: 2003-12-13
Submitted By: NWAC
Place: Near the Alpental ski area, Snoqualmie Pass
State: WA
Country: USA
Fatalities: 1
Summary: 1 snowshoer caught, buried, still missing and presumed dead
A 38 year old woman snowshoer is still missing after being caught and
buried in an avalanche about midday on 13 December near the Alpental
ski area, Snoqualmie Pass, WA, in the drainage leading to Source Lake.
The day of the accident was generally a day of very heavy snowfall
with 23 inches of 24 hour snowfall at the nearby WSDOT office by the
morning of 14 December. The woman was apparently in a group but
reports have varied widely as to the size of the group. The avalanche
is reported by a searcher to have been about an 8 inch soft slab, on
an ENE 35 degree aspect at about 3300 feet, ran about 100-150 yards
downslope, class 2, the victim was caught part way down the avalanche
path, debris depth varied 2-8 feet. It is not known for certain, but a
searcher also reported that sluffs off cliffs above may have triggered
the slide. The search area is about 50 x 50 meters and has apparently
been probe searched several times by 16 December. Searchers report
that avalanche dogs had difficulty due to multiple persons and other
dogs preceding them in the search area. Another searcher commented
that probing was difficult due to underlying large rocks in the search area.
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