Avalanche catches 7 skiers south of Jackson Hole Mountain Resort

JACKSON (WNE) — Seven people were caught and carried in an avalanche Monday in backcountry terrain south of Jackson Hole Mountain Resort, demonstrating the snowpack’s instability after a warm, wet storm hit the Tetons.

For forecasters, the incident evoked muted frustration.

“During these peak storms when the avalanche center puts the danger at high and issues an avalanche warning, people need to take it seriously,” said Mike Rheam, lead avalanche forecaster for Jackson Hole Mountain Resort and a longtime forecaster for the Bridger-Teton Avalanche Center.

“Even terrain that people are familiar with is dangerous during these cycles,” he said.

The seven skiers nonetheless ventured out of Jackson Hole Mountain Resort’s backcountry gates into Rock Springs Canyon. Around 3:15 p.m., six of the party’s seven members had descended an area known as North Bowl, and were waiting for the seventh person to ski on an apron below a cliff band. That person took a high line, triggering the slide. The crown — the area where the slab moving downhill broke away from the snow above it — was roughly 2 feet deep, according to the avalanche center.

The fracture line ran 500 feet across the hill and caught every person in the party. Six people were able to self-arrest and stop themselves from being carried farther downhill. The seventh person was buried, with only a ski boot showing. The other six people were able to dig that person out of the debris.

The buried skier’s mouth was filled with snow and they sustained other injuries. They survived.

“This incident could have had a much worse outcome given the size and destructive force of this avalanche,” forecaster John Fitzgerald wrote in the Tuesday Teton-area forecast.

This story was published on February 5, 2025.