Northwest mountains have right ingredients for avalanches

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Avalanche incidents — fatal and nonfatal — have been on the rise in the past decade, as more and more people venture into steep, deep snow on skis, snowshoes, snowboards and snowmobiles.

Two dozen people have died in Washington avalanches since 1985 — almost all in areas with no professional avalanche control. Hundreds more get lucky and walk away from avalanche encounters, many of which are never reported.

But some experts say it's a miracle more people aren't killed in a region with a unique — and often fatal — combination of ample mountain ranges, deep snow and unusually good highway access leading into it.

The Mount Baker area, scene of the small-but-deadly Dec. 12 slide, is a good example, says Dunham Gooding, president of American Alpine Institute, a Bellingham mountain-guide service.

Because of their ruggedness, positioning and unusually deep snowfall, Baker and other Northwest mountains can create dangers at 4,000 to 6,000 feet in elevation that normally would be encountered only at much higher elevations, Gooding says.

People often believe avalanches strike only in the "backcountry," Gooding says. But any Cascade or Olympic mountain area not controlled by avalanche professionals might fit that definition. If conditions are wrong, "you can get killed 30 yards from your car."

Most Northwest slides are slab avalanches, in which a layer of snow ranging from several inches to several feet deep breaks free from a layer below.

When the stress of new snow — or the additional weight of a human being — can no longer be sustained by the layer beneath it, it breaks. Avalanches tend to strike on slopes at intermediate elevations, with pitches between 28 and 45 degrees — the very places most sought by backcountry skiers and snowboarders.

Once an avalanche happens, swift rescue is essential: The cascading snow sets up like concrete around anything in its path. Even those buried under only a few inches of snow can find it difficult to get out, and the survival rate among people buried more than 15 minutes is less than 50 percent.

— Ron Judd, Seattle Times staff reporter
 

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