LA GRANDE — A tragic wakeup call.

This is how Michael Hatch, a forecaster for the Wallowa Avalanche Center in Joseph, perceives the Jan. 10 avalanche near Lake Tahoe that killed a skier and injured three other people.

“This reiterates that even in a very controlled environment avalanches can occur. There is always uncertainty,” said Hatch, who is also director of the Eastern Oregon University Outdoor Adventure Program.

Hatch said that almost every year there is at least one avalanche at a controlled ski site somewhere in the world.

Snow and rock barreled into Palisades Tahoe from expert ski lift KT-22 standing at 8,000 feet, according to the Sacramento Bee. The debris, which Placer County sheriff’s deputies said spread 150 feet wide, 450 feet long and 10 feet deep, buried multiple people and killed Kenneth Kidd. Three others suffered non-life threatening injuries, Palisades Tahoe ski resort staff said.

The following day, another snowslide cascaded through Wolverine Bowl on the Alpine Meadows side of Palisades Tahoe, about 100 miles from Sacramento, according to the Bee. No one was injured, said Patrick Lacey, a spokesman with Palisades Tahoe.

The tragedy caught the attention of many because it was inbound, meaning it took place inside a ski area where steps are regularly taken by patrollers to reduce the likelihood of avalanches.

“It is not foolproof,” Hatch said of the hard work done to mitigate avalanche danger at controlled sites including ski resorts.

Hatch said skiers using groomed gentler runs at a ski resort are at almost no risk of encountering an avalanche. However, those going into more rugged, steeper terrain within ski areas face more danger.

Hatch encourages these skiers to bring location beacons to help rescuers find them if buried under snow, and inflatable packs, which are inflated with the press of a button. Once pumped, Hatch said, the packs make an individual caught in an avalanche buoyant in the snow, often allowing people to stay above the snow or much closer to its surface.

Hatch also encourages all skiers outside ski area boundaries to bring beacons and inflatable packs.

Union County Emergency Service Manager Nick Vora said that while risks can never be eliminated, patrolled ski areas such as Anthony Lakes Mountain Resort are by far the safest place for people to ski and recreate in the winter, especially during periods of widespread snowpack instability and associated elevated avalanche danger.

“Ski patrol staff do an excellent job across the board mitigating avalanche hazards in areas with known risk both on and off-trail, and while I think that should give people a significant sense of security, we should never let our guard completely down,” he said.

Vora urges people to check for advisories online at www.wallowaavalanchecenter.org before traveling in the backcountry. The center has issued a warning for this week, indicating that dangerous avalanche conditions will persist in the Wallowas, Elkhorns (not including Anthony Lakes Mountain Resort) and the northern Blue Mountains.

Anthony Lakes Mountain Resort

Matt Baldwin, risk and operations manager at the ski area in the Elkhorn Mountains, about 19 miles west of North Powder, said the resort lacks the sort of terrain where avalanches are likely.

But slides are possible, he said, and that’s why the Anthony Lakes Ski Patrol focuses on “avalanche mitigation” every day the chairlift operates.

The process starts with forecasting, Baldwin said.

Patrollers and other resort employees monitor not only the weather forecast, but they track changes in the snowpack throughout the season.

Layers of ice that can form within the snowpack can increase the risk of avalanches, he said, because new snow doesn’t bond well with ice.

Patrollers check the entire mountain every day before the public is allowed on the slopes, Baldwin said.

That job can be more involved when, as has been the case the past two weeks, snow is accumulating rapidly.

Anthony Lakes measured about 55 inches of snow between Jan. 1-15, and snow continued to fall throughout this week.

Patrollers use several tactics both to assess the avalanche risk and, if needed, to address it, Baldwin said.

In addition to skiing the slopes, focusing on areas near the top of the mountain where snow is more likely to slide, workers also dig pits that allow them to examine the snowpack, and its interior layers, in detail.

If patrollers believe a small avalanche is possible, one will purposely trigger the slide by skiing across the top of the slope and, if necessary, jumping on the snow, Baldwin said.

That’s rarely needed, however, Baldwin said.

Patrollers always work in teams of at least two, he said.

While one member tries to get the snow to move, another watches from a safe spot outside the potential route of the slide, Baldwin said.

Patrollers always carry emergency equipment including a beacon that will send a radio signal if they’re buried, as well as the aforementioned inflation packs.

They also have probes to find someone buried in snow, and shovels to dig them out.

Patrollers also are trained both to recognize avalanche risks and to deal with slides, Baldwin said.

He said the avalanche risk is low inside the ski area boundaries not only due to the patrollers’ efforts and the lack of prime avalanche terrain, but also because, well, there are a lot of people skiing or snowboarding down the mountain.

Their combined weight compresses the snow and helps prevent potentially weak layers from forming in the snowpack, Baldwin said.

“Skier compaction is a big thing that ski resorts have going for them” in reducing the avalanche risk, he said.

Because that risk is comparatively minor, Baldwin said Anthony Lakes, unlike some larger resorts, doesn’t need to use remotely detonated explosives to trigger avalanches.

That technique is used when the triggered avalanche could be large enough to pose a threat to people, he said.

Although patrollers can deal with avalanche risk, that’s not the only potential threat to skiers and boarders, Baldwin said.

Tree wells — deep pits that can form around the base of trees as snow piles up — can trap skiers and potentially leave them buried in snow, posing the same suffocation danger as an avalanche.

For that reason, Baldwin said he encourages skiers and boarders to always employ the “buddy system” and never go alone.

Baldwin said Anthony Lakes uses the same avalanche mitigation strategy for its guided ski tours on the west side of the mountain, which is not accessed by the chairlift.

Skiers aren’t allowed in areas which have an avalanche risk, he said.

“We always play the conservative card,” Baldwin said.

Skiers on the guided tours must carry an avalanche beacon as well.

Backcountry

The situation is quite different outside ski resort boundaries, which are “unpatrolled and uncontrolled,” Baldwin said.

That’s why the Anthony Lakes boundary is marked by signs, he said.

Anyone who ventures outside that boundary, whether close to Anthony Lakes or anywhere in the vast mountain backcountry in Northeast Oregon, “needs to know what they’re doing,” Baldwin said.

That means having the ability to gauge avalanche risk and avoid dangerous areas, and carrying equipment, such as beacons and inflation packs, that could be lifesavers.

The avalanche danger has increased substantially in the backcountry due to the recent onslaught of storms.

“In the past week we’ve seen some rapid and very welcome increases in mountain snowpack, but along with that has come an increased avalanche hazard,” Vora said.

Vora advises people to make it a point to be aware of their surroundings and to take an avalanche safety course like the ones offered by the Wallowa Avalanche Center.

“Ski patrol staff do an excellent job across the board mitigating avalanche hazards in areas with known risk both on and off-trail, and while I think that should give people a significant sense of security, we should never let our guard completely down.”

— Nick Vora, Union County emergency service manager