MOUNT WASHINGTON, New Hampshire: Now that it’s summer, and we can feel comfortable watching the intense and scary moments from winter 2023/24, we can look back at the Mount Washington avalanche that pulled a skier down the steep Airplane Gully in the Great Gulf Wilderness. The skier suffered an open fracture of the tibia and fibula, but was safely extracted from the scene.
“At about 11:30am on Saturday, December 9th, a backcountry skier triggered an avalanche while descending Airplane Gully in the Great Gulf Wilderness. The skier was caught, carried, and not buried, but they sustained serious injuries during the fall. The skier’s partner and a bystander were able to effectively provide assistance and first aid until rescue services arrived. The current General Avalanche Information from the Mount Washington Avalanche Center (MWAC) for December 9th warned of “isolated areas of unstable snow at middle and upper elevations which could avalanche from the weight of a person.”
The slide occurred back on December 9 this past winter, pulling the skier about 700 feet before they came to a halt, unburied. The slide began as a ~15 foot wide hard slab avalanche.
