Multiple skier triggered avalanches occurred in the Presidential Range in New Hampshire throughout the day on Wednesday, sparking a dire warning surrounding avalanche conditions from the Mount Washington Avalanche Center. All skiers survived.
The first avalanche caught, carried, and critically buried a solo skier in Hillman’s Highway. A second solo skier in the same avalanche path managed to move out of the way in time and was able to spot a small part of the buried skier out of the snow. The second skier immediately provided aid and the buried skier was able to be extracted with the help of bystanders, AMC, Harvard Cabin, and USFS Snow Rangers. The skier suffered non-life threatening injuries.
The second avalanche was triggered by two skiers in Huntington Ravine. The large slide occurred in the Fan of Central Gully, propagating out and across towards the Harvard Bulge. Neither of the skiers were caught, carried, or buried in the avalanche, and a personal account/observation was posted among the observation page of the Mount Washington Avalanche Center.
“AVALANCHE CONDITIONS ARE DANGEROUS, and we expect this trend to continue with new snow and active wind loading. CONSIDERABLE avalanche danger means that human-triggered avalanches are likely and natural avalanches are possible.” – Mount Washington Avalanche Center
Avalanche danger remains high in the Presidential Range as of 7:24am on Thursday, February 27.
