Three snowmobilers caught in very large slide on Buck Ridge

Buck Ridge
Northern Madison
Code
HS-AMu-R4-D3-G
Elevation
9300
Aspect
NE
Latitude
45.17190
Longitude
-111.38000
Notes

From one of the riders caught in the slide , "The 3 persons involved were traveling across the slope about 20-30 yards up from the tree line parallel to the ridge line in the slide area when it broke, not high marking and not traveling uphill. One rider did increase his elevation while traveling across the slope but was never more than 1/4 of the way up when the slide was triggered."


@carter.olson, "I witnessed three snowmobilers trigger and get caught in an avalanche at second Yellowmule (Buck Ridge) at 12:40PM today. The lead snowmobiler triggered the avalanche while descending from his high mark with the other two snowmobilers below him. The lead snowmobiler was able to run out the avalanche to a degree and made it to the edge of the runout at the bottom. The other two snowmobilers were pointed uphill when the avalanche was triggered and shot into the trees when attempting to outrun the avalanche. The female was buried to her torso and the male was buried to his waist. Both sleds were buried about three feet under the debris. The Avalanche propagated about 1500ft wide. Luckily everyone involved was not harmed, just a broken a arm on one of the buried sleds.
Luckily I was able to jump into action, yelling “Avalanche, Avalanche, Avalanche” grabbing everyone in my group’s attention. Then I told everyone to get their beacons out and put them to search and get to where we last saw the snowmobilers. On our way to the last point of sight of the snowmobilers, they all screamed out they were ok."

Number of slides
1
Number caught
2
Number buried
2
Number killed
0
Avalanche Type
Hard slab avalanche
Trigger
Snowmobile
Trigger Modifier
u-An unintentional release
R size
4
D size
3
Bed Surface
G - Ground
Problem Type
Persistent Weak Layer
Slab Thickness
84.0 inches
Vertical Fall
150ft
Slab Width
850.00ft
Weak Layer Grain type
Depth Hoar
Slab Layer Grain Type
Wind packed
Slab Layer Hardness
K
Slab Thickness units
inches
Single / Multiple / Red Flag
Single Avalanche
Advisory Year