Avalanche threat forces Mount Charleston evacuation

David Kihara

Wednesday, Jan. 12, 2005 | 9:45 a.m.

Residents of parts of Mount Charleston began a mass evacuation from the mountain on Tuesday after Metro Police strongly urged residents to flee the area because of avalanche warnings.

Authorities also ordered the continued closure of the Las Vegas Ski and Snowboard Resort following an avalanche early Tuesday morning that caused heavy damage to one ski lift.

The avalanches and closure of the Las Vegas Ski and Snowboard resort came just two days after an avalanche claimed the life of a 13-year-old snowboarder who was swept off a ski lift and buried under 10 feet of snow.

"We've never closed in 31 years in business, but we're evacuating now," said Barbara Orcutt, owner of the Mount Charleston Lodge, on Tuesday night. "We just have to do what we have to do."

Earlier in the day, the authorities closed State Routes 156 and 157 at the U.S. 95 intersections and State Route 158, to any incoming traffic except residents and emergency vehicles. The routes are closed until further notice.

Orcutt said Metro officers informed her about 5:45 p.m. on Tuesday that there were 16 potential avalanches in the area, and even though the officers were polite, the police were insistent that she leave the area and inform the guests at the lodge to evacuate.

"There was no arguing with them. They were nice about it, but they made it very clear that we needed to go," Orcutt said.

The lodge, at the top end of Kyle Canyon Road, has 23 cabins and was at about 65 percent capacity when Metro warned Orcutt of the avalanche danger.

"We've had avalanche warnings from time to time, but nothing has ever happened like this before," she said.

Forestry officials based at Mount Charleston agreed with Orcutt, saying that residents were advised to flee from Mount Charleston only once before in more than 20 years, and that was because of a threat of fire in the summer.

On Tuesday, Metro officers asked residents from the Mount Charleston subdivisions of Echo Canyon, Old Town and Cathedral to evacuate their homes and find shelter elsewhere, Clark County Spokeswoman Stacey Welling said Tuesday night.

Residents of the mountain's largest subdivision, Rainbow, have not been advised to leave their homes, she said.

More than 600 people live in the Mount Charleston area, and about 400 of them live in the Rainbow subdivision, said David Bibee, a firefighter with the Nevada Division of Forestry, who is based at the Kyle Canyon Fire Station.

Steve Brittingham, also a firefighter with the Nevada Division of Forestry based at the Kyle Canyon Fire Station, said that although the evacuations are voluntary, the authorities strongly urge residents to leave the area.

Any residents who don't abide by the warnings "depend on their own resources" if they stay, he said.

So far, all residents of Echo Canyon had left the area by 3:30 p.m. Tuesday and most residents of Cathedral and Old Town were leaving on Tuesday night, officials said.

Early on Tuesday, two avalanches struck Echo Canyon, with the first avalanche covering some unoccupied sections above the subdivision with 20 to 30 feet of snow, Brittingham said. No one was injured in that avalanche, and it caused no serious property damage, he said.

The second avalanche, which came down about 100 to 125 yards from any residences, didn't injure anyone or cause property damage either, he said.

"This isn't the most snow we've ever had, but the mix of snow and rain makes it the strangest weather ever," Brittingham said, who added that the weeks of snow combined with warmth and rain have compressed the snow into a very heavy mass.

Several residents of the Cathedral subdivision learned first hand the effects of the heavy snow on Tuesday when they found their chimneys damaged or their porches collapsed.

One resident, who declined to be identified, was placing wood flats on his damaged porch to repair the damage. He said that he lost all electricity, propane and water to his house but declined to say whether or not he was leaving the area.

Frank Mitchell, who has lived in the Cathedral subdivision for six years, still had all utilities functioning in his home at 4 p.m. on Tuesday. Although the authorities had not yet asked residents to leave from the area at that time, Mitchell said he wouldn't evacuate because "there is no danger for people here to move."

As residents of Mount Charleston began to flee from the mountain Tuesday night, the general manager of the Las Vegas Ski and Snowboard Resort, Brian Strait, met with forestry officials to discuss the ongoing investigation into the death of Allen Brett Hutchison, the 13-year-old who was killed on Sunday after an avalanche swept him from a ski lift.

Although Strait could not discuss the investigation in detail on Tuesday, he said officials with the U.S. Forestry Service on Wednesday are sending a service review team to look into Sunday's accident as well as two additional avalanches on Tuesday at Las Vegas Ski and Snowboard Resort.

One avalanche on Tuesday caused massive damage to Ski Lift One and the resort may have to replace to entire lift, Strait said. He could not estimate how much that will cost the Las Vegas Ski and Snowboard Resort.

The second avalanche, on the west side of the resort, did not cause any damage. No one was hurt in either incident on Tuesday.

The U.S. Forestry Service decided on Tuesday to continue the closure of the Las Vegas Ski and Snowboard Resort and there is no date yet set when it will open, Strait said.

"We have no idea when the closure will be lifted," he said.

The forest service and the resort are looking into the "avalanche control plan" for the resort and if additional measures will need to be taken, he said.

An expert from the Forest Service National Avalanche Center, Doug Abromeit, is in Las Vegas currently to investigate the avalanches at the Las Vegas Ski and Snowboard Resort, said Robbie McAboy, the Forest Service's recreational officer for the Spring Mountain area.

Despite the avalanches and tragedies at Mount Charleston, people on Tuesday took full advantage of the snow, with many people seen sledding down small slopes or throwing snowballs along the road or at designated rest stops.

Adam Singletary, a resident of Las Vegas, brought his wife and 12-year-old son, Justin, up to the mountain so they could enjoy the snow. He said his family picked him up from work at 3:30 p.m. Tuesday and they immediately drove up to Mount Charleston.

"We come up here between the storms," said Singletary, who was standing about 15 feet from a posted sign that said "Extreme Avalanche Warning."

He said he wasn't worried about any avalanches in the area, adding, "We wanted to come up here before the next storm."