Report on avalanche awaited

Molly Ball

Friday, Jan. 21, 2005 | 8:53 a.m.

Investigators of the deadly avalanche at Lee Canyon finished their work at Mount Charleston Tuesday, a week after they began it, and went home, U.S. Forest Service Spring Mountains District Ranger Tim Short said on Thursday.

The investigators are now researching and writing a report on their findings that will not be completed until March, Short said.

The three experts, Forest Service personnel from Idaho and California, are in phone and e-mail contact from their respective offices as they go over documents such as ski-area policies and weather reports, Short said.

"The thrust of the report will be developing ways to advance avalanche control measures and improve the ski area's operations and maintenance plan," Short said. For example, that might include requiring more equipment and training for resort personnel, he said.

The resort's avalanche forecasting and control measures, its search and rescue plan and other policies could be revised, Short said.

When the report is completed and reviewed by Forest Service higher-ups, only "important report highlights" will be made public, according to a Forest Service statement.

Short said all the relevant conclusions would be released.

"Any information related to the mission that that team had -- to get the best understanding possible of what happened and prevent it from happening again -- we expect to be shared," he said.

But some information might be withheld if it was "not necessary or appropriate for sharing with the general public," he said.

The Las Vegas Ski and Snowboard Resort will remain closed through the end of the month, according to a statement from the company, which operates on public land under a Forest Service permit.

Officials are working to determine what conditions the resort must meet to reopen to the public, according to a resort newsletter sent out Thursday. Short said a meeting of Forest Service and resort representatives was tentatively set for this afternoon.

The resort will not necessarily have to wait to reopen until the investigators' report is completed, just "demonstrate to us that they can ensure public safety," Short said.

Thirteen-year-old Allen Brett Hutchison, a Las Vegas middle schooler, died on Jan. 7 when a massive avalanche roared down an intermediate ski slope and swept him off a chairlift, burying him under 10 feet of snow.

The investigators, a team of Forest Service experts led by Doug Abromeit of the National Avalanche Center in Idaho, have said they do not believe the avalanche could have been foreseen.

"This avalanche was one of the biggest that I have assessed in my career -- it traveled nearly one mile from its origin," Abromeit said in Thursday's Forest Service statement.

Abromeit said earlier that the extreme storm conditions at the time plastered wet snow against the steep slope above the chairlift where normally large avalanches couldn't get a foothold.

As the deadly storm continued, subsequent avalanches at the closed resort irreparably damaged one of the small resort's two large chairlifts -- a third serves a bunny slope. That lift will be out of service for the rest of the season, expected to last until Easter, and then will have to be replaced, officials have said.

Season-ticket holders can use their passes at four of the five other resorts owned by Utah-based Powdr Inc., which purchased the Las Vegas ski area in November 2003, the company's statement said. This is not a perk normally available to Las Vegas passholders.

The resorts that will honor the passes are Alpine Meadows and Boreal Mountain Resort at Lake Tahoe; Mt. Bachelor Ski Area in Oregon; and Park City Mountain Resort in Utah.

An amateur ski and snowboard competition scheduled for Sunday, the Youngblood contest, has been postponed indefinitely, the resort said.

Meanwhile, Mount Charleston was sunny and relatively warm, with a high temperature of 57 on Thursday, according to the National Weather Service.

Short said the warming has consolidated the snowpack, making it more stable, but local residents should still be careful.

"Even as the risks decrease, there still is the potential for avalanches out there," he said.