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Three backcountry skiers left a Forest Service trailhead and on their second run down,
all skiing together, they triggered an avalanche 2-6 feet deep, 91 feet wide and it ran
235 feet, and triggered on a 37-38 degree slope. Christopher Garber was buried about 4
feet deep while the other two were not caught. None of them had beacons but they did have
screw-together ski poles and they immediately began probing. Although one person's probe
poles broke after 15 minutes, they located the victim and were able to dig him out in about
30-40 minutes. He was buried face down and they had to dig him completely out before they
could turn him over and begin CPR. He also had one ski still attached which further hampered the extracation. The avalanchche broke on well developed depth hoar near the ground on a 37-38 degree east facing slope which had been recently loaded by a strong west wind. Other skiers in the area that day noticed collapsing and cracking of the snow and chose less steep slopes
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Thursday September 09, 2010 
