Avalanches are rare and they are especially rare on ski slopes.  They are the single worst fear a skier can have when they are soaring down the mountain in those magic moments.  You can be the best there is, but you can’t ski on a mountain that moves.  On March 3rd, a large avalanche came rolling down Mammoth Mountain.  Amazingly, only three people, one of them a worker at the resort, were buried under the snow and they all managed to free themselves without injury.  In a great stroke of luck, the slope was closed to skiing when the avalanche hit, but the snow pushed into an area that was open to the public.  “Essentially the top of the mountain came loose,” skier Barbara Maynard told The Los Angeles Times. She said it was quickly “pandemonium” as ambulances, police and fire trucks roared in, and ski patrol members traveled up the mountain on snowmobiles. Witnesses reported trees broken and fences flattened or buried.  Mammoth was shut down for the day, but reopened Sunday even as rescue workers continued to search for any possible victims.

After digging out survivors and using dogs and special probes to search for others, Placer County sheriff’s officials confirmed that everyone on the slope had been rescued. The injured were taken to hospitals, and one was released by the end of the day. The other suffered a “serious” lower body injury, but the injury was not life-threatening, according to a statement from the ski resort and police.   The lucky ones who experienced the avalanche, but escaped injury included five skiers and snowboarders

Squaw Valley hosted the Winter Olympics in 1960. Mammoth is located in the Sierra Nevada mountain range about three hundred miles north of Los Angeles.  Nearly a hundred police officers, ski patrol members from Squaw Valley and nearby mountains, firefighters, and search-and-rescue team members rushed to the slope as soon as the avalanche was reported at 1:40 p.m. near the Olympic Lady chairlift, according to a statement by the resort.

The Squaw Valley resort website on Friday boasted “nearly 5 feet of snow in 7 days and it is still snowing.  Officials are investigating what may have triggered the avalanche. But it came in the wake of 150 mph wind gusts at the highest elevations and a blizzard that dumped nearly 3 feet of snow by Friday. The storm closed highways and schools.  An additional foot of snow was expected by Saturday and an avalanche warning was issued for the back country of the greater Tahoe area until early Saturday.

According to a report in the Los Angeles Times, one skier didn’t realize the mountain was struck by an avalanche until 11 a.m., when chairlifts came to an abrupt halt. The skier told the Times, that they were alerted by the blaring sirens signaling the arrival of emergency services and responders.  “I was waiting to board a ski lift when it suddenly stopped working,” said Barbara Maynard of Los Angeles. “Suddenly, it was pandemonium everywhere you looked. Ambulances, police vehicles and fire engines were rolling into the area. Simultaneously, Mammoth Mountain staffers and ski patrols were roaring up the slopes on snowmobiles.”

Another skier Lucas Dunn saw the descent of the avalanche, pouring down from the mountain and closed the run near Chair 5, the area called High Five Express. “I skied down to see what was going on, and at that point, you could see a bunch of broken trees and all the fencing had been taken out. You could see snowmobiles flipped and buried,” said Dunn.

Resort spokeswoman Lauren Burke says a chairlift in the area of the avalanche remained closed Sunday as crews inspect it for damage.  The rest of the mountain, she said, is open and skiers and snowboarders are enjoying sunny conditions.

In a nonrelated incident, police are continuing to investigate the death of a snowboarder found nearby at the resort, but the body was recovered by the Squaw Valley Ski Patrol before the avalanche hit, according to officials.  The snowboarder — identified by police as 42-year-old Wenyu Zhang of California — was reported missing by his friends late Thursday during the blizzard. His body was located by the Squaw Valley ski patrol early Friday. The cause of his death hadn’t been determined by Friday evening.  A search area was narrowed through the use of a tracker program used by the resort.  Deputies confirmed that there are no other victims involved in the avalanche.

Heavy storms have drenched coastal areas and dumped more than 6 feet of snow in some higher elevations.   Winter storms across the country led to the cancellation of thousands of flights. According to reports, more than 3,400 flights were canceled and 4,265 flights were delayed across the nation on Friday.  “Many airlines proactively canceled flights last night and this morning in anticipation of the forecasted winds,” FlightAware Sara Orsi said in a Friday afternoon statement. “This has reduced broader impact to operations and will help them recover their schedules faster.”

According to a report, the avalanche led to a jam in the area.  John Williams, 46, a longtime resident of the area told Los Angeles Times: “Driving down two-lane Minaret Road was tricky and a little dangerous, traffic was closed uphill to all but emergency responders. The downhill lane was jammed with cars, trucks and skiers traveling about 5 miles per hour.”

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