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Avalanche at Crystal Mountain ski resort kills 1, traps 5

Published 4:47 pm Saturday, December 11, 2021

By SALLY HO Associated Press

FILE - Skiers and snowboarders get ready to plunge down the slopes on the season's last official day at Crystal Mountain Resort in Wash., on April 19, 2015. A man has died after he and five others were buried in an avalanche that hit the ski area near Seattle Saturday, Dec. 11, 2021. The group of skiers rescued themselves with the help of two witnesses who saw them get swept up by the snow in a backcountry area that is outside the grounds of the Crystal Mountain Resort. (Bettina Hansen/The Seattle Times via AP)
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FILE - Skiers and snowboarders get ready to plunge down the slopes on the season's last official day at Crystal Mountain Resort in Wash., on April 19, 2015. A man has died after he and five others were buried in an avalanche that hit the ski area near Seattle Saturday, Dec. 11, 2021. The group of skiers rescued themselves with the help of two witnesses who saw them get swept up by the snow in a backcountry area that is outside the grounds of the Crystal Mountain Resort. (Bettina Hansen/The Seattle Times via AP)
Skiers and snowboarders get ready to plunge down the slopes at Crystal Mountain Resort on April 19, 2015. (Bettina Hansen/The Seattle Times via AP, file)

By Sally Ho / Associated Press

An avalanche swept through an area of the Crystal Mountain resort that is used to access backcountry skiing on Saturday, killing a 60-year-old man and temporarily trapping five others.

The avalanche was reported about 10:50 a.m. in the Silver Basin area of Crystal, near Mount Rainier, said Pierce County Sheriff’s Department Sgt. Darren Moss.

The identity of the man who died hasn’t been released, but authorities say he wasn’t breathing after being pulled out of the snow and didn’t survive despite CPR efforts by another skier. The other skiers in his group rescued themselves with the help of two witnesses who saw them get swept by the snow. All were wearing avalanche beacons.

While all of those caught in the avalanche were experienced backcountry skiers, a warning had been issued against skiing in the area, which is just inside the boundaries of Crystal Mountain Resort. The private ski resort determines the conditions but there is nothing that stops skiers from going there because the property abuts public land in Mount Baker-Snoqualmie National Forest.

Frank DeBerry, the resort’s president and CEO, said all six men held the ski resort’s uphill travel passes, which means they were registered with the ski patrol, participated in an orientation on how and where to access backcountry skiing through the resort’s property and were required to check snow conditions prior to their excursion.

“Skiers can travel at will wherever they want in the national forest. They had gone out into the forest but ended up back in bounds (of the resort) where this slide occurred,” DeBerry said

In addition to shutting the area where the slide occurred, the resort earlier in the day closed the Mount Rainier Gondola because of winds reaching 100 mph.

The avalanche came amid the season’s first major snowfall. The area was under a winter storm warning until Sunday morning, with the National Weather Service saying 12 to 15 inches of snow were possible for areas above 2,000 feet elevation.

“We’ve had a late start to the season and now we’ve gone from virtually no snow to a giant snow storm. People got excited,” DeBerry said. “We all have to remember that it’s a sport that carries risk.”

Crystal Mountain is the largest ski resort in Washington, encompassing 2,600 acres.

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