Maine Skier Survives In-Bounds Avalanche At Sugarloaf

Carrabassett Valley, Maine- Saturday and Sunday have been a few of New England ski resorts’ finest days in current reminiscence, as mountains throughout the area noticed a bountiful quantity of snow. Nevertheless, this new snowfall led to a uncommon in-bounds avalanche at a well-known Maine ski resort.

On Sunday, a skier triggered an in-bounds avalanche on a chute off the Skyline path at Sugarloaf. Nathan was very acquainted with this chute, because it was an space of the mountain he’d been shredding for many years. Whereas snowboarding down the chute, Nathan acquired caught in a fifty-foot huge, thirty ft lengthy, getting caught neck-deep within the snow. In a Fb submit, Nathan described the avalanche intimately:

“It was a spectacular day on the hill at present. The snow gods graced us with 24 (inches) of sunshine, Utah-like powder in a single day and a bluebird day to get pleasure from it. The mountain did lash out briefly this morning nonetheless, and it bears sharing to remind us all simply how harmful it may be to play within the mountains…

Deep snow, which, as soon as shifting, pitched me ahead and carried me about 20 ft with giant slabs breaking over me as we went. I used to be fortunate to get an arm up and was in a position to swipe snow clear from my face as I got here to a cease…

I’ve dropped this line on my own dozens of instances — it’s proper subsequent to a path and just a few hundred ft lengthy, however lengthy sufficient. And distant sufficient, on reflection. Essentially the most shocking factor — effectively, aside from discovering myself in a slide within the first place — was how calm I stayed about the entire thing … As I began sliding face-first downhill I additionally instantly realized I ought to attempt to get face-up and get an arm up and I’m very grateful for that. Respect the mountains pals. They’re a wonderland, however they received’t hesitate to chew. Onerous.”

Nathan was rescued by Nik Krueger, who was snowboarding with pals. Right here’s what Nik instructed the Solar Journal concerning the rescue efforts:

“I seen that there was an enormous shelf on the path that broke. It mainly swallowed him proper up. I dug as quick and as onerous as I might, in all probability 10-15 minutes of digging, and I used to be in a position to clear him out of the snow, haul him up, made positive that everyone was good, and we simply stored snowboarding for the remainder of the day. Nathan appeared fairly assertive he was good to go … so, we form of simply went our separate methods.”

In the end, the state of affairs is a reminder to be cautious of potential avalanche hazards, particularly when snowboarding steep in-bounds terrain on a powder day.