One skier was “critically buried” and officials said the avalanche danger remains “considerable” in the area.
Several large skier-trigged avalanches occurred in New Hampshire’s Presidential Range on Wednesday, according to officials at the Mount Washington Avalanche Center.
They said all skiers are alive.
According to a Facebook post on the MWAC page Wednesday night, a solo skier triggered a large avalanche in Hillman’s Highway and was caught, carried, and critically buried.
A second solo skier, in the same avalanche path, was able to move out of the way, and witnessed a small part of the buried skier out of the snow, and immediately provided aid.
The buried skier was able to be extracted from the terrain through the help of bystanders, the Appalachian Mountain Club, Harvard Cabin, and Forest Service Snow Rangers. The buried skier suffered non-life threatening injuries.
In another incident, a group of two skiers in Huntington Ravine triggered a large avalanche in the Fan of Central Gully that propagated out and across towards the Harvard Bulge.
The skiers were not caught, carried, or buried. An observation and personal account of this avalanche can be found on the Observations page of the MWAC website.
Officials said avalanche conditions remain dangerous and they expect this trend to continue with new snow and active wind loading.
They said “considerable” avalanche danger means that human-triggered avalanches are likely and natural avalanches are possible.