Avalanche Safety Crucial to Survival

Had Jamil Khan been just a little better, he would still be alive.

Had he performed to only a slightly higher level, he would have been in Japan with the inaugural U.S. Olympic snowboard team instead of atop a back-country cornice after a night of very heavy snowfall.

But Khan missed the cut for the Olympics--albeit barely.

He didn’t go to Nagano.

Instead, after the final Grand Prix event at Mammoth Lakes, and learning he would be staying home, he went to the Lake Tahoe area to take advantage of the fresh powder in the region.

And that powder buried him.

One of the top halfpipe riders in North America, Khan went from being an Olympic hopeful to an avalanche victim, one of 36 who have died in snow slides this year in North America.

The 22-year-old from Gloversville, N.Y., was with three companions in a popular back-country area near Donner Summit on Feb. 11, hoping to do a little boarding and filming a day after more than a foot of snow had fallen.

While standing atop an overhang of snow and ice in an area known as the “Poop Chute,” a large section of the cornice gave way, and with it went Khan, who was swept 300 feet down the slope. His companions, who apparently had been setting up their video equipment when the slide occurred, had no shovels, and no idea where to dig even if they had them.

They did manage to summon help, which located Khan about an hour after the incident, buried beneath about eight feet of snow.

Efforts to revive the promising young snowboarder failed.

A spokeswoman for Burton Snowboards, for whom Kahn rode, said “Everyone is upset” and that Khan will be missed by his many friends.

Could the incident have been avoided?

Perhaps.

Khan was not wearing a transceiver, an electronic device that emits a signal to hasten the rescue process, a device worn as a matter of course by many frequent travelers into the back country.

Nor did he fully understand the dynamics of the back country and the avalanches that occur on back-country slopes. Avalanche hazards had been high all month in the region. More than 130 inches of snow had fallen in the area in February.

“They should all take avalanche awareness classes, they should be carrying a beacon with probes and they should also carry shovels, just in case,” said Gary Murphy, an avalanche forecaster and veteran ski patrolman for Alpine Meadows in the north Tahoe area, near where the accident occurred in the Tahoe National Forest. “That way if someone gets buried, you can find him a lot faster.”

Murphy said most avalanches involve new snow and occur on slopes varying in steepness from 30 to 45 degrees.

“If there is one thing we tell all our students, it’s to take a look at recent avalanche activity if you want to board or ski [in the back country],” he said, “and if you see any signs of activity on the adjacent slopes, you should not be skiing on those slopes [with similar steepness].”

The wind is often as much of a factor as the snow in creating avalanche danger. It is the wind that forms cornices, or overhangs of snow mass on the crest of a ridge.

Unfortunately, such overhangs are popular among skiers and snowboarders, who like to jump off things.

Many slides occur on slopes where the wind has formed large slabs on the snowpack, which if disrupted--either by a collapsing cornice or by the weight of a person--can cause what are called slab avalanches.

Murphy said people should always pay attention to wind direction and speed, and to which slopes are loading with slabs of snow. They should also be smart enough to take the proper routes during climbs, to avoid the steeper, unstable routes even if they are the most direct.

“Mostly, all it takes is common sense,” he said.

Murphy was quick to point out that snowboarders and skiers are not the most careless back-country travelers. That distinction belongs to snowmobilers.

Of the 36 fatalities involving avalanches this year, 16 were snowmobilers, nine were skiers, three were snowboarders and the rest were hikers and snowshoers. Khan is the only victim in California. Avalanches claimed seven lives apiece in British Columbia and Montana.

“Snowmobilers run into more trouble because they ride such heavy, powerful machines and travel longer distances into avalanche terrain,” Murphy said. “They like to get as high up the slopes as they can--it’s called high-marking--and make a huge turn and come back down.

“But they put so much stress on the snowpacks and that can trigger an avalanche. Sometimes they get stuck and a friend goes up to help and starts tugging on the snowmobile and then you have two people stuck in the path of an avalanche.”

THE AFTERMATH

Among the first to report the Khan incident was SOL / Snowboarding Online (www.solsnowboarding.com), one of the most popular and informative Internet sites dealing with the sport.

Khan’s death sent shock waves throughout the close-knit community of snowboarders, and e-mails of support have poured into SOL by the dozens. A sampling:

* “He was a rising star in the pipe and competition scene. He will be sadly missed as a clown, a cool person, and a trick innovator bar none. I understand the guys didn’t have beepers on and one of them paid the price. That’s what’s so sad about this. It didn’t have to happen!” Mike Chantry.

* “I thought for a moment the crying was over but of course I was wrong. I just read everybody’s messages and it brings it all back up. A tragedy to lose someone so smart and fun. He had an aura of happiness and was one of the most positive people I have had the honor to know. I am sorry you are gone, yet I know you are in a happy place.

“I am mad too. Mad that he didn’t have a transceiver, mad that nobody had shovels, mad that he walked out onto that cornice when stuff was moving for days. . . .

“To Jamil’s family, I am so sorry. I can only imagine how hard this loss is. Your son was truly a gifted person and he will never be forgotten in this snowboard community. He was loved, liked and respected. . . .

“To Jamil: Please look down on us and know that every pow [powder] turn is for you. We will miss you.” Circe Wallace.