Report: Mt. Washington avalanche was avoidable

A report analyzing an avalanche that swept three people 800 feet down Mount Washington last month called the incident avoidable.

On Jan. 17, a dozen people with varying experience began the climb, but when they were an hour from the summit, something triggered an avalanche, sweeping three of the hikers downhill.

"I looked up from my pack and saw it fissure right across the gully, and it just -- we were gone, straight down the hill," said avalanche victim J.P. Politz.

Politz, his father and retired Marine Sgt. Keith Zeier found themselves trapped after the avalanche. They had been hiking up Central Gulley in Huntington Ravine when the avalanche happened.

Zeier had lost one of his legs in a bombing in Iraq, and the goal of the climb was to raise money and awareness for families of special-operations forces killed or wounded in action. The report states that the goal might have been a factor in the accident.

Analysts from the Mount Washington Avalanche Center said many factors added risk to the situation. The analysts said the group had been warned by a snow ranger that the avalanche risk had increased to moderate, meaning human-triggered avalanches were possible. The group leaders decided to move forward anyway.

According to the report, an increased acceptance of risk often comes with an increased level of commitment. The report also said the group planned to spend the night at the Mount Washington Observatory, giving them extra incentive to push through to their final destination.

Those who analyzed the circumstances leading to the accident said they aren't trying to place blame, but they said it was "not a freak natural event completely outside the control of the party."

The report also analyzes the group's slower pace.

"They arrived at the avalanche terrain four hours after leaving the Harvard cabin," the report said. "It was during these hours that most of the snow had fallen, and the group continued to climb into worsening avalanche conditions."

Source: http://www.wmtw.com/weather/Report-Mt-Washington-avalanche-was-avoidable/-/8793538/18557012/-/q8y5cs/-/index.html?absolute=true

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