One skier died and two of his three companions were injured after a wet slide released on Wyoming鈥檚 Mount Moran听this Sunday听morning. 听
Luke Lynch, Stephen Adamson, Brook Yeomans, and Zahan Billimoria听were ascending the Sickle Couloir on the mountain鈥檚 northeast face when the slide broke loose. Billimoria, who guides for the mountaineering company听, quickly skied away from the heavier debris flow, but the three other skiers were swept downslope听approximately 500 feet over hazardous, rocky terrain, .
Billimoria called 911 and worked to rescue Adamson and Lynch, which included moving them to safer ground as additional sloughs continued to release from the slope above. Yeomans, though injured, was able to ski to safety. SAR helicopters arrived on the scene during a break in the storms;听Adamson was evacuated to a rescue center at Jenny Lake and then transferred to the , where he remains in critical condition. Lynch鈥檚 body was recovered later in the afternoon.听
Wet slides are particularly dangerous in the afternoon听after a melt-freeze cycle, when warm weather allows water to percolate the snowpack, creating a weak layer听and saturating the slab.听Though shallow, wet slides tend to move quickly as one mass and generally wipe out most everything in their path.
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