The skiing community is mourning the loss of Jamie Pierre, a backcountry specialist who died Sunday after being swept down a rocky cliff by an avalanche while he was snowboarding with a friend at Snowbird Ski Resort in Utah.
Pierre's death is tragic in part because of the danger he must have known existed. The resort had yet to open for the season -- it will open Saturday -- and conditions throughout the area were ripe for avalanches. In fact, there were at leat 10 human-caused slides Sunday in the upper Little Cottonwood Canyon area. Pierre, however, was the only person to have been killed.
The incident is under investigation but the Utah Avalanche Center reported on its website that avalanche-control measures had not been taken at the resort because it was closed.
The UAC interviewed Pierre's friend, but did not identify him. A statement on the center's website reads, "With the partner watching, the victim dropped into the slope, immediately triggering the slide. He was carried hundreds of feet through steep rocky terrain and reportedly went over a small cliff band and came to a stop only partially buried.
"The partner called for a rescue, alerting both the Snowbird Ski Patrol and Wasatch Backcountry Rescue, who subsequently accessed and evacuated the victim."
Pierre, 38, was a backcountry specialist known as a free-spirited daredevil, and had appeared in several films. In 2006 in Wyoming, he negotiated a world-record cliff drop of 255 feet (see video).
He was married with children and his loss will be felt by many. Please visit his Facebook page to view comments posted on his wall.
Hope this will serve as a warning for all skiers and snowboarders out there, skiing and snowboarding could be really a lot of fun but it could also be very dangerous sport. We must always take safety precautions and be well informed about the condition on the ski resort where you'll gonna ski.
Posted by: Ski Resorts | Dec 06, 2011 at 04:29 PM