SALT LAKE CITY — Chase Adams was snowmobiling with his father in the northern Wasatch Mountains when he decided to climb a steep hill above Farmington Lake.
The 18-year-old got about three quarters of the way up the face when he veered left, traversing above a small grove of pine trees. As he rode across the slope an avalanche roughly 200 feet wide broke off and barreled down the mountain, taking Adams and his snowmobile with it.
He was buried 7 feet deep at the bottom of the slope. Despite efforts from nearby riders and Davis County Search and Rescue, he was pronounced dead that afternoon.
As he was being carried by the slide, Adams deployed his avalanche airbag, an inflatable bladder in his backpack designed to keep him from sinking deep into the debris. It was Jan. 18, and he was the second snowmobiler in the Mountain West to die in 2020 in an avalanche after inflating an airbag.
On Jan. 1, three men were snowmobiling just north of Missoula, Montana, when they were all caught in an avalanche. Two riders died at the scene, including one who deployed his airbag before being buried.
Airbags are relatively new to the backcountry scene and studies indicate that they do save lives. A paper published in 2014 found that airbags reduce the chances of dying in an avalanche from 22% to 11%.
Mark Staples, director of the Utah Avalanche Center, said he has seen a significant rise in airbag use among backcountry travelers.
“Initially our impression was that people thought they were a replacement for the standard gear, but they’re not,” he said. Standard gear refers to an avalanche transceiver, shovel and probe.
“(Airbags) can make a huge difference,” Staples said. “But they don’t always work.”
Adams was caught in what backcountry experts call a terrain trap. The abrupt transition from the steep slope to the almost perfectly flat lake meant the debris piled up unusually high for a slide of that nature. Staples says terrain traps are one factor that can render avalanche airbags useless.
“A lot of times the debris actually has time to turn,” Staples said, a process he compared to shaking a bag of chips— the bigger pieces, including people, rise to the top. “In this case it just went straight down and stopped immediately.”
Black Diamond, an outdoor retailer headquartered in Salt Lake City, recently released a backpack that could extend the amount of time someone can survive under the snow. The Jetforce backpack has an airbag designed to deflate after three minutes, creating an air pocket around the wearer’s head. A study conducted by the University of Utah found that the new technology “appears to delay asphyxia.”
“The hope there is that it would create an opportunity to move around a little bit and clear your own airway,” said Stu Gleason, a development engineer for Black Diamond who had a hand in creating the new backpack. “I feel a lot safer knowing that I’d have 170 liters of space that the bag would create for me.”
Staples compared this technology to seat belts and airbags in cars, features that made driving much safer. But he stressed that terrain choices are key to staying safe in the backcountry, regardless of what’s on your back.
“One easy thing to implement is every slope you get on, consider if there is an avalanche, where it’s going to take you,” he said.
Since the start of the 2018-19 season, avalanches have killed 34 people across the Mountain West, according to the American Avalanche Association. Many of the victims had years of backcountry experience and the proper gear, a grim reminder that there is only one guaranteed way to stay alive in avalanche terrain — avoid avalanche terrain.
“It’s a force of nature,” said Staples. “Like a hurricane, tornado or earthquake, we do the best we can. But in the end Mother Nature’s in charge.”