CNN
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A skier died over the weekend after falling 600 feet into a snow-covered canyon on Mount Washington in New Hampshire, officials said.
The woman and two others were backcountry skiing Saturday, said Colleen Mainville, public affairs specialist for the U.S. Forest Service.
Authorities said 20-year-old Madison Saltsburg was killed. The skier “suffered catastrophic traumatic injuries” after falling down Tuckerman Ravine, Mainville said in a news release. The two survivors did not have life-threatening injuries.
Mainville said the trio encountered hard, icy snow surfaces, open crevices and unforgiving conditions for slipping and falling.
Mainville said that the US Forest Service and Mount Washington Avalanche Center (MWAC) conducted a rescue effort to evacuate Salzburg from the mountain.
The Avalanche Center's snow ranger team worked on another situation Saturday in which two skiers suffered traumatic injuries from rocks and ice, Mainville said.
On its website, the Forest Service calls it the Tuckerman Ravine Trail Covered in snow and ice in winter and “very exposed to the steep cliffs and slopes below it.”
“From late fall to late spring or early summer, think of it as a hike rather than a trek. The consequences of falling or falling in an avalanche can be dire,” it says.
The company says that trekking in avalanche terrain requires careful use of equipment including climbing gear and crampons, ice ax and the skills to use them. It was not known Sunday whether the skiers had such equipment.
The Appalachian Mountain Club operates cabins on Mount Washington. Tuckerman describes Ravine “The birthplace of extreme skiing in America.”
