This Associated Press story starts out with the tale of a man who survived a 2005 avalanche, but goes on to explain that more people are dying on snow-covered mountains:
With unusually deep and unstable snowpacks in many areas of the country
this winter, and more skiers and snowmobilers hungry to make fresh
tracks, 30 backcountry users weren't so fortunate this avalanche
season. The 30 avalanche deaths have this season nearing the record of
35 from the winter of 2001-02.
According to statistics kept by the
U.S. Forest
Service National Avalanche Center in Ogden, Utah, eight deaths this
winter were in Washington, five in Colorado, four each in Wyoming and
California, three each in Montana and Utah, and one each in North
Dakota, New Hampshire, and Wyoming.
Nine were snowmobilers, eight skiers, six
climbers or hikers, five snowboarders, one snowshoer, and one, in North
Dakota, was shoveling off a roof.
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