AVALANCHE

Alaska, Mount McKinley

On May 18, 1982, Don Plumb set off an avalanche on the West Rib of Mount McKinley. Plumb was traversing from the first ice dome at 4100 meters to the second ice dome at 4300 meters on the morning of May 18. As he left the first ice dome, he triggered a wind-slab avalanche with a two-meter crown and a 300-meter fracture. The slide consolidated and ran down the steep couloir of the lower West Rib. Four Swiss climbers who were just starting out of the couloir were knocked off by the avalanche and fell 200 meters in soft snow; no one was injured. (Source: Scott Gill, Mountaineering Ranger, Denali National Park)