American Avalanche Association

Forest Service National Avalanche Center

Avalanche Incident Report: Long Form

Please send to: CAIC; 325 Broadway WS1; Boulder CO 80305; caic@qwest.net; Fax (303) 499-9618

and to the nearest Avalanche Center.

Occurrence Date: Time:

Report Author(s)

Name:	Affiliation:
Address:
Phone:	Fax:	Email:

Location:

State:	County:	Forest:
Peak, Mtn Pass, or Drainage:
Site Name:
Lat/Lon or UTM:

Summary	Caught	Partially Buried Not Critical	Partially Buried Critical	Completely Buried	Injured	Killed	Vehicles Damaged	Structures Damaged
Number

Weather	Fill in the weather chart of the five days prior to the accident. Use 24 hr trends for wind speed and direction.
Weather station location(s):	Lat/Lon or UTM:	Elevation: m / ft
Date
Tmax
Tmin
HN24
HN24W
Wind Speed
Wind Dir

Avalanche Conditions	Attach most recent advisory (Section VII).
Closest Avalanche Center:

accident outside of forecast area

Avalanche warning in effect? yes no	Avalanche Danger Rating

Low

Moderate

Considerable

High

Extreme	Recent Avalanche Activity

Snowpack	Describe the state of the snowpack. Include season history, snow profiles, and prominent features as necessary.

Section I: Group Information

Fill in the following tables. Some of the fields can be checked or left blank. Attach additional pages and reports from other agencies as necessary (Section VII).

Subject	Name	Age	Gender	Address	Phone
1
2
3
4
5

Skill Level	Activity	Years at Activity	Activity Skill Level	Accessed Local Avalanche Advisory?	Avalanche Education Level
1
2
3
4
5

Rescue Equipment Carried	Transceiver

Make and Model	Shovel	Probe Pole	Releasable Bindings	Other	Snowmobile:

Rescue Equipment Carried on Person
1
2
3
4
5

Injuries or Cause of Death	Unknown	None	First-Aid Needed	Doctor Care Needed	Hospital Stay Needed	Asphyxi-ation	Head Injury	Chest Injury	Spinal Injury	Hypo-thermia	Skeletal Fracture	Other	Fatal
1
2
3
4
5

Comments

Section II: Avalanche Path and Event Information

Fill in the following tables. Some of the fields can be checked or left blank. Attach additional pages, fracture line profiles, and reports as necessary (Section VII).

Avalanche Characteristics
Type:	Trigger:	Size: R \ D
Aspect:	Elevation: m / ft
Sliding surface (check one): In new New/old In old Ground

Dimensions

m / ft

Average

Maximum

Height of Crown Face

Width of Fracture

Vertical Fall

Snow

Hardness

Grain Type

Grain Size (mm)

Slab

Weak Layer

Bed Surface

Thickness of weak layer: mm / cm / in

Start Zone
Ground Cover:	Location of Crown Face:	Snow Moisture
Elevation: m / ft	Smooth

Rocky

Glacier

Dense Forest

Open Forest

Unknown	Ridge

Cornice

Mid-Slope

Convex Roll

Rocks

Unknown	Dry

Moist

Wet
Average Slope Angle: °
Maximum Slope Angle: °
Aspect:
Vegetation:

Track
Snow Moisture
Open Slope	Average Slope Angle: °	Dry
Confined	Aspect:	Moist
Gully
Wet

Runout	Ground Cover:	Snow Moisture	Debris Type	αi: °
Elevation: m / ft	Smooth

Rocky

Glacier

Dense Forest

Open Forest

Unknown	Dry	Fine

Blocks

Hard

Soft

Rocks

Trees

αe: °
Average Slope Angle: °
Moist
Debris Density: kg m-3
Aspect:
Wet
Terrain Trap? no yes

Terrain Trap Type:

Vegetation:

Comments

Section III: Accident Description

Fill in the following sections with available information. Attach additional pages, witness accounts, and other reports as necessary.

Events Leading Up to the Avalanche	Include objectives of the party, departure point, route taken, familiarity with area, encounters with other groups, location of the party at time of avalanche, etc.
Location of group in relation to start zone during avalanche: high middle low below all unknown
Slope angle at approximate trigger site: °

Avalanche Danger Evaluation
Number of snowpit observations:	Stability Tests Preformed:

yes

no

unknown	Test Results:
Signs of Instability Observed:
none

some cracking

whumphing

recent avalanche activity	unknown

shooting cracks

hollow sounds

Comments

Witness	Name	Address	Phone
1
2

Accident Diagram	On a separate page (Section VII) or photograph, draw a diagram of the accident scene. Include avalanche boundaries, prominent rocks and/or trees, the location of all party members before the avalanche, and the location of people, machines, and equipment after the avalanche.

Section IV: Rescue

Fill in the following sections with available information. Attach additional pages, witness accounts, and other reports as necessary.

Rescue Chronology
First Report	Response
Reporting Party:

Agency	Time Dispatched	Time on Scene	Method of Travel	Number of Rescuers	Equipment
Report Method:

Time Reported:

Recovery
Subject	Caught	Partially Buried—Not Critical	Partially Buried—Critical	Completely Buried	Depth to Face

m / ft	Time Recovered	Length of Burial	Body Position	Head Position
1
2
3
4
5

Recovery Method	For a transceiver recovery, include make and model of transceiver used by searcher. If an object on the surface was used as a clue, list object.
Subject	Self Rescue	Companion	Organized	Voice	Object	Transceiver	Spot Probe	Probe Line	Rescue Dog	Digging
1
2
3
4
5

Rescue Description	List pertinent events that occurred during the rescue. Include additional pages of dispatch notes, statements, and agency reports as needed (Section VII).

Section V: Damage

Fill in the following sections with available information. Attach additional pages, witness accounts, and other reports as necessary.

Vehicles in Avalanche	Describe and/or estimate the cost of damage to each vehicle caught in the avalanche.
Type	Partially Buried	Completely Buried	Damage

Structures Damaged	Describe and/or estimate the cost of damage to each structure affected the avalanche.
Type	Construction Type	Damage	Destroyed

Total Loss	Estimate the cost of damage caused by the avalanche: $

Rescue Cost	Estimate the cost of rescue: $

Economic Effects	List economic effects not included in the above tables (road closed, ski area closed, mine closed, change in policy, etc)
Section VI: Additional Comments and Recommendations

Section VII: Blank pages for Additional Information

This page is not protected, so diagrams, digital photos, or other information can be pasted in.

5

Section I: Group Information

Knox Williams

2005-11-07

Spencer and Brandy Logan

CAIC