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AVI UPDATE – Local blog pulls story, photos, comments
Monday, December 29, 2008
By PJH Staff
Jackson Hole, Wyo. – After two avalanches in as many days – one claiming the life of an area resident ( Avalanche death at resort) – JHMR is already receiving "I told you so's" in the blogosphere from the greater Jackson Hole community.
However, local blog TetonAT – home to descriptive photos of Monday's Headwall avalanche and disparaging reader comments on Jackson Hole Mountain Resort's reaction – already pulled its story along with reader comments and photos by 6 p.m. the same day.
"Teton AT had photos of the damage inside therestaurant, but pulled them under pressure from the resort and Sheriff BobZimmer. Blogger Steve Romeo is a member of the Teton County Search andRescue team and was on the scene to assist with the search. "Whether our sheriff should be censoring a public servant with photos of an important historical event is a topic for another blog post, one I hope to take up promptly. In short, I consulted with a legal scholar whosaid while the matter may be a gray area, the photographer likely is protected under the First Amendment. Zimmer ought to be standing up for his SAR volunteer’s rights, and the public’s, rather than bowing to pressure from the resort." The photos removed from TetonAT showed windows and doorways destroyed by snow pouring into restaurant eating areas, including the upscale Couloir Restaurant where a New Year's Eve party was scheduled. The photos also showed walkways covered in avalanche debris and snow reaching to the top of windows and doorways still intact. Some of these photos were rescued by readers.
Critics on local blogs say that JHMR ignored warnings that the restaurant's location made it susceptible to avalanches, citing a 1986 avalanche originating in the Headwall that nearly toppled homes at the resort's base. Others argue that despite an obviously unstable snowpack, resort management gave in to pressure to open the upper mountain through the holidays.
JHMR closed its out-of-bounds (OB) gates, "until further notice," resort officials said, after receiving a request, Monday, from Bridger-Teton National Forest, from whom JHMR leases the land. In a statement, the officials cited heavy snowfall (62 inches in seven days) as the reason.
After initial fears Monday morning that an avalanche on Jackson Hole Mountain Resort's Headwall had buried up to 10 people, reports from and police scanners and sources that spoke on condition of anonymity confirmed that the slide had partially collapsed walls and shattered windows in a building housing three restaurants atop the Bridger Gondola summit. The building suffered no structural damage, JHMR representatives said. At least three resort employees were partially buried and rescued, before all employee had been accounted for, according to various reports. The anonymous sources said that at 9:50 a.m, up to 10 people were suspected buried in the avalanche, on the Headwall, an open out-of-bounds area accessed by hiking, just above the Bridger Gondola. As JHMR Ski Patrol searched the debris, the resort closed the upper mountain, leaving two lower mountain lifts running. The gondola summit, however, had not yet been accessed by the public, JHMR spokespeople said. At 10:40 a.m., the sources reported that the avalanche damaged and possibly entered the restaurant atop the summit, also feared to be the location of the buried skiers. At 10:49 a.m., A partial collapse of walls at the Bridger and Couloir restaurants was reported, without injury. At 11:01 a.m., a caller from Teton Village who did not give her name said that no one was buried or injured. However, TetonAT and JH Underground both reported that a couple of ski patrolers were partially buried, and successfully dug out. A resort employee may also have been temporarily trapped in a room, TetonAT said. PJH
PERMALINK: AVI UPDATE – Local blog pulls story, photos, comments | Planet JH News Article: General News
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