Three backcountry skiers left Big Mountain Ski Area on March 9^th for a day of out-of- bounds skiing in the Skookoleel and Canyon Creek drainages. Ascending out of Canyon Creek Saddle they proceeded to Smokey Divide. The trio then skied the timbered east north east terrain that drains into Skookoleel drainage. At this location, they did not experience any settling of the snow pack nor did they observe any fractures or shooting cracks. They did not dig a pit.

They continued back to Smokey Divide Ridge and skied out to Peak 6898, better known as ﾓOZﾔ, arriving there at approximately 1330. Upon reaching the peak, at least one ski cut was made prior to entering the slope. The first of the trio, a male of 46 years old, skied into a path lying northeastly and incised. Approaching from skierﾒs left, he made three tight turns when the slope fractured from 8 to 14 inches at the crown. Due to the terrain trap, the skier was carried in the path approximately two-thirds the length of the path or approximately 800 feet. The skier was sifted through alpine fir sapling size trees. The other two skiers remained on top and viewed the entire incident until the path makes a dog leg to the skierﾒs left, when they lost sight. The remaining party switched over to receive on their transceivers and made ski cuts to release hang fire on the left shoulder of the path. Continuing down the path they found a pole in a small stringer of trees below the crown. They hollered for the skier. He responded and one of the remaining skiers skied down to him. He was standing upright buried to mid thigh. The first responder then hollered up to the second responder and directed her to ski down and collect gear.

Initially the trapped skier said that something was not right and said he had pain in his hip and leg. A quick assessment was made to determine injuries. They did not need a shovel to remove the snow as it was loose and just scraped the snow away with their hands. They then decided to send one skier out for help at 1340. She skied out to the Canyon Creek groomed snowmobile trail, hailed for help, then got a ride to the base of chair seven and notified the county sheriff at 1448.

At approximately 1525 the Alert helicopter flew over the site looking for a landing zone, which was approximately 300 vertical feet from the injured party. The helicopter did a touch and go and left the area.

Upon the arrival of the helicopter at 1640 it was another 45 minutes until the injured party was reached with medical support and a sled. The rescuers were post holing from 2 to 3 feet to evacuate the skier. At 1811 the helicopter left the site to transport the patient to Kalispell Regional Hospital. Following diagnosis, the patient was then transported to Seattle for further treatment. Injuries included a break at the neck of the femur, a crushed pelvis, and soft organ injuries.

On March 13^th a fracture-line profile revealed a thin faceted layer with crystal size of .5 to 1 mm in size as the failure interface. The fracture depth across the fracture line varied from about 30 cms to about 20 cms. The distance across the top of the fracture-line was approximately 100 feet.