Avalanches

The scene ends badly, as you might imagine.

Nick Burks, 37, an avalanche forecaster and experienced backcountry skier, was killed while skiing in the Elkhorn Mountains in northeastern Oregon last week, the authorities said.

En algunas zonas cayeron hasta 60 centímetros de nieve, que se combinaron con ráfagas de viento, mientras el riesgo de avalanchas seguía siendo alto.

Up to two feet of snow fell in some areas and combined with gusty winds as the risk of avalanches remained high.

In “The Darkest White,” Eric Blehm chronicles the 2003 disaster that killed the pioneering snowboarder Craig Kelly and six others.

Even as more people take up alpine touring on New England’s trails, winters are getting shorter, ‘weather whiplash’ events are eroding the snowpack and natural snow is becoming less reliable.

The avalanche, at Palisades Tahoe in Olympic Valley, Calif., drew a large emergency response. One other person was treated for a minor injury, the authorities said.

The mountaineers, who hoped to become the first American women to scale the world’s 14 tallest peaks, were among climbers struck by avalanches on Mount Shishapangma. One was 80 meters short of her goal, her mother said.

The authorities said more than 370 people had been rescued. But it remained unclear late Tuesday how many more might be missing.

A skier was caught in an avalanche in the Maroon Bowl area of Highland Peak, near Aspen, on Sunday, two days after a man was buried in snow debris near Marble, officials said.