Expert: Vegas ski area couldn't have foretold fatal avalanche

LAS VEGAS - An expert said there may have been no way for a Southern Nevada ski area to predict the avalanche that killed a 13-year-old snowboarder.

"When this avalanche released, it was unprecedented," said Doug Abromeit, a U.S. Forest Service investigator from the National Avalanche Center in Ketchum, Idaho. "I don't know that it could have been foreseen."

Abromeit declined Thursday to discuss specifics about his investigation of the death of Allen Brett Hutchison. The Las Vegas eighth-grader was swept from a ski lift Sunday afternoon at the Las Vegas Ski & Snowboard Resort. His body was found about six hours later.

The ski area will remain closed pending completion of the investigation, said Tim Short, district ranger for the Spring Mountains National Recreation Area in the Humboldt-Toiyabe National Forest.

Ski area manager Brian Strait said the closure will last at least through the weekend. He said more safety measures will be in place when the area reopens.

The resort has operated for 40 years under Forest Service permit on Mount Charleston, about 45 miles northwest of Las Vegas. Officials have said the findings of the investigation could affect the permit.

Avalanche warnings also continue on the mountain, where record Western storms deposited heavy snow and rain in recent weeks. Clark County officials have closed the mountain to visitors, and asked about 900 residents in two hillside communities to stay away. Many homeowners have ignored the warnings.

Investigators have been carrying beacons, shovels and other avalanche equipment while working on the slopes, Abromeit said.

The resort, at 8,510 feet above sea level, conducts avalanche control measures on steep hillsides - including the detonation of explosives to trigger slides.

It has reported several other avalanches since Sunday, including one that damaged a ski lift. Strait said the lift will not be repaired until after the current ski season.

A Las Vegas anesthesiologist was buried briefly by an avalanche last February at the resort that also hit two other skiers. None were hurt.

Twelve explosive charges were detonated Sunday above other slopes, Strait said. They did not trigger avalanches.