Abstract: On March 3, 2009, Employee #1, a ski patroller, was positioned in a presumed safe spot on a ridge, 100 feet from the location of a hand placed explosive charge by his coworker. When the charge exploded, a slab of snow broke free and zippered up the ridge above Employee #1, catching him in an avalanche. He dropped 300 feet vertically, and 900 feet horizontally, through the trees before being found by his coworker, conscious and alert, but with broken ribs, hip, leg and internal injuries. He was transported to Tahoe Forest Hospital and then to Renown Medical Center in Reno, where he died later that day.