Avalanche conditions remain on Mount Charleston’s Kyle Canyon

If you’re planning to head up to Mount Charleston this weekend, you may want to reconsider. Clark County officials expect avalanche conditions around Kyle Canyon to persist at least through the weekend.

The county issued a voluntary evacuation notice for Kyle Canyon residents Tuesday night, and dozens of police officers went door-to-door Wednesday to urge residents to leave their homes as a precaution because area mountains had about 90 inches of unstable snow after weekend precipitation.

Avalanches can be incredibly dangerous, reaching speeds in excess of 200 mph, and take the lives of 39 people in an average year in North America, according to the Utah Avalanche Center’s Know Before You Go campaign website.

Steve Reynaud, an avalanche forecaster with the Sierra Avalanche Center, said Thursday that winter sports enthusiasts are typically more accustomed to seeking out information about avalanche conditions than the weekend recreationists who might venture occasionally to the mountains just to play in the snow.

Here are some of Reynaud’s avalanche “red flags.”

■Recent avalanches often precede more avalanches.

■Watch where you step. Cracking around your snowshoes or your skis, or hearing the snow shifting under your feet, can signal avalanche danger.

■Wind, which is in this weekend’s weather forecast, can exacerbate avalanche conditions. If you see a lot of snow in the wind — Reynaud called it “wind loading” — turn around and avoid that area. High winds can move a lot of snow from place to place, piling it up quickly.

■Snowfall of more than 12 inches in a short period of time can lead to avalanche conditions similar to those that occurred last weekend in Lee Canyon.

■Rapid warming, similar to this weekend’s forecast calling for temperatures possibly climbing into the 50s, can be dangerous because warm snow acts more like a liquid as it approaches its “failure point.”

If you decide to go play in the powder, Renaud recommends picking a sledding hill with a slope of less than 30 degrees. County spokeswoman Stacey Welling cautioned that parking in Kyle Canyon will be permitted only at the Mount Charleston Resort, Mount Charleston Lodge and designated parking areas, because too much snow has piled up on road shoulders.

Reynaud couldn’t answer more specific questions about the Lee Canyon avalanche conditions, because every area has unique elements and issues.

He couldn’t say, for instance, how long avalanche conditions may last without detailed information about the terrain.

Reynaud and other forecasters with the avalanche center examine conditions around the greater Lake Tahoe area and issue a daily avalanche danger rating, from low to extreme, associated with a specific avalanche problem, such as a slab issue.

No such daily advisories are offered in Southern Nevada, and neither the county nor the National Weather Service’s Las Vegas office has an avalanche forecaster. The county has been consulting with experts in Northern Nevada and Utah, and on Thursday, an avalanche forecaster was flown in to examine the snowbanks, Welling said.

In 2010, the last time Kyle Canyon experienced similar snow conditions, an avalanche occurred.

On Jan. 9, 2005, an avalanche on the mountain killed a Las Vegas teen who was snowboarding with his mother and sister. Allen Brett Hutchison, 13, was swept off a ski lift by a 10- to 20-foot wave of snow. He was buried under 2 to 4 feet of snow for more than six hours before rescue crews recovered his body.

Contact Wesley Juhl at wjuhl@reviewjournal.com and 702-383-0391. Follow @WesJuhl on Twitter.