Ski Guide Dies In Avalanche At Cat Ski Mount Bailey In The Oregon Cascades
Mount Bailey, Oregon – On Tuesday, March 22, 2016 one of Cat Ski Mount Bailey’s lead guides, Rick “Oz” Oswald, 57, died in an avalanche incident. Oswald had been a mechanized ski guide at Mount Bailey since 1981.
The avalanche occurred when Oswald was “performing avalanche control work, he was caught in a snow slide and struck a tree” (NRToday.com). According to the CAIC avalanche report, Oswald was guiding clients at the time of the incident.
On March 20, 2016, NRToday.com wrote that “But despite the risks, Cat Ski Mount Bailey has a perfect safety record, and I felt comfortable with the professional guides leading the way and following from behind as we made our way down the mountain.” This was a tragic accident.
Located in the Cascade Range of Oregon, Cat Ski Mount Bailey is just five miles from Crater Lake and operates in the Umpqua National Forest on a dormant volcano that is 8376′. It is the only full snow cat ski operation in Oregon. It is the longest running backcountry snow cat ski operation in the US.
We will try to update this post as more information becomes available.
A tribute video to Oz was posted on YouTube:
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