Claire Murphy was conducting "avalanche mitigation" work on Valentine's Day when she and a colleague were caught in an avalanche. Ski resort officials announced her death Saturday.

On Saturday, Mammoth Mountain Resort said ski patroller Claire Murphy died Friday night after she was caught in an avalanche on Feb. 14 on Lincoln Mountain. "Our hearts are with her family and our community as we navigate this tragedy together," the resort said in a statement.

Murphy was doing avalanche mitigation with a team of ski patrollers on Lincoln Mountain — a dome peak within the Mammoth Mountain ski area — when an avalanche broke loose in an area known as The Avy Chutes on Friday, Feb. 14. The accident occurred after approximately six feet of snow fell in 36 hours following a heavy Sierra snowstorm.

February 23, 2025 – Mammoth Mountain officials issue an update on Ski Patrol staff member who was injured in an avalanche on Lincoln Mountain earlier this month.

Two ski patrol members were trying to mitigate the threat of an avalanche after a storm had dumped about 6 feet of snow on the mountain in 36 hours.

Ski patrollers from mountain resorts in California, Nevada, and Colorado are at Mammoth Mountain in the Eastern Sierra, helping to provide safety following an avalanche that caught two patrollers, leaving one critically injured.

Two ski patrol staff at Mammoth Mountain were caught in an avalanche while doing mitigation work after an atmospheric river dropped about six feet of snow in 36 hours, Mammoth Mountain officials said.

One of two Mammoth Mountain ski patrollers injured in an avalanche earlier this month has died from her injuries, Mammoth Resorts said. According to the ski resort, on Feb. 14 two ski patrollers performing avalanche mitigation work were caught in an avalanche on Lincoln Mountain.

A Mammoth Mountain ski patrol employee has died after sustaining serious injuries last week from an avalanche.