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.

A Mammoth Mountain ski patroller who was injured in an avalanche last week has died, according to the resort. On Saturday, Mammoth Mountain Resort said ski patroller Claire Murphy died Friday night after she was caught in an avalanche on Feb.

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.

Murphy was one of two ski patrollers swept away by an avalanche on Lincoln Mountain in the resort while doing avalanche mitigation following a heavy snowstorm, the resort said. It was closed to the public at the time. The second patroller was uninjured by the 11:30 a.m. avalanche, the resort said. Murphy was hospitalized with serious injuries.

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.

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 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.

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