December 30, 1973 - Hiking Fatality at Flattop Mountain
Patrick McDaniel died when his hiking party consisting of 10 people, seven teenagers and three chaperones from the Evangelical Covenant Church summited Flattop at 5pm and then began a party descent down a gully in the dark. The avalanche was classified as an SS-AO-0 occurred when the foot of fresh new snow released from older hard pack snow. The northwest facing gully has a slope of between 24-33 degrees, the entrance to the gully is 38 degrees.