The recent death of a ski patroller in a second avalanche at California’s notorious Mammoth Mountain has reopened deep wounds for a grieving mother, who says the tragedy forces her to relive the devastating loss of her daughter — whose final moments were terrifying.

Veteran ski patroller Cole Murphy, 30, was killed in a powerful avalanche at Mammoth Mountain in December. His death came less than a year after 25-year-old Claire Murphy — who was not related to him — died in a similar avalanche at the same resort.

Claire Murphy was discovered pinned upright against a fir tree, facing a wall of snow that was about to crush her, her mother, Lisa Apa, told the Los Angeles Times. The discovery was made on Valentine’s Day last year.

“It kills me to think of her trapped there,” Apa said.

Both Claire Murphy and Cole Murphy were working as ski patrollers clearing terrain in a steep, high-risk area of the resort known as the Avalanche Chutes when they were killed. Claire was a rookie patroller who had been on the job for only a few months at the time of her death.

After learning of Cole Murphy’s fatal accident, Apa said she sent a furious text message to a senior ski patrol manager.

“You killed another ski patroller … you’ve learned nothing!” she wrote.

Apa said she had repeatedly urged Mammoth Mountain officials to review training standards and avalanche-control procedures following her daughter’s death.

Cole Murphy was buried during avalanche mitigation work on December 26, according to previous reports. Fellow patrollers managed to dig him out and rush him to a hospital, but he later died from his injuries. Another patroller involved in the incident survived but suffered a serious leg injury.

The Los Angeles Times reported that it took approximately 18 minutes for colleagues to locate and free Cole Murphy after the avalanche. Avalanche survival rates drop sharply after about 15 minutes of burial. According to the Utah Avalanche Center, roughly 93% of avalanche victims survive if rescued within 15 minutes, but after 45 minutes, survival drops to just 20–30%.

The back-to-back fatalities have raised painful questions for families about storm-day safety decisions at one of California’s most famous ski resorts. Just last week, another skier died while attempting an expert run on Dropout 2, a trail with a vertical drop of roughly 1,200 feet.

Mammoth Mountain President and Chief Operating Officer Eric Clark told the Times that following Claire Murphy’s death, ski patrol teams were given more authority to open terrain gradually after storms.

After Cole Murphy’s death, Clark said additional steps were taken to reduce pressure on storm mornings, giving patrollers more time to secure slopes and greater discretion to keep chairlifts closed. He emphasized that pressure to reopen terrain does not come from corporate leadership, but from skiers eager to access fresh powder.

California workplace safety regulators are now investigating both deaths. Resort officials have declined further comment while those investigations remain ongoing.

Avalanche-control work is a routine but inherently dangerous aspect of ski resort operations. Patrollers often use hand-held explosives and a technique called “ski cutting” to intentionally trigger smaller avalanches before allowing public access to steep terrain.

Claire Murphy had only recently fulfilled her lifelong dream of becoming a ski patroller. Cole Murphy had worked at Mammoth Mountain for several years and was deeply connected to the Mammoth Lakes community, his mother told the Times.

Apa said she worries that young patrollers may feel pressure — from expectations, crowds, or career ambitions — to take risks in dangerous post-storm conditions.

“Don’t get out of the snowcat if you’re scared,” she said she now tells other young patrollers, urging them to speak up whenever something feels unsafe.