Statement From Avalanche Survivor
Read what avalanche survivor Mark Callaghan had to say about his experience getting caught just outside Crystal's boundary last week. The news story video clip is here.
Backside Search
Last Saturday, January 30th, 3 skiers got lost in the fog right as we patrollers were conducting end-of-day upper mountain sweep about 3:45pm. They were finally found and returned to the ski area around 1am—over 9 hours later! I figure others might benefit from knowing a bit more of how that sort of thing can occur to avoid getting similarly stranded.
Patrollers Mike & Ben were sweeping Southback that day–Ben, up the King and Mike toward Three Way Peak. They caught up with the 3 at Kirner’s Corner, just to the right of Little Alaska (informal names) which is the buttressy part of Avalanche Basin. As they hiked, the most-experienced of the group indicated he’d skied Southback many times before. I haven’t talked to the three, but mutual friends tell me that he’s an experienced South Backcountry skier who doesn't do dumb stuff and normally has a great sense of direction. Once the group reached the top of the King, they told Ben they were heading down the Southeast side and that they planned to head left. If you’re familiar with that terrain you know that puts them on what we call “SE Left” or, if they continued and crossed the ridge, the North side of Silver King.
At the top, the 3 left Ben as skier’s usually do, making fairly fall-line turns. Ben didn’t stick right with them since he was sweeping and also checking for others who might be disoriented in the thick fog. He made wide traverses, periodically yelling “closing” and stopping to listen for responses.
We figured out later that it was so hard to see in the fog that the group ended up unintentionally traversing far to the right rather than veering left as planned. That’s how disorienting fog and the undulations of wind-drifted snow can be! The group went SO far, in fact, that they crossed the entire SE side of the King, crossed “The Beach” (informal name for the flat-topped ridge of Silver Basin) and headed down towards Crystal Lakes in Mount Rainier National Park.
Apparently the group realized they were lost around 6:45pm and used cell phones to call 911. It took until 7:30pm for them to finally get routed to Crystal ski patrollers. The lesson to take away may be that you’ll want to have the Ski Patrol Emergencies Only phone number (360-663-3064) handy in your cell phone Contacts list.
When they finally reached Patrollers by phone, they could tell they were by lakes, so were assuming they were by Henskin Lake rather than Crystal Lakes.
This Summertime view from Google Earth may help if you’re unfamiliar with the area. (North is at your 7:00 and the base lodge is just off-screen to the left.) See how in this view, Henskin lake is way over to the left, and Crystal Lakes are way over to the right? Pretty far apart, huh!
Patrol Director Paul Baugher could tell by the group's description of the terrain that they were not where they thought they were. So teams of Patrollers were dispatched to search likely areas, and Mike and Max eventually caught up with the group and guided them out, down the Crystal Lakes trail. After the snow petered out, that was close to 2,000 vertical feet of downhill hiking in ski boots. Youch!
When they reached State Route 410 (in the closed-in-winter part of the Park) Ranger Monica was there with a vehicle to shuttle them back up to the Ski Area. Luckily for the 3 (and un-luckily for the rest of us) this is an el nino year and they didn't have to wait for the road to be snow-plowed before vehicles could drive up it as is usually the case!
It's pretty common--human nature perhaps?--for skiers & boarders to ride all day and save their biggest adventures for right at closing, when everyone's the most tired and it's closest to option-limiting darkness. Don't be so attached to your "goal" that you overlook environmental factors that can turn an adventure into a tragedy. Luckily THESE guys were hearty and everything turned out OK.!
Shwoo!
Find Yourself!
In the snowy mountain environment, somebody who doesn't show up as expected could be drifting out of consciousness upside-down in a tree well someplace. So rescue personnel don’t wait 24 hours to respond to ‘missing person’ reports like the detectives you see on TV…we start right away!
Unfortunately, lack-of-planning could send us out on a false-alarm ‘wild goose chase’ that leaves us out-of-position to respond when a REAL life-threatening crises arises. You don't want to be THAT person, do you?
Please don't ever hesitate to contact us if you think someone is in danger (Our emergency number is 360-663-3064. Program that into your cell phone!) but here are some things you can do to be more self-sufficient when you're simply separated:
1) Make a plan for when & where you’ll meet-up if separated, and stick to it.
2) Keep cell phones and ‘family’ radios:
a) With you,
b) Charged up, and
c) Turned on—unless you have a definite battery-saving plan to turn them on either:
1) as soon as you become separated or
2) at regular intervals such as on the ½-hour, every 15 minutes, etc. if separated!
Make sure you share phone numbers or agree on frequencies ahead of time! At the very least, agree to voice mail or text message each other if you have service you can check remotely.
3) Pay attention to your companions! If you ask Patrol to go looking for a young adult snowboarder named Josh dressed in dark colors on a busy weekend, we’ll find hundreds of ‘em! Make a note of each others’ appearance: type/brands of equipment, colors of clothing, first and last names, etc.
4) DON’T MOVE THE CAR! This is the most common judgement error we see. Instead, leave a note with the time and where you’ll be. Agree where to look for a note on a snow-covered car if you get separated.
5) Put your note and a pencil in a plastic bag—we have ‘em at Ski Patrol if you don’t have your own--so your companions can also leave YOU a note if it turns out you’re chasing each other around the ski area base. And be specific--don’t say “we’re in the restaurant” or “bar”, say “lower level food service area in lodge” or “restaurant above the Snorting Elk”.
6) Ask the Lift Operators if you can use the white boards at the bottom of lifts and tell your companions to look at the white boards if you become separated. This won’t work on a busy Saturday if all 8,000 people try at once, but it’s a back-up plan if other things go wrong. Include the TIME, so your message can be erased after adequate time passes!
7) Parents, PUHLEEZE talk to your kids about the possibility of becoming separated. Tell ‘em about tree wells and the importance of not venturing off into the forest alone. Make a “family plan” about how/when/where you’ll meet back up if separated. If you’re sending them with other families, let the adults know whether your kids are timid or adventurous, whether they like to stick to the groomed trails or head off into the trees to explore. And tell them to speak up if they hear others shouting their name….this is a circumstance where you’ll want it to be OK to talk to strangers!
Funny story…..a year or two ago, a couple of guys were skiing the trees next to Exterminator on a deep, deep powder day, heading down for lunch. They got separated and the last thing one remembers was hearing the voice of the other shouting something that sounded like “Help! Help!”
Ski Patrol, Ski School Instructors, Lift Maintenance mechanics--everybody got called in to help make multiple passes looking for someone who might be upside-down and suffocating. Eventually, the “missing” guy was found sitting in the bar enjoying a cool pitcher of beer, wondering why his friend was taking so long, and what all the hubub was. It turned out that what his friend thought were cries for help were actually him shouting his intent to hang a hard left turn to have lunch at the Snorting Elk Cellar. He was shouting “ELK! ELK”. Thankfully, that one had a happy ending!
