c160-1ac@ucbholden.BERKELEY.EDU (Galen Cochran) (12/13/85)
A Chilling Reminder
Thanksgiving I hit the slopes for the first time this year. Finally!
I'd been praying for snow since August... (Didn't we all?)
I went to Sugar Bowl (in the hills north of Tahoe, CA) because they get
the most early snow and because I am particularily fond of certain of
their steep, narrow slashes which pass down through what some folks
might call `cliffs.' Some other folks might refer to these minor features
as `avalanche chutes.'
Thanksgiving Day it was snowy, windy, too warm to be dry and too cold to
be comfortable. All in all, a less than ideal day -- but that never stopped
us, now did it? There were few skiers; the snow was building fast.
All of my favorite `steep, narrow slashes' were clearly roped off
and, as one rode the Lincoln 2 lift, one could see the deep, wet snow
beginning to sag and shelve on Silver Run. Deep, lateral cracks up to
several feet wide were appearing across the gullies. Only a suicide or a
fool would venture down anything like this.
We took it pretty easy all day (first day of the season weak-knees), but
at the end of the day I noticed (to my surprise) that a sweet little gash
by name of `Hari-Kiri' was not roped-off. My companion and I dropped over
the edge of a short-but-just-off-vertical double-black-diamond by name of
`Carl's Nose' (I figure Carl lost his there), each exploded in a cloud of
powder mixed with miscellaneous gear, picked ourselves up, put ourselves
back together, and swooped down Hari-Kiri. (Note, please, that despite
other signs of madness, I never ski this kind of thing alone -- never.)
That was the last run of the day, and a very satisfactory one it was, too.
The following morning we spent several hours getting some cars uncovered
and listening to the avalanche-cannon booming around us. The morning was
lost because of all the shovelling, so we finished the day yo-yo skiing at
a small resort adjacent to Sugar Bowl which was featuring $7 passes.
In the early afternoon I happened to be with one of the Ski Patrolmen when
he got an emergency call to report to Sugar Bowl: avalanche; some folks
were buried. I could hardly believe my ears. Half-a-dozen Ski Patrol
personnel plus snowmobiles evaporated within seconds. I heard no more
before evening.
After closing time, I ran into a Ski Patrolwoman in the bar. She told me that
there had been two skiers buried in one of Sugar Bowl's avalanche chutes.
(I never did find out which one, though I believe that it had been roped-off.)
One had been buried rather deeply, but they had succeeded in rescueing both
alive.
This was quite a relief to me and, for the next day or so, I told and retold
the story, just as I have here to this point, with plenty of shrugging-
and laughing-it-off.
Then I heard that one of them had died in the ambulance on route to the
hospital. I stopped laughing abruptly. This was no longer a fun story.
I thought back over my last run of the previous day and scared myself a bit.
With typical 20-20 hindsight, I noted the following:
- Given the angle from which we had approached the run, we
could quite possibly have missed any ropes. At least, we
hadn't looked very hard for them.
- I wear long, heavy skis with an anti-premature-release type
binding, set rather firm -- perfect snow anchors and almost
impossible to twist out of.
- I have never carried avalanche cord in a commercial ski area.
- There were fewer skiers around when we had skied than on the
day of the accident, and conditions and visibility were
considerably worse -- i.e. precious little chance of being
seen in a pile of snow.
- Once again, I have been very, very lucky.
So, next time you see that beautiful white stuff tumbling down and you hear
the avalanche-cannon booming as you're waxing your boards, give a moment's
thought to just how long you'd like to continue breathing.
Let's be careful out there.
Galen Cochran
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It is worth noting that the survivor had managed to stay on top of most of
the slide by swimming and had, apparently, created an air space by pulling
goggles over mouth.
Please note that none of this is a comment on the safety or management of
Sugar Bowl: While it is true that certain parts of Sugar Bowl are prone
to avalanche, so are portions of almost every ski area -- this tragedy
could have happened anywhere.