ok so yeah sry i didnt really tell more of the story last night, i was exhausted, got off work at 730 and took a nap and then headed up at around 11.
went straight to t-bar and dropped off the switchback into canyon, i was testing out my splitboard for the first time. i was planning to hike from the saddle up above the area that slid. and ride this chute:
yes i was by myself, i had planned to meet up with a kid, but he bailed and i was over-eager..... but i did have my shovel, probe, and beacon on. i would have been right in the middle of the slide, had i not had the snowmobile ride, but i would have had my beacon on....
anyhow, i had just broke down my splitboard and was layering down for the hike when a sled came by so i got a ride to the saddle, he proceeded to pick up two other snowboarders and give them rides with his other snowmobile friend. i think he was looking for a bowl.... but i dont smoke... anyhow...... then the sledders took off and they were chilling in the bottom and i was just starting up from the saddle and there was two other skiers just about to take off down the traverse. and we looked back and saw the powderblast, which occured about 1210
i didnt really hear it or anything, maybe like a wooosh, but it wasnt that loud. so yeah the two skiers took off right away to go check it out and i scrambled down, getting a ride down to the scene by a different sledder- one of my friends who had just gone by.
there was one guy near the top section of the debris- tom- and he was frantic about his brother in law who was supposedly hiking right behind tom when he called out avalanche, and tom last saw him running towards the trees away from the avalanche. tom was buried as well, but he had dug himself out b4 we got there.
so there were probly around 10 ppl on the scene at this time, might have had 4 probes going, tom confirmed that his bro in law was not wearing a beacon.
im not real experienced with probing and everything but i felt like an expert compared to the ppl that were working around me, me and another guy who was on a sled were trying to keep ppl in line to work a grid, but ppl would just start wandering off or stand there saying we should move, or theyd find some blood which turned out to be there own and we break up the line only to discover it was a tree. anyways we were working that for about 15 or so and someone spotted a glove sticking out over near the base of the chutes that slid, myself and i think one or two others went over and uncovered a kid, so he could breath, he was alive and conscious. but bleeding pretty bad, once we got him uncovered we raced back to help search for the brother in law. then we worked that for probly an hour or so and alert arived to take the kid that i helped dig out, but i dont think he made it
http://www.missoulian.com/articles/2008/01/14/news/local/news02.txt
after about an hour i think up there probing, the original snowmobiler who gave me a ride was came by and was saying he saw two ppl get burried near the bottom so by that time ski patrol was there and they needed a couple ppl to go down with beacons to check, but apparently they ddint have beacons. either, and the whole beacon thing was redicoulous, we had determined that they didnt have beacons then someone would freek out saying that they got a signal and then we would find out that it was just someone who had walked up with a beacon or turned theres on. after awhile there were some volunteer search and rescue who got the grid going pretty well, and we covered a large area near where the two skiers were thought to be which took quite awhile, because of trees that we dug out.
and there were dogs, but it didnt seem to be too effective, possibly because the amount of ppl around and gear and people would light up a cigarette
while i was working with the lower group the higher group apparently found the brother in law, who from the sounds of the missoulian article would have survived if he had been wearing a beacon so that we could have located him
well after our lower gridline met the end of the debris, we were told that search and rescue would take it from there, and that if you werent planning to stay the night then you should head out. so they kept 7 running and i left the scene around 430. heres a couple pix i snapped on the way out, not very good, but yeah i was exhausted and ready for bed had to work last night too. fun fun.
