[pct-l] Two hikers dead in avalance near Snoqualmie Pass

[cvano at tmail.com]

Actually, the bottom paragraph in this article IS about me.  The first 
group was in fact avalanched.  We opted to leave the trail and go cross 
country (down and away) to avoid this very situation.  We left on a 
short overnight hike with a forecast of 3 to 5 inches of snow followed 
by rain and wind.  Perfect to test new gear.  What we got was 3 to 5 
FEET of powder followed by torrential rain.  We just couldn't make it 
out without snowshoes.  Took 7 hours to go 1 mile.

So it ended up with 4 of us in a 2 man Sierra Designs tent for 2 
nights.  We immediatly went on reduced rations and pulled together.  We 
had one synthetic sleeping bag.  The other 3 were down and worse than 
useless, everything being thoroughly soaked by this time.  I had my 
alcohol stove and a full Capt Morgan bottle of fuel.  We used that for 
cooking, melting snow, and warmth every hour during the night.  We also 
all had to cuddle.  BTW, I'm the 55 year old.

The first night, the snow beneth my butt kept sinking and water came in 
through the tent floor.  Next morning a river appeared on our left about 
10 feet away.  Another appeared on our right also about 10 feet away.  
We packed up and I postholed into a third river directly under where the 
tent had been.  Hypothermia was also a big concern along with 
dehydration.  I got to witness a couple of avalanches, new waterfalls, 
mudslides etc.  There is no way to describe the power of water in these 
conditions.  Unbelievable!  It takes big trees and boulders along on the 
first wave like nothing.  Sounds like a turbine engine on take off.

It took 3 hours to move 100 yards across the river and up 100 feet to a 
tree where we again set up camp.

SAR took 36 hours to reach us on snowshoes.  A helicopter made 2 passes 
Monday but didn't see us.  One came yesterday and we flipped our 
Thermorest pads at it and were spotted exactly where we told them we 
were.  In the meantime we had made a path to a clearing so we could get 
out and do that quickly when we heard them coming.

SAR arrived on foot about noon Tuesday with dry clothes, med gear and 
food including Gummy Bears and snowshoes.  They did first aid to my 
feet, and we set off.  We all walked out!

We all had adaquate gear for the conditions.  What happened was I had 
waterproof socks.  Unbeknownst and unexpected by me, they got full of 
water from postholing (above waste) and actually froze on my feet.  I 
couldn't get my shoes off.  This was Sunday about noon.  I had 4 pairs 
of dry wool socks.  Didn't help.  We chose NOT to warm them with any 
heat (body, stove) for fear of it happening again.  That was the right 
choice.

I will probably not loose any toes.  When we got out, between the 12 or 
14 hikers that came in, 2 helicopter crews, 2 ambulances, command post, 
snow plow, sherriff, there were more than a hundred volunteers involved 
in this rescue.  The hospital fed me twice and I was a celebraty there 
because most of the staff had never seen frostbite!  Anyway, they also 
gave me warm IV, blankets, and hung all my clothes to dry.  The also 
gave me morphine even though I was in no pian.  My toes felt like they 
had a shot of novacane.  No feeling at all.  Then they put them in 85 
degree water.  Cool to the heal but OMG did it burn my toes.  This went 
on for several hours with progressively warmer tap water.

This morning most of the purple color, waxy appearance and white colored 
nails are gone.  My feet have both swelled to near twice their normal 
size and they hurt.  Its also very hard and painfull to walk.  Doc says 
it will take several days or a couple of weeks to regain normal size and 
feeling.  Got some good drugs though....  Taking today off work (hate 
when THAT happens!)

Bottom line, $hit happens, even to me!  Be prepared!  This was only a 
4.4 mile and 2000' gain hike.  Don't ever wear waterproof socks in 
freezing conditions.  It was only about 20 degrees.  We were all warm 
other than me feet, although very cramped in the tent but we survived a 
great adventure.  Each of us had some piece of gear that contributed to 
group survival.  Synthetic bag, alcohol stove with pleanty of fuel. A 2 
man tent, one ice axe, one set of hiking poles, 2 orange sleeping pads, 
one cell phone (low battery), we pooled the food and shared everything 
equilly.  The one thing we lacked was snowshoes.  Even with them on we 
postholed and fell a lot on the way out.  Even the SAR team did that.  
We all pulled together as a team, no one got scared, mad, or even 
testy.  Even moral stayed good considering..  A grand adventure!  BTW, 
the differance between ordeal and adventure is attitude.  That helped a 
lot.  Thanks everyone for your concern.  We did have to cashe some gear 
on the mountain.  It was just too wet and heavy to get it all down.  
Confidence is high that it will be there when we go to retrive it.  Its 
100 yards off trail and well hidden in a rugged area.  It will probably 
be a couple of weeks to months before we can get back up there to get 
it.
C

On Tue, 4 Dec 2007 3:03 pm, Tom Griffin wrote:
> While Southern California has its wildfires, we have our torrential
> rains in the Pacific Northwest. A 20-mile stretch of I-5 is closed
> between Seattle and Portland. In addition to the lowland flooding, we
> have lost some hikers in the mountains near Snoqualmie Pass. Here is an
> article from the Seattle Times:
>
> Bodies of two hikers found near Snoqualmie Pass
>
> The bodies of two hikers who were apparently crushed by an avalanche
> last weekend were found today by a search-and-rescue team near
> Snoqualmie Pass.
>
> A 33-year-old woman, her 38-year-old husband and another man, described
> as a family friend, went a hike near the Alpental Ski Area in the 
> Alpine
> Lakes Wilderness area on Friday night, said King County sheriff's
> spokesman John Urquhart. When they didn't return home as planned on
> Sunday, the father of one of the hikers drove to Alpental Monday and
> found their vehicle in the parking lot. He then contacted the Sheriff's
> Office.
>
> The search was hampered by weather on Monday. Today searchers found the
> bodies of the woman and the family friend, 38. The woman's husband
> survived the avalanche, suffering a broken leg, and was rescued,
> Urquhart said.
>
> Their identities were not immediately released.
>
> Search-and-rescue crews are looking for another group of hikers who 
> also
> disappeared in the Cascades over the weekend. The group of four — 
> three
> men and a woman ranging in age from 22 to 55 — went hiking near the
> Denny Creek trailhead on Sunday, Urquhart said.
>
> Search-and-rescue crews have made cellphone contact with the second
> group, but haven't been able to reach them, he said.
>
> Urquhart said they believe the heavy snow followed by pounding rain
> created a perilous conditions for the two groups of hikers.
>
>
> --
> Tom (Bullfrog) Griffin
> Seattle
>
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Beyond this point
There be dragons...

Chris ~ S/V Drifter
Anacortes, WA. ~~~_/) ~~~