[pct-l] ice cave collapse near Snoqualmie

[conniedavis at earthlink.net]

Crews rescue 2 teens trapped in Wash. snow field
By GENE JOHNSON (Associated Press Writer)
>From Associated Press
August 22, 2008 12:24 AM EDT
SNOQUALMIE PASS, Wash. - An ice cave collapsed on two teenage boys Thursday, trapping them for hours until rescuers with chain saws managed to cut through large chunks of compact snow and ice to free them.

The Seattle teens, 17-year-old Alec Corbett and 14-year-old Allesandro Gelmini, were both suffering from hypothermia, King County sheriff's spokesman Sgt. John Urquhart said.

Gelmini was rescued first and Corbett about a half hour later. They spent more than five hours trapped beneath the ice.


A Navy helicopter flew the boys to Harborview Medical Center in Seattle, where spokesman Steve Butler said they were listed in serious condition Thursday night.

"It was very difficult to get them out, and to get them out alive," Urquhart said.

The teens were hiking with their mothers and their sisters when they were trapped.

Corbett's mother, Joni, told reporters she was ecstatic to learn that both had survived.

Her husband, Brian, said his emotions have gone "from the lowest I've ever been to now, it's just great."

The accident happened near the Cascade Mountains pass, about 50 miles east of Seattle.

Several other hikers who had been nearby described the area where the boys were trapped as a canyon that had filled with snow. A small creek, or cascade of melted snow, had carved out a cave, with a roof of compacted ice.


Matthew Miller, a 15-year-old boy who had been hiking with a youth group, rushed with others to help after the ice collapsed.

"It was just a deafening crash," Miller said. "It really got your attention."

He said one of the mothers told them the two boys had found an ice cave and were posing for a picture about five yards inside its mouth when the ice above them crumbled.