Thread: mt baker slide

http://blog.oregonlive.com/breakingn...1_missing.html

BELLINGHAM, Wash. -- Whatcom County sheriff's deputies are looking for a snowmobiler who is missing after an avalanche that killed another snowmobiler north of Mount Baker.

A deputy, George Ratayczak, says 20 volunteers have resumed the search.

The avalanche hit a group of five snowmobilers and swept them several hundred feet downhill in the Excelsior Pass area. It happened Tuesday on a slope at the 5,300-foot level in five to six feet of snow.

Rescuers found the body of a woman who was wearing an avalanche beacon. One person had a minor leg injury and two others were uninjured

More here ~

http://www.king5.com/topstories/stor...P.1d39559.html

Female victim was wearing a beacon but her body was found an hour after the event???

WTF?

Male victim had recently acquired a beacon but it was unclear if he was wearing it?

Very sad.

People need to be smarter.

Body of 63 male recovered this afternoon. Bad way to start 2008. Be a good friend and make an effort to do more beacon practice. Any practice is good but get out and make it realistic, find a good safe slope and go through a rescue scenario. Adding some pressure to the practice will show you where you need some work. At MR we generally have a beacon out on the hill and if there is not one out already we can go bury one.
JF

fatal avy at Whistler too...two guys ducked ropes yesterday and triggered a slide that pulled them off a 45 meter cliff. one died, one seriosuly injured.

http://www.theglobeandmail.com/servl...TPStory/Sports

Originally Posted by beaterd

Female victim was wearing a beacon but her body was found an hour after the event???

WTF?

Male victim had recently acquired a beacon but it was unclear if he was wearing it?

Very sad.

People need to be smarter.

More importantly, the entire group was snared by the avalanche. I know exactly where they were, and there's no reason why it had to go down the way it did.

Originally Posted by BakerBoy

More importantly, the entire group was snared by the avalanche. I know exactly where they were, and there's no reason why it had to go down the way it did.

They shouldn't have been anywhere around that area regardless, Let's see recent rain, upside down snowpack, warming trend, and a barren slope with treed slopes around it. Anyways, I'll be out getting some tomorrow am.

Originally Posted by whatcomridaz

They shouldn't have been anywhere around that area regardless, Let's see recent rain, upside down snowpack, warming trend, and a barren slope with treed slopes around it. Anyways, I'll be out getting some tomorrow am.

Going sledding tomorrow (Sunday)? There's a few of us headed up Bear Paw I think...