Missing jackasses found in Alpine Meadows Sidecountry

**Schralps McGnar** · 02-05-2008, 02:00 PM

Saw the search and rescue teams loading KT at 830am or so on Sunday morning. Heard on the Sacremento news that they were found yesterday. The news coverage made me want to puke! They were basically glorifying these idiots for surviving the ordeal, and called them "Extreme skiers". They had no snow safety equipment, and obviously no geographical knowledge of the area. Bay area jackassery at it's finest! SEND THEM THE BILL FOR THE SEARCH AND RESCUE!

**montanamike** · 02-05-2008, 02:16 PM

Big Worm is a ripper. I don't know him to be an idiot.

**JrockSF** · 02-05-2008, 02:24 PM

Originally Posted by montanamike

Big Worm is a ripper. I don't know him to be an idiot.

um lets see. 3 feet predicted, insane winds, no visibility and no avy gear. I can understand getting lost at alpine. but to make a conscious decision to venture out in those conditions in unfamiliar terrain without gear doesn't sound to smart to me.

Just sayin'

**kidwoo** · 02-05-2008, 02:25 PM

Originally Posted by montanamike

Big Worm is a ripper. I don't know him to be an idiot.

You know one of these guys?

I know a few people on SAR that want to know how they ended up back there. Like where they started from and where they were headed from the chair. Going off the backside of alpine isn't that rare of an occurance but one more data point helps.

Shoot me a pm.

O G R E · 02-05-2008, 02:26 PM

Grrrrrrr! long story here

http://www.sfgate.com/flat/archive/2...Q6F.html?tsp=1

**Schralps McGnar** · 02-05-2008, 03:06 PM

Don't get me wrong, I am very glad they were found alive and well. My annoyance stems from the Fox news broadcast from Sacto which basically made them out to be heros, which they were obviously not. I also feel that the people responsible should be held accountable for the SAR dollars spent.

**Lone Star** · 02-05-2008, 03:09 PM

^^^^did they request rescue?

**Lone Star** · 02-05-2008, 03:09 PM

(cause if they didn't, well, I know I ain't payin for no cheeseburger if I didn't order no damn cheeseburger)

**jfost** · 02-05-2008, 03:15 PM

I think they did a pretty good job of surviving. 2 days out, snow caves, making h2o, and only minor frostbite = people who aren't idiots. Shit happens, though I bet they wish they had their full BC kits!!!

Good on them for surviving, lucky on them that the weather broke when it did. Betcha they'll never say what happened in that snow cave...

**Jer** · 02-05-2008, 03:28 PM

Originally Posted by montanamike

Big Worm is a ripper. I don't know him to be an idiot.

Not saying it applies to this guy in particular, but being a ripper doesn't exclude anybody from being an idiot.

Originally Posted by Lone Star

^^^^did they request rescue?

Very valid point.

Originally Posted by jfost

Betcha they'll never say what happened in that snow cave...

Classic. Brokeback Meadows.

**MrPow** · 02-05-2008, 03:42 PM

I was in Alpine yesterday. Yes - I saw tons of patrollers heading up to go look for these guys.

If you read their story - they did not try to go OB. They were lost due to poor visibility conditions.

yesterday - was a relatively sunnier day. But up at the top of summit six - the wind was blowing crazyily with very poor visibility on the track towards Beaver bowl. at one point around noon - as I tried to get on that cat track - i lost complete track of where i was. I could not see a thing. And for what seemed like eternity - nobody passed me by. As you probably know - the ski area boundary is just 10 feet to the left of that cat track. I could have been OB without knowing it. Luckily the blowing wind stopped for a second - and I got back on to the cat track.

I can only imagine what conditions were like on saturday with a 2/3 ft dump and high winds.

**jfost** · 02-05-2008, 03:59 PM

Just sayin:

I would not have said that I was trying to go OB either... A buddy and I got stuck down below Lakeview in 3' of snow, and literally watched the Sherwood Chair close at 4pm as we were flailing to get back up. It took us a good while to crawl out, and skied down with patrol to the main lodge around 5pm. Anyway, we just said that we "got lost" from Outer Limits, and "Weren't trying" to go out of bounds. Granted, our consequences were almost nil, we were in sight of the Ice Bar, and the access road to the back side, let alone many of the houses back there... but I would bet those guys were trying to get some sweet turns, not lost til they got out too far...

**kidwoo** · 02-05-2008, 04:11 PM

Originally Posted by jfost

we were in sight of the Ice Bar, and the access road to the back side,

Bone chilling

+vibes+

**jfost** · 02-05-2008, 04:24 PM

^^^ yeah, and none of those fuckers even looked up from their closing time Sierra Nevadas to laugh at the snow gapers yelling down the valley!!!

It. Was. Gnar.

**Ireallyliketoski** · 02-05-2008, 04:27 PM

No! No! No helicopter ride for me. Could you come back with some snowmobiles or a cat?

**GreenRun** · 02-05-2008, 05:27 PM

Sorry but these two guys clearly got on to the bus when the drive said “NO MORE ON”….

Read the article and count how many bad decisions they made from the moment they left their car.

If these guys were such ‘adventure skiers’ then why did they have not avy gear?

Why did they go exploring a resort they are not familiar with in a blinding blizzard?

Why did they not stay put once they knew they were lost?

If they could not fight the urge to stay put, then why did they walk south west when there is a road and a big lake to the east (can’t miss it)?

Maybe no one ever told these ‘adventure skiers’ that the sun rises out of the east and sets in the west (the sun was out on Sunday morning from 7:30 – 10:30)

Either way they should pay for the rescue. Even if they did not want it at the time, they would have in a day or so, given their location where they got plucked form they would have had to walk for another few days to hit a road.

**montanamike** · 02-05-2008, 05:27 PM

Originally Posted by Jer

Not saying it applies to this guy in particular, but being a ripper doesn't exclude anybody from being an idiot.

well, he's no 'bay area' gaper

**Lone Star** · 02-05-2008, 05:47 PM

Originally Posted by GreenRun

If these guys were such ‘adventure skiers’ then why did they have not avy gear?

Why did they go exploring a resort they are not familiar with in a blinding blizzard?

Why did they not stay put once they knew they were lost?

If they could not fight the urge to stay put, then why did they walk south west when there is a road and a big lake to the east (can’t miss it)?

Maybe no one ever told these ‘adventure skiers’ that the sun rises out of the east and sets in the west (the sun was out on Sunday morning from 7:30 – 10:30)

You're right- those guys definitely made all of those decisions for the sole reason of getting more lost.

**fluffballs** · 02-05-2008, 05:58 PM

Originally Posted by 3names

Glad they were found alive...

The top of Summit Six was insane on Saturday. 40+ mph winds and it was snowing hard all day. They say they were skiing Estelle Bowl. I thought Beaver Bowl and farther skier's left was closed all day Saturday, but given the conditions, it is not hard to imagine getting lost up there. I fell off the cat track just off the top of Summit Six because I couldn't see a thing.

Wind was actually blowing 65-75 steady on Saturday, vis was pretty bad. High Beaver and Estelle were closed all day, but I'm sure that's where they thought they were headed. My guess is they dropped out Wolverine Saddle. I can understand not seeing the boundary there, but I don't get how you can drop down to the left and start skiing when the entire resort is to the right. But people seem to do it regularly. Generally we just ski down to them, and they say something like, "Are you going to give me a ride?" "nope, start walking."

Patrick and Chris, I'd be happy to accept some Sharks tickets and a meal at A16 to show your appreciation.

**fluffballs** · 02-05-2008, 06:13 PM

P.S. There's a little search doggie demo that's going to be on news 4 in a few minutes.

**kidwoo** · 02-05-2008, 06:50 PM

Originally Posted by GreenRun

Why did they go exploring a resort they are not familiar with in a blinding blizzard?

If they could not fight the urge to stay put, then why did they walk south west when there is a road and a big lake to the east (can’t miss it)?

Read those sentences to yourself. Pause between the two. See if the second makes any sense after reading the first.

Not defending these guys because they did something stupid.....mostly heading out on a gnarly CLOSED ridge during a storm....but still.

Tahoe nordic search and rescue doesn't charge but they aren't the ones running the chopper, at least not directly. They gladly accept donations to cover fuel, food and supplies cost. If any of you guys know these little adventurers, please make them aware of that fact.

**skier666** · 02-05-2008, 08:10 PM

Originally Posted by montanamike

well, he's no 'bay area' gaper

I'm a Bay Area gaper...but this guy is THE Bay Area gaper.

So, they skied down behind the ridge-line to Idiots/Beaver/Estelle toward the West eh? Why not start hiking/side stepping back up the tracks? I don't care how far down they went, or how windy it was at the time, you'll get back where you started eventually. This story seems way too odd.

**skikola** · 02-05-2008, 08:20 PM

Originally Posted by skier666

This story seems way too odd.

I concur. There's got to be more to this that isn't being reported. Either way, my initial reaction to it is that they were probably being stupid in one way or another to get in that situation, but I'm glad they're o.k.

**The Dad** · 02-05-2008, 08:25 PM

For two hours on Saturday night, average windspeeds were in triple digits.

As for them getting lost in the first place, well, I almost made the same mistake they did last year in windy conditions. I was trying to go to the top of Sherwood via the backside instead of High T, due to the intense winds coming up the east side of the hill. We realized that we'd gone down the wrong way early, and spent half an hour hiking back up to the ridge instead of continuing down into Desolation Wilderness. We got up to the trail to Grouse Rock and skied down in awesome conditions to the bottom of Sherwood. We were lucky. These guys were too, albeit in a different way.

As for oddness, well, unless they were carrying a GPS, they probably can't figure out their precise path.

**kidwoo** · 02-05-2008, 08:36 PM

Originally Posted by alpinedad

We realized that we'd gone down the wrong way early, and spent half an hour hiking back up to the ridge instead of continuing down into Desolation Wilderness.

uR gEoGraPhY suXXors

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