Photo by: Steve Charest
A few weeks ago I was on the last leg of a red-eye from Los Angeles to my home in Vermont. I was haggard. As I was zoning out at my window seat, a young woman sat down next to me, looking equally as tired. “Are you as ready as I am to get back to Burlington?” I asked.
“You have no idea.”
With a knowing smirk, I waited patiently for the typical sob story of missed connections, bitchy airline employees, and lost baggage.
“I’m coming back from Alaska … I was caught in an avalanche.”
WHAT!? While I was trying to find my jaw in the paltry excuse for legroom, Patty explained that she and two others—a guide and another skier—had been caught in a massive avalanche in the Chugach backcountry outside Valdez, Alaska.
She was the only one of the three who was buried—ten feet under, completely submerged and upside-down. When her two companions uncovered her 15 minutes later, Patty wasn’t breathing and was unresponsive. They performed CPR and did everything they were supposed to, and Patty came back from the brink.
This was definitely not your typical airline conversation.
Patty's status update before going to AK ... eerie
Check out the guide’s incredible side of the story. Here is the official report from AlaskaSnow.org:
Around noon three skiers were skinning up a 25 degree slope on a NNE aspect lower ramp of RFS at 4200′ elevation above Milepost 32 of the Richardson Highway. The group was passing a rock near the ridge when they heard a snap. The snow began to move and captured all three.
The fracture was four feet deep and propagated many hundreds of yards, possibly more than 1000 yards wide. There were two avalanches. The one that captured the skiers came off a relatively smaller upper slope. It ran only a few hundred feet. A sympathetic avalanche released below the one that captured the skiers. The lower crown was less than half the length of the upper crown and also four feet deep. The lower avalanche also released off a relatively smaller slope and also ran only a few hundred feet. The upper avalanche was a size 2.5 and the lower avalanche a size 2.
The weak layer was surface hoar formed during the clear period in early April and buried by the April 13 storm which deposited 50″ at the Thompson Pass DOT snow study plot at Milepost 27. The slab was 1 Finger to Pencil hard.
Two skiers were partially buried, but able to self-rescue. The third skier was located upside down with their skis five feet from the surface and their head ten feet from the surface. The buried skier was extricated within fifteen to twenty minutes not breathing and unresponsive. The buried skier was revived after rescue breaths and chest compressions and able to talk before being evacuated by helicopter alerted by satellite phone.
Twenty-five degrees? Seriously? What on Earth could they have done? A total freak avalanche. After listening to Patty’s story and reading AlaskaSnow’s report, I’m left with a few thoughts:
Be Ready for Anything
No matter who you’re touring with, where you are, or what the snow’s like, if you’re traveling in the backcountry always be ready for the worst. I just can’t get past the fact that this all happened on a 25-degree slope. She was with locals, there were no signs from ALPTRUTh. Mind-boggling.
Practice Practice Practice
Not to sound overly dramatic or anything, but Patty is alive today because the people she was with did the right things. The two had a plan, knew how to use their beacons, communicated, and then acted quickly and decisively. This kind of successful rescue doesn’t happen by accident. Fifteen minutes goes by really quickly when you’re trying to dig someone out. And things turn south in a hurry when a victim is buried for longer:
Avalanche survival rates. From Staying Alive in Avalanche Terrain, Bruce Tremper (2008).
Be Wary of the Avalung
The Black Diamond Avalung is a great idea in theory. But in practice, human nature just gets in the way: the hassle of having a mouthpiece between your teeth at all times outweighs the life-saving potential. It sounds silly, but it’s true. Patty was wearing an Avalung backpack, but since the avalanche happened when they were touring, she didn’t have the mouthpiece in. Who would? It’s hard enough to get people to wear the snorkel when they are descending, let alone while touring. When the avalanche released and took her for a ride, she was left with the choice: “Do I try to swim so I don’t get buried? Or do I try to put this thing in my mouth?” She tried to do both and was left in the worst possible situation: buried with the mouthpiece inches away.
Other Viewpoint: Guide Steve Charest, who helped rescue Patty, says: I am an avid Avalung fan but after this event I might ditch it and get a air bag. Longer burial is great, I just don’t want to get buried!
Needless to say, I am happy Patty is around to tell this tale, and that she decided to share it with me on that three-hour flight. It feels good to know she came away from it all not with a phobia of the backcountry, but with a deeper respect and admiration. She was ready to take more avalanche courses and get right back out there. It also feels good to know that there are people who possess the knowledge and presence of mind to do the right things when things go drastically wrong.
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Tags: avalanche beacons, avalanche safety, backcountry skiing, outdoor survival
Unreal. After that I bet the airport felt like a country club. And 10 feet under upside down must be some kind of record for a successful rescue, no? Awesome work by Patty and her crew.
I’m also not sold on the Avalung. All my friends have the packs, but I’ve actually NEVER seen any of them ski with the snorkel in… so it just seems pointless. I’d love to get my hands on an ABS pack if I could find one for sale in the US. Still, trauma is often as big or bigger concern than burial and I haven’t seen a product that can protect against that.
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Patty,
So glad to hear you were rescued. this story strikes close to home.
Woody aka “Bob”
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