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Show Case History No. 2 ( See Figure 36) Location: An alpine highway. Members of party: A, highway crew foreman and B, in a pickup truck; C and D, plow operators in a rotary snow plow; E, supply truck driver; 1, 2, and 3> skiers traveling the highway on foot. Events leading up to the accident: At high elevations a prolonged and severe storm was in progress. The highway was closed to public travel due to hazard and was blocked by snowslides. At the elevation where the pickup truck and the snowplow were operating, weather was cloudy. The plow was working in a slide and the pickup was parked a short distance behind. An avalanche observer had earlier warned the highway crew of the hazard and recommended no traffic of a'ny kind in the canyon. The accident: An avalanche following the same track as the one which had already blocked the road buried both the plow and the pickup. The rotary, being higher, heavier and close to the uphill bank, withstood the force of the slide. C and D were trapped in the cab but not injured. The pickup was parked near the downhill bank and took the full force of the slide. All glass was broken out. A and B were packed in the cab as if in concrete. The avalanche was probably a temperature- released slab. Rescue operations: E, the driver of the supply truck, arrived on the scene shortly after the accident. He saw the exhaust stack of the rotary which projected out of the snow and freed C and D. The three then departed to get help, without attempting to locate the pickup. On the way out of the canyon they encountered the three skiers, who were traveling on foot, and told them what had happened. The skiers proceeded to the avalanche, found the pickup by means of its radio mast and dug out A and B with only their skis and hands as tools. A made a quick recovery but B was dead. Weather and hazard: See above. Terrain data: The accident happened where a known major avalanche path crosses a highway. Conclusions: The accident was caused by failure to heed a definite hazard warning and failure to recognize the possibility of a repeater avalanche. It was faulty technique to have both vehicles and all members of the party exposed to the same slide. If C, D and E had looked for their companions instead of all going for help, there would probably have been no fatality. Recommendation: All men working in hazardous areas should receive avalanche rescue training. . 96 _ |
