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Show No. 62- 6 GRANITE MOUNTAIN. WASHINGTON 25 March 1962 ACCIDENT SUMMARY Early Sunday morning, 25 March, 1962, two skiers set out to climb Granite Mountain, west of Denny Creek and Snoqualmie Pass. Both men were experienced climbers; Dr. C. A. had been climbing for two years. D. L. had sixteen years of mountain climbing experience, although much of this was on Eastern slopes. The two men followed the Granite Mountain trail until it left the timber. While they seemed to have exercised caution when traveling in wet snow conditions, the climbers apparently failed to recognize the formation of dry slab avalanche conditions as they progressed upward. On the ascent they safely crossed the upper end of the cirque, which was heavily wind-slabbed, but their failure to note the hazardous conditions which existed in this area proved fatal on the descent. At 1: 00 p. m., Mr. and Mrs. R. S., who were following about three- quarters of an hour behind the pair, noticed a large avalanche come down the couloir to their right. R. S. quickly climbed higher on the mountain, following the footsteps of the two men. At about 5000 feet the trail cut diagonally out over the upper corner of the main cirque and disappeared into the avalanched snow. R. S., seeing no trace of the missing skiers, returned with his wife to the road and notified the State Patrol. RESCUE At 8: 00 p. m., the sheriff and the Seattle Mountain Rescue Council were notified of the avalanche. There was some delay in organizing rescue operations since a major portion of their equipment and a large number of the Mountain Rescue personnel were on another rescue operation. Additional equipment was available at the State Patrol's avalanche cache, but there was confusion as to its location. Several hours later, Mountain Rescue Council members rendezvoused at Factoria and drove to the junction of the Denny Creek Road and Highway 10. They arrived at the junction about 11: 30 p. m. and were met by the Washington State Patrol and U. S. Forest Service personnel who provided a limited number of probes and shovels ( not enough to outfit all twenty members of the rescue party). The party was divided into two ten- men teams, the first leaving the road at 12: 15 a. m. with the available equipment. The second group followed a half- hour later with more equipment obtained from the Snoqualmie Summit cache. However, they were not the first searchers to arrive at the scene of the avalanche; both teams were preceded by a Forest Service and Ski Patrol team which left the highway about 10: 30 p. m. The three groups joined at the head of the avalanche. A search was organized, although not everyone had a probe. The searchers were split into two groups - some probing the top and some beginning near the middle of the avalanche. Those without probes were sent on a hasty search. Lookouts were posted to warn the party of any additional avalanches. Probing anywhere in the slide was difficult, since the snow was often piled deeper than the eight foot probes. At various times during the search three of themen, 79 |