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Show to the lodge when the avalanche hit the parking lot. The snow entered the open windows of the snowcat, completely filled the interior, and buried him in the seat. The cat was not completely covered and rescuers from the lodge were able to dig him out unharmed in just a few minutes. He later reported a rumor had started in the lodge that firing was over, and he thought it safe to go outside. Two guests outside the lodge when the dust cloud struck were shaken up but unharmed. A legend has already sprung up that one became so excited he ran full- tilt into the swimming pool! The firing operation was suspended until it could be ascertained that no one had been trapped at Peruvian Lodge. Before firing began again on other targets, messengers were sent to move everyone to the basements. Shots were then fired on Flagstaff Shoulder and Peak, releasing a major climax slide which ran between the lodges and across the parking lot. The next target was a series of gullies which normally slide into the parking lot above Snow Pine Lodge. The second shot on this target released a major climax slide with a fracture line which propagated from gully to gully eastward clear to the area above Grizzly Gulch. The entire side of the mountain was set in motion and the sliding snow reached across the parking lot from the Snow Pine Lodge eastward to the mouth of Grizzly Gulch. The eastern- most arm overran the gun position and nearly buried the howitzer. The gun crew was forced to retreat hastily up the road in order to escape the sliding snow. One arm of the slide damaged the corner of a cabin, and another arm overran a mine tunnel, damaging two compressors. Shots then fired on the Greeley Hill slopes released slides from adjacent hillsides. The fracturing continued to propagate clear around Albion Basin, releasing the Sugarloaf and Devil's Castle slides, and eventually releasing two small slides on the southwest face of Mt. Wolverine, across the valley from the original target. The extensive fracturing and avalanching throughout the entire Albion Basin from this single shot gave further evidence of the critical instability of the snow. The next slide was a major climax avalanche released on the North Rustler slopes. This slide in turn dislodged the upper slopes of Eagles Nest. This snow descended the bowl, spilled over the rim of Eagles Nest, and dislodged practically all of the snow lying on the steep, heavily timbered slopes. The combined avalanche, the largest seen to descend these slopes in many years, struck the concrete pedestal of the old Rustler tow, broke the 1,000 gallon gas tank located on top of this pedestal, and destroyed two support towers of a rope tow. This avalanche removed the entire winter snow cover back to the unstable depth hoar next to the ground. Further firing with the recoil less rifle on the Superior and Hell Gate slopes released several slides, the largest of which was a climax avalanche from the Little Superior main gully which ran across the. road. The ski slopes which had not yet slid were the next targets. Slides fell on Sunspot and above the race course, one on a slope that had never been seen to slide before this time. Shots into the chutes south of West Rustler 114 |
