OCR Text |
Show No. 60- 2 BERTHOUD PASS. COLORADO 13 February I960 WEATHER FACTORS The scene: 32 inches of new snow during the last 12 days; average wind but not excessive; temperatures below normal with many days in January below zero and a number below zero in February; snow pack less than normal into latter January. ACCIDENT SUMMARY A ski patrolman, upon hearing that two men were going touring outside the ski area, talked to them and warned that avalanche danger was high and they should stay within the regular ski area. . Warnings against touring were posted on the bulletin boards. The two men, R. D. , 34 and R. R., 17, rode to the top of the " T" bar, left the ski area and toured to the south. R. D.' s wife, W. D., drove their car down the south side of the pass to pick up the two men. The men chose to ski the Floral Park area, which is a known avalanche path, and is posted with signs permanently closing it. R. R. later admitted they knew the area slid occasionally. About 1345 hours, near the bottom of the slope, the slicing action of R. D.' s skis, coupled with the impact of a fall, released an avalanche carrying him 100 yards down the hill and burying him. His companion, R. R., skied on down and stopped about 10 feet from the fracture line facing away from the slide. He did not observe R. D. disappear into the moving snow. Mrs. W. D., waiting on the highway below for the men, saw the avalanche, and drove back up the pass to report the accident to the ski patrol. At that time she thought both men were buried. RESCUE At the time of the alarm, the snow ranger and the district ranger had just gotten on the chairlift. By the time they reached the top and skied back down to the patrol room, a small group of patrolmen had already left for the scene. The snow ranger questioned the victim's wife, then left for the accident scene with her, accompanied by a small group with shovels and probes. The district ranger remained behind and led the main party of rescuers a few minutes later. More careful questioning of the witness would have revealed that the easiest access ( and the safest also) would have been to drive down the highway and ski about 100 yards to the scene. The first group to arrive had found R. R. unharmed, but so incoherent he could tell them very little. They finally determined the point at which R. D. was last seen. A ski was found about 25 feet from the tip of the slide, and the search centered around the most likely locations along the fall line and at the tip of the debris. When the main party arrived, an organized probe line was established at the tip of the slide. After probing for about 20 minutes R. D. was found about 20 feet from the tip of the slide. He was lying face down, with his head slightly higher than the rest of his body. He was buried under three feet 54 |