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Show From this vantage point they could see the two men below, searching the avalanche debris for E. At that point the men below caught sight of the rescue party and tried to warn them away from the face by waving and shouting. However, distance separating the two groups thwarted their efforts to communicate. The two patrolmen and another skier moved cautiously up the ridge to check the situation. Deciding that avalanche hazards made it too dangerous to cross the ridge and descend directly to the avalanche, the three men returned to the others to make alternate plans. Although the second group with the toboggan arrived later, and higher on the ridge than the first group, by this time the toboggan crew had almost caught up. But before the two groups could actually join, B. B. decided to have the main party ski down the ridge through the trees, and proceed from there across to the bottom of the slide. According to one account, the rescue party then became disorganized and separated, as men began skiing down the ridge in whatever way they could. They started down, R. N. shouted for someone to be a lookout to warn the rest of any slides. Whether anyone did so is not known. Shortly the men with the toboggan appeared on the ridge top and joined stragglers from the main party. The survivors again tried to warn them away but still were unable to communicate. Instead of following the others down the ridge, the smaller party ( four or five) parked the toboggan and one of these men, B. C , began to work along the ridge in order to get into a position to work down the slope. Sensing the danger from additional avalanches, another man with mountain climbing experience quickly grabbed a rope off the toboggan. After tying the rope around his waist and taking a shoulder belay from a companion, he tried to reach B. C. with the rope. Most of the main party had already reached the bottom of the ridge and were starting up the canyon to the main slide. On their way down they narrowly missed being caught by another avalanche, but a warning shout stopped the group just short of the slide's path. As they approached the avalanche debris, the terrain became increasingly dangerous. Just beyond a cluster of pine andalpine trees they encountered a shallow gully. Recognizing it as a potential avalanche path, B. B., unaware of the skiers above him, ordered the group to halt and cross one at a time. He sent one skier across. The man stopped, looked up the steep slope, and then proceeded through the gully. He safely reached a small ledge between two sharp pitches just beyond the gully. The patrolman next sent T. D. into the gully. At that moment, on the ridge above, the avalanche which the roped climber had feared, broke away, carrying B. C. tumbling down the slope in the cascading snow. The climber, near the middle of the slide path, was hurled down the slope and covered. Luckily he was by this time on belay from a large tree and the skier managing the rope was able to hold him. The snow pounded past him, rushing on down the slope and into the gully which those below were trying to cross. Suddenly B. B.' s party heard ominous rumbling of the slide. Both the patrolmen shouted to the first man across the gully to run for safety and told the others to grab a tree. In the fear and excitement, T. D., exposed in the middle of the gully was 41 |