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Show No. 62- 8 STEVENS PASS, WASHINGTON 30 December 1962 WEATHER FACTORS Saturday, 29 December, added four inches of dense new snow to ten inches which had fallen the previous day. Saturday morning a 105 mm rifle was used to control the usual avalanche chutes in the Barrier Bowl area. There were rising temperatures through Saturday afternoon and evening. On Sunday morning, 30 December, the Bowl was foggy; there was no new snow. Most areas slid naturally, with the exception of one area above and adjacent to the upper terminal of the Seventh Heaven chair. Because this area had slid only two times in the past four seasons, the conditions weren't considered dangerous. The contr 1 work on Saturday, plus the natural avalanche cycle at the same elevation, led rangers to believe all slide areas ere safe. ACCIDENT SUMMARY At 10: 00 Sunday morning operator M. M. arrived at the upper terminal of Seventh Heaven, and the chair lift began operating. Earlier that morning two snow rangers, A. S., and his assistant, B. L., had gone to the top of Barrier Mountain to check snow conditions in and around the Bowl. By 11: 15 the two were starting to check the snow along Barrier Ridge, at the top of the Bowl, when ranger A. S. saw several chunks fall from the cornice about two hundred feet away. A fracture line ran along the ridge towards him. Growing to a width of one hundred and fifty feet, the avalanche slid about one thousand feet down the slope, some of it falling over the " Cloud Nine" area. Just prior to the slide, H. B. relieved lift operator M. M., who skied down the bowl. Shortly after he left, two ski patrolmen had just started down when the avalanche broke into the bowl. Although M. M. arrived safely at " Cloud Nine," the two patrolmen were caught in the slide. The skier back at the upper terminal immediately reported the avalanche. RESCUE The two rangers immediately came off the ridge and told the lift operator to call for additional help. Both then continued into the slide area, where they were joined by M. M. from " Cloud Nine," and a third skier. By then one of the Patrolmen, A. M., dug himself out and alerted the others that J. R. was still in the slide. At 11: 20, A. S. organized a search, assigning probe areas to the small group. Noting that the slide had traveled over the " Cloud Nine" area, A. S. checked the next slope, but found nothing. Twenty minutes later, at 11: 40, L. B. arrived with a crew of searchers and equipment. Due to the heavy fog, there was some delay before this new group could locate the others. Shortly the two groups joined and organized themselves into two probe lines. About five minutes later one of the searchers noticed a ski pole and alerted the snow ranger. After a few minutes of frantic digging, J. R.' s head and shoulders were uncovered at 83 |