Maddogsbrer 1 missed the great Alpine Meadows avalanche by only a single day, he was skiing there the day before.
I have been trapped by two avalanches, both inbounds one at Mt. Hood Meadows, the other at Mt. Bachelor. The Bachelor avy happened when Maddogsbrer 1, and I were skiing the Northwest area just after the resort had opened the Outback lift, long before the Northwest lift went in. It was a deep fresh snow day with lots more falling, and we were skiing the trees right up against the boundary fence. As we came out of a set of trees, we came up on a flat area which rolled over into a mid steep slope free of trees. About our third turn down that patch caused a BOOM, and we immediately headed for the exits, it was a clear snow fracture, and these always result in avalanches. While Brer made the exit, I could not before the snow underfoot began to break up, no matter how I tried I could not stay afloat, and eventually the moving snow drove into the backs of my legs, and began piling up behind me. I had made it to the early runnout, but as the snow piled up on my hips, then back then shoulders it seemed clear I would be buried. I lucked out, I was buried over my head, but there remained a small gap so I could breathe. It took about a half hour to dig me out. That was one long half hour. The second was much more dangerous. Same Brer, and I were skiing Hood River Meadows after a massive snowfall, it was late in the day, and much had been skied off, but there were still some good patches. We noticed a good patch down through some small willowy trees, and decided to find it once off the lift. We did. As I came down through the willows, I made a cut, across the top of a knoll, or flat area. On the other side was a very steep, but short pitch. When I dropped in, I made a single turn and the entire mass of snow under me, and above me up to the flat broke away dropping tons of snow, and pitching me headlong into the roiling mass. There was a short wild time before I came to a stop, I did have time to protect my face, and head, and pull my head into my parka, but still my mouth was full of snow, and I couldn't breathe. My hands were touching my face, and I cleared my mouth, but I was cemented into the snow so solidly I could not move more than my fingers, although I could breathe. It was a good half hour before I could hear Brer digging me out. I was trapped for more than an hour. This was pretty scary. When dug out he said all he could see was a ski tip. I was buried head down with a single ski posting up, and only the ski tip showing, meaning my head was buried under about 8-10 feet of snow. My likely salvation was it was on a pretty steep slope and Brer had only to push the snow down and aways from where I was. This also made it much more likely that the snow I was trapped in could also break free and slide again, so this was a pretty tricky extraction. When we skied down the lifty was shocked, he was just about to board as last ride out, so asked about our plight, we told him our story, and we rode out together, better than waiting for the shuttle bus! All I can say, is all the snow in the photos which was subject to the slide is about the consistency of wet concrete, heavy, nearly solid, and very difficult to move, or dig. Best wishes, and prayers to all. I no longer ski patrol, but this is something I was lucky to avoid, the heartbreak of body recovery is bad.
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