Slide buries avalanche expert
Quick, knowledgeable rescue saves her life
By GREG STAHL
Express Staff Writer
When local avalanche forecaster Janet Kellam skied into the Smoky
Mountains looking for potential avalanche hazards Friday afternoon, she didn’t expect
to fall victim to the danger for which she searched.
Kellam, 43, triggered a hard-snow slab avalanche on a southeast-facing
ridge in the Baker Lake area, which swept her downhill nearly 400 feet before completely
burying her 15 inches below the sunny, blue-sky surface and an invaluable oxygen supply.
Less than five minutes after Kellam was buried, fellow Sun Valley
Avalanche Center avalanche forecaster Anne Marie Deveraux found her companion with the aid
of an avalanche beacon and dug her out. Kellam was uninjured.
In an interview Monday, Kellam spoke of the inherent dangers of her job.
"It’s what we do—we try to find the troubled areas so we
can communicate them to others," she said. "We were looking for stuff and
unfortunately we found it."
She said she was conscious the entire time she was buried, but was close
to blacking out when Deveraux cleared the snow away from her face.
"I was blue when they pulled me out," she said. "It could
have been a real fatal situation."
Once buried, she couldn’t move at all, save for her fingers, which
she was able to wiggle.
"You’re basically cemented in place," she said.
While buried, her life didn’t flash before her eyes. She remained
calm, concentrating on breathing easily to conserve what little oxygen was available to
her.
"I thought about the things we teach people," she said. "I
was trying to put a hand up over my mouth [to clear breathing room], but I couldn’t
get it close enough."
She also reached a hand toward the surface as the snow settled, hoping it
would be visible to her rescuers, but it was not. She said use of avalanche beacons was
"absolutely crucial" to her speedy rescue.
"They would have found me by probing, but it would have been a lot
longer, and it might not have been soon enough," she said.
The avalanche that buried Kellam wasn’t a huge, boiling mass with a
large powder cloud, but rather a "small, sneaky slide."
According to an incident report Kellam filed following the accident, the
slab that broke loose was approximately 150 feet wide and six to 18 inches thick.
Kellam said she hadn’t planned on becoming an "avalanche poster
girl," but hopes her situation will help educate others on what to do if similar
circumstances befall them.
Kellam, Deveraux and Kellie O’Neill were traveling together Friday
looking for hazardous slopes to list in the avalanche center’s daily report on the
center’s Web site. Their preparations for, and execution of, a rescue are examples of
how "the little things" can make a difference, Kellam said.
When traversing the slope that snagged Kellam, the three crossed one at a
time. They all carried avalanche beacons, probes and shovels and were ready to use them,
even if nothing had gone wrong. Crossing the slope one at a time ensured that only one of
the skiers was caught in the slide.
"Practice safe travel every time you go out, and be absolutely
prepared to do a fast rescue," Kellam said.
Knowing where your beacon is, communicating with your group, practicing
and having a shovel ready to use are things Kellam said can help speed a rescue effort.
"All the clues and the data are out there. Make all your decisions
based on good data. Don’t make assumptions. Don’t be so goal-focused that you
overlook the clues that are there," she advised.
"For a group that’s not prepared, it’s going to be a tragic
accident, and needless."
Kellam is in her fourth season with the Sun Valley Avalanche Center and
has been involved with avalanche study since 1980. She recommended that anyone who wants
to learn, or brush up on, his or her avalanche skills attend beacon clinics held every
Thursday at 3 p.m. next to Big Wood Bread in Ketchum’s light industrial area.
The avalanche center’s daily report can be found at (www.avalanche.org/~ciac/bulletin.txt)
