AvaLungs, and luck, save backcountry trio
VAIL, Colo. -- The Denver Post's Scott Willoughby reports a fascinating tale of both arrogance and luck from the backcountry of the Gore Range north of Vail.
Three people were exploring from a base at the Eiseman Hut when caught in an avalanche that buried them under as much as 7 feet of snow for more than two hours. That they got caught in the avalanche suggests that they chose to ignore everything they had learned about safety in steep snow country. That they survived can be traced directly to the fact that they had a device called an AvaLung—that and also a great deal of luck, pure and simple.
Penn Newhard, a spokesman for Black Diamond, the manufacturer of AvaLung, said there have been 12 or 13 documented cases of people surviving avalanche burials because of AvaLung.
The device pulls in air from the snowpack and diverts carbon dioxide away from the wearer's face.
But luck may have been as much or even more important than the AvaLung. The snow from the slide was unusually loose. The looseness allowed the men to clear an air passage. More often, avalanche debris is heavily compacted, more akin to clay than Styrofoam.
A report by the Colorado Avalanche Information Center says two of the men had passed avalanche courses and were familiar with the area. One was on skis, another on a split snowboard and the third on snowshoes. Even as they ascended a ridge, they saw evidence of naturally triggered avalanches.
Still, they did not dig a hasty pit to better evaluate snow stability. Instead, they continued up a 40-degree slope, which is prime avalanche territory. The greatest danger is on slopes of 30 to 45 degrees.
Following a "whumph" of collapsing snow, the snow began moving, and the men were carried a mere 20 feet down the slope. Still, it was enough to bury them under as much as 7 feet.
All three were buried for at least an hour before one managed to dig out. The longest and deepest burial lasted two hours and 14 minutes under 7 feet of snow.
Sledders fined for entering Wilderness
ASPEN, Colo. -- Four snowmobilers have been fined $500 each by the U.S. Forest Service for snowmobiling in designated wilderness areas.
Such unlawful incursions into designated wilderness areas are common in the Roaring Fork Valley, says The Aspen Times. Some of the "poaching" is a result of ignorance, but in other cases it is intentional.
Either way, riders have the responsibility of knowing where the wilderness boundaries are located. Through the fines, the agency wanted to get the word out that there could be repercussions from violations.
Jobless workers flee ski towns
WHISTLER, B.C. -- Seasonal workers are now fleeing ski towns, the jobs they expected unavailable and their savings rapidly being depleted. There are fresh reports from both Whistler and Breckenridge.
Whistler's Pique Newsmagazine in late January had only 26 job listings, compared to 140 for the same week a year ago.
Until November, jobs were easy to find, especially in the tourism sector. Chefs and retail workers had been lured away by high-paying construction jobs as the community prepared for the 2010 Winter Olympics. But the floundering U.S. economy has spread to Canada, and in Whistler's case a sub-par winter for snow hasn't helped anything. A decline of 15 to 20 percent in visitors was forecast this winter for Whistler.
The upshot is solemn faces of those newly arrived 20-somethings, as they learn that there are no good jobs, and not many jobs whatsoever.
One 23-year-old woman confided to Pique that she worked for an architectural firm last year, and hoped for something similar this year. Now, she's beginning to think she'll take just whatever she can get. "I am 23, and I have a degree, and I've never had to do that kind of a job. I've never had to work at a fast-food restaurant," she said. "But now I'm starting to think that housekeeping would be really sweet."
In Colorado, the Summit Daily News tells of scores of Brazilians decamping after a month of little or no work. The newspaper says hundreds of Brazilian students were enticed to pay sponsoring agencies as much as $2,000 plus travel expenses to acquire visas and get work at the resort, only to find upon arrival that the slumping U.S. economy had dried up virtually every job opportunity.
One Brazilian said that only two of the 12 he came with originally remain. "Lots of them decided to leave to Brazil or to another place," he said.
The newspaper also interviewed a Brazilian in Park City, Utah.
"Here in Park City, things are very complicated," Mathesus Fierro said. "I live with 10 Brazilians, and three of them still don't have a job. Most people that actually have a job offer are working as temporary."
He confided that he did have a good job—but he had lost hope many times along the way.
