Friday, April 10, 2009

Friends mourn avalanche victim

Shannon Erwin, 38, died Sunday in massive avalanche


By JASON KAUFFMAN
Express Staff Writer

Shannon Erwin

The five snowmobilers involved in Sunday's avalanche accident in the upper Baker Creek drainage had been returning to the area's scenic high-elevation basins for years.

In the aftermath of the avalanche that killed one of the group, friends and relatives are sorting out what happened.

Killed by the massive slide in the Norton Creek area north of Ketchum was Shannon Erwin, 38, of Richfield. Erwin was "high marking"—an activity in which snowmobilers see how far up a slope they can ride before they have to turn around—when he triggered the avalanche.

Erwin was carried away in the slide that eventually broke out to an estimated 300 to 400 feet wide and 1,000 feet long. He was pulled to the bottom of the slope and buried under an estimated 7-10 feet of snow. His snowmobile was caught and left on a narrow ledge higher up the slope.

Watching the scene unfold from below were three of the other four riders in the group. On Wednesday, one of those snowmobilers, Bellevue resident Chad Sluder, spoke about the avalanche that claimed the life of his longtime friend.

Sluder said the area's consistently deep powder serves as a powerful draw for snowmobilers.

"We ride there almost every weekend when we go," he said.

The members of the group were aware that other avalanche fatalities had occurred in the area, Sluder said. In 2004 and 2005, snow slides killed two snowmobilers in the Brodie Gulch and Apollo Creek areas, immediately south of Sunday's accident site.

"We take chances when we ride, but that's what we love to do," he said.

The group was following accepted safety practices by only having one rider on the steep slope at a time. They also came well equipped with items such as snow shovels, avalanche probes, a satellite phone and avalanche safety beacons, devices that send a signal out that searchers can key in on. One of the members of the group is an EMT, Sluder said.

"We had everything we could possibly have," he said.

The death of his childhood friend has already changed Sluder's perspective on riding in the rough mountainous terrain north of Ketchum. Though he said he'll continue snowmobiling, he doesn't think he'll ever ride again in the series of open basins draining the high peaks of the Smoky Mountains.

"It's too dangerous," he said.

Sluder said it only took a few minutes to locate the signal from Erwin's avalanche beacon once the slide came to a stop. But because of the depth Erwin was buried under the snow, Sluder estimates it took the group at least 20 minutes to reach Erwin.

"I was on the phone as soon as we located him," he said.

Sluder said he wishes he hadn't dialed 911 when he called. That sent him to an operator outside of the area rather than directly to the Blaine County Sheriff's Office.

He said he told the operator to "send me a chopper, send me help."

The turnaround time for local rescuers was quick, Sluder said. Within 45 minutes, they heard a helicopter piloted by Sun Valley Heli-Ski Guides pilot Lon Stickney approaching the site.

"They flew up the canyon and spotted us right off," he said.

The snowmobilers and rescuers both attempted to revive Erwin with CPR, but to no avail. Blaine County Coroner Russ Mikel said Erwin died of asphyxiation from being buried in the heavy snow.

Erwin, who started S. Erwin Excavation in 1991, leaves behind two children and a wife, Beci Erwin. He was well-liked in his hometown, Sluder said.

"He would do anything he could to help you," he said. "He was a perfect friend."

Angie Clark, a Richfield resident who manages Tully's coffeehouse in Ketchum is a friend of both Erwin's wife and sister. She said Erwin's contributions of time and money to causes in the small Lincoln County town won him the admiration of the community.

"He had a good soul," she said. "He had a smile for everybody."

Clark said Erwin's death has left the tight-knit town reeling.

"It's just affected everybody," she said.

Jason Kauffman: jkauffman@mtexpress.com




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