1982 Tahoe avalanche
- Thread starter railbird
- Start date
railbird
EOG Master
During World War I, battles engaged on the snowy slopes of the Italian Alps between Italian and Austrian armies. Both armies would attack their foes with artillery shots into the hills above, creating large avalanches that would bury their opponent. It’s estimated that 40,000 soldiers were killed by avalanche during the war, including 10,000 over just a couple days known as White Friday. The devastating tactic became the foundation used in the decades after as how to trigger avalanches, and eventually how to stop them from hitting innocent skiers, throughout the United States.
These tactics were adopted at Alpine Meadows, which used a World War I-type bunker of explosives and artillery to battle avalanches every day. The brave avalanche team took to the slopes every morning to drop different iterations of dynamite with the hopes of starting smaller avalanches. When that didn’t work, or the slopes were too dangerous to access, they used a howitzer gun positioned on a tower to attack the unstable snow. Avalanches were a dangerous enemy that always needed to be battled.
Much like how small earthquakes release tension along a fault line, forcing small avalanches to drop onto the mountain would help avoid the big one. With changing temperatures through a storm or series of storms, heavy snow would fall on light snow, or vice-versa, creating unstable conditions. Although the science behind avalanches was a moving target, Alpine Meadows was one of the best in the world at calming their foe sitting on the mountain.
[IMG alt="Ezoic"]https://go.ezodn.com/utilcave_com/ezoicbwa.png[/IMG]
On March 31, the storm reached its dangerous peak. Intense winds, zero visibility and road closures forced resort management, led by Bernie Kingery, to close for the day. With no skiers on the slopes, the avalanche and ski patrol teams still reported to the mountain to continue their work providing storm cleanup. Other maintenance, management and trail crews also reported to work to complete various tasks. In the morning, Plehn made his daily measurement of snowpack from the storm, recording in his logbook an exact number of 100 inches. He wouldn’t make another measurement that day.
Hours after the avalanche hit the building on March 31, 22-year-old lift operator Anna Conrad awoke in a dark, coffin-sized hole amidst the wreckage. In a case of extreme luck, a set of lockers had fallen over her and landed on a bench in the hallway, creating a perfect space where she wasn’t crushed by the snow. Her head was pounding in pain and she didn’t know where she was or how she got there. Cold and afraid, she spent much of the initial hours sleeping after suffering a serious concussion.
She awoke to the sound of the howitzer shooting at the mountainside and knew she was at Alpine Meadows, but had no idea how she’d arrived there. In a building full of avalanche dynamite, she assumed it was the impact of an explosion that destroyed her surroundings. With zero memory of the day which led to the disaster, she spent her days trying to stay warm and thinking of reuniting with her loving boyfriend, UC Davis student Frank Yateman. According to Conrad, it was getting back to Yateman that kept her spirits high during her five-days of agony under the destroyed building.
What Anna couldn’t remember is that Yateman had gone with her to work that day. During the storm, they had decided to cross-country ski to the building to see if management needed help. Unfortunately, Yateman was also caught in the avalanche and his body was found in the rubble days before Anna was discovered.
Her physical injuries were initially mild, but after days under the snow Conrad suffered from severe dehydration and frostbite. When rescuers cut a hole into her location, she reached out quickly to grab a handful of ice to hydrate herself. It was all she could think of. She was responsive as the crowd cheered in elation. Their rescue efforts were worthwhile and a life had been spared.
Later that day, the body of the resort’s fearless leader, Kingery, was found deep in the broken building. His hand clinched in a strong fist, he had fought until the bitter end. And as many people have said, he would have wanted to be found last.
[IMG alt="Ezoic"]https://go.ezodn.com/utilcave_com/ezoicbwa.png[/IMG]
The families of David Hahn, Bud Nelson and Laura Nelson sued Alpine Meadows for negligence in their deaths. After a grueling trial in which Plehn was questioned on the stand for a record 11 days, a jury found that the tragedy was an Act of God and relieved resort management of any wrongdoing.
[IMG alt="Ezoic"]https://go.ezodn.com/utilcave_com/ezoicbwa.png[/IMG]
Jake Smith’s brother petitioned the U.S. Forest Service to rename one of the Sierra peaks after the brave ski patroller. Today, hikers can summit the top of Jake’s Peak above Emerald Bay.
Living with the emotional pain of the tragedy, Plehn left the avalanche business shortly after the avalanche. Many ski resorts around the world still use his revolutionary tactics in forecasting and avalanche mitigation.
Bridgette the dog was awarded a steak dinner the night she found Conrad, but her triumph lasted well beyond that day. Her discovery in the collapsed Summit Terminal Building was the first live rescue of a person buried in an avalanche by a dog. Today, many ski resorts employ full teams of avalanche dogs to assist with rescue operations.
Anna Conrad still lives with the physical and emotional scars of her five-day ordeal under the avalanche. Her story has been told by books and films as a shocking story of survival. She currently lives in Mammoth Lakes, California where she works at a ski resort.
Alpine Meadows was purchased by the owner of Squaw Valley and a plan for the gondola connecting the two resorts is expected to be finished in 2022. The combined ski area will be the largest in North America and the avalanche team will be one of the most distinguished in the world.
[IMG alt="Ezoic"]https://go.ezodn.com/utilcave_com/ezoicbwa.png[/IMG]
Today, a plaque sits at the base of Alpine Meadows, where the original Summit Terminal Building once stood, memorializing the seven victims – Frank Yateman, David Hahn, Beth Morrow, Bernie Kingery, Jake Smith, and Bud and Laura Nelson.
These tactics were adopted at Alpine Meadows, which used a World War I-type bunker of explosives and artillery to battle avalanches every day. The brave avalanche team took to the slopes every morning to drop different iterations of dynamite with the hopes of starting smaller avalanches. When that didn’t work, or the slopes were too dangerous to access, they used a howitzer gun positioned on a tower to attack the unstable snow. Avalanches were a dangerous enemy that always needed to be battled.
Much like how small earthquakes release tension along a fault line, forcing small avalanches to drop onto the mountain would help avoid the big one. With changing temperatures through a storm or series of storms, heavy snow would fall on light snow, or vice-versa, creating unstable conditions. Although the science behind avalanches was a moving target, Alpine Meadows was one of the best in the world at calming their foe sitting on the mountain.
[IMG alt="Ezoic"]https://go.ezodn.com/utilcave_com/ezoicbwa.png[/IMG]
Throughout the storm, the Alpine Meadows avalanche team worked daily to bomb the slopes and relieve the new snowpack. Once the snow began dropping at maximum pace, they doubled their efforts. They began dropping double and quadruple-sized dynamite packs on the mountain, on top of a near constant barrage of howitzer blasts. They knew the avalanche danger was increasing by the day and the lack of visibility made it impossible to see if their efforts were helping to relieve the deep snowpack.On March 31, the storm reached its dangerous peak. Intense winds, zero visibility and road closures forced resort management, led by Bernie Kingery, to close for the day. With no skiers on the slopes, the avalanche and ski patrol teams still reported to the mountain to continue their work providing storm cleanup. Other maintenance, management and trail crews also reported to work to complete various tasks. In the morning, Plehn made his daily measurement of snowpack from the storm, recording in his logbook an exact number of 100 inches. He wouldn’t make another measurement that day.
Anna Conrad survived five days trapped under the avalanche in Alpine Meadow’s Summit Terminal BuildingHours after the avalanche hit the building on March 31, 22-year-old lift operator Anna Conrad awoke in a dark, coffin-sized hole amidst the wreckage. In a case of extreme luck, a set of lockers had fallen over her and landed on a bench in the hallway, creating a perfect space where she wasn’t crushed by the snow. Her head was pounding in pain and she didn’t know where she was or how she got there. Cold and afraid, she spent much of the initial hours sleeping after suffering a serious concussion.
She awoke to the sound of the howitzer shooting at the mountainside and knew she was at Alpine Meadows, but had no idea how she’d arrived there. In a building full of avalanche dynamite, she assumed it was the impact of an explosion that destroyed her surroundings. With zero memory of the day which led to the disaster, she spent her days trying to stay warm and thinking of reuniting with her loving boyfriend, UC Davis student Frank Yateman. According to Conrad, it was getting back to Yateman that kept her spirits high during her five-days of agony under the destroyed building.
What Anna couldn’t remember is that Yateman had gone with her to work that day. During the storm, they had decided to cross-country ski to the building to see if management needed help. Unfortunately, Yateman was also caught in the avalanche and his body was found in the rubble days before Anna was discovered.
Her physical injuries were initially mild, but after days under the snow Conrad suffered from severe dehydration and frostbite. When rescuers cut a hole into her location, she reached out quickly to grab a handful of ice to hydrate herself. It was all she could think of. She was responsive as the crowd cheered in elation. Their rescue efforts were worthwhile and a life had been spared.
Later that day, the body of the resort’s fearless leader, Kingery, was found deep in the broken building. His hand clinched in a strong fist, he had fought until the bitter end. And as many people have said, he would have wanted to be found last.
The Aftermath
How does one recover from one of the most deadly avalanches in U.S. history? The community mourned its fallen brethren by reopening the ski resort for spring skiing. Because, of course, that’s what the victims would have wanted.[IMG alt="Ezoic"]https://go.ezodn.com/utilcave_com/ezoicbwa.png[/IMG]
The families of David Hahn, Bud Nelson and Laura Nelson sued Alpine Meadows for negligence in their deaths. After a grueling trial in which Plehn was questioned on the stand for a record 11 days, a jury found that the tragedy was an Act of God and relieved resort management of any wrongdoing.
[IMG alt="Ezoic"]https://go.ezodn.com/utilcave_com/ezoicbwa.png[/IMG]
Jake Smith’s brother petitioned the U.S. Forest Service to rename one of the Sierra peaks after the brave ski patroller. Today, hikers can summit the top of Jake’s Peak above Emerald Bay.
Living with the emotional pain of the tragedy, Plehn left the avalanche business shortly after the avalanche. Many ski resorts around the world still use his revolutionary tactics in forecasting and avalanche mitigation.
Bridgette the dog was awarded a steak dinner the night she found Conrad, but her triumph lasted well beyond that day. Her discovery in the collapsed Summit Terminal Building was the first live rescue of a person buried in an avalanche by a dog. Today, many ski resorts employ full teams of avalanche dogs to assist with rescue operations.
Anna Conrad still lives with the physical and emotional scars of her five-day ordeal under the avalanche. Her story has been told by books and films as a shocking story of survival. She currently lives in Mammoth Lakes, California where she works at a ski resort.
Alpine Meadows was purchased by the owner of Squaw Valley and a plan for the gondola connecting the two resorts is expected to be finished in 2022. The combined ski area will be the largest in North America and the avalanche team will be one of the most distinguished in the world.
[IMG alt="Ezoic"]https://go.ezodn.com/utilcave_com/ezoicbwa.png[/IMG]
Today, a plaque sits at the base of Alpine Meadows, where the original Summit Terminal Building once stood, memorializing the seven victims – Frank Yateman, David Hahn, Beth Morrow, Bernie Kingery, Jake Smith, and Bud and Laura Nelson.
railbird
EOG Master
Kenneth Kidd identified as Palisades Tahoe avalanche victim
The avalanche happened on the Palisades side of the ski resort around 9:30 a.m. Wednesday
www.abc10.com
railbird
EOG Master
happend again todayKenneth Kidd identified as Palisades Tahoe avalanche victim
The avalanche happened on the Palisades side of the ski resort around 9:30 a.m. Wednesday