Avalanche
01/03/14 05:37
Growing up near the mountains, there were lots of tales of avalanches and slides. In the summers, we could see the places where dramatic slides had occurred. One of the most famous slides in our area was devil’s slide, near Gardiner. The chute had rock walls on both sides and the bottom of the chute was bright read from all of the iron in the soil. While neighboring chutes in the side of the mountain had trees growing in them, the slide area remained free from trees. I often saw the area in the winter, but I don’t remember ever seeing evidence of an actual avalanche there, however. It was just assumed that the snow would slide there nearly every winter.
When we traveled in the mountains in the winter, we learned to keep clear of certain areas. Living on the east slope , or downwind side of the Rockies, we knew about cornices forming in the snow near the tops of the mountains and the destructive power of the slides that might occur. There were rumors and tales of old timers, miners and explorers who put their cabins in the wrong place and were killed by winter avalanches.
The basic wisdom of the time was that if you were caught in an avalanche, you wouldn’t survive. Folks would have to wait until spring or summer to dig out your remains.
For the most part, however, we thought of avalanches as things that occurred in the backcountry and wilderness areas. The ski patrol used canons to blast away any potential avalanches so that they slid free from victims and resort skiing was considered to be safe.
The scene was dramatically different yesterday in Missoula, Montana, however. An intersection right in town, the corner of Van Buren and Holly streets, was the scene of a frantic rescue attempt where first responders, neighbors and volunteers dug for more than three hours to extract victims from an avalanche that roared down Mount Jumbo in the middle of the city and buried three people.
It turned out to be a good day for the rescuers. About an hour after the slide, an eight-year old boy was dug out of a space between a fence and a house alive with no broken bones. Nearby rescuers continued to ding where the remains of a home destroyed by the slide jutted at odd angles from the snow. the remains of the house at 1440 Harrison Street at the foot of Mount Jumbo was the site of the rescue of Fred Allendorf, a retired university professor. A fallen chimney had created an air pock roughly 5 feet by 2 feet that saved him from suffocation.
Night fell and portable floodlights were brought in as crews continued digging in search of Allendorf’s wife, who also had been in the home at the time it was crushed. More than three hours after the slide, they pulled her from the ruins of the house. Incredibly she was breathing and had no broken bones.
Everyone had been safely rescued.
The apartment next door to the Allendorf home was also occupied at the time of the slide, but escaped major damage. A closet and room at the back of the home filled with snow, but the occupants were uninjured.
It has been an unusual winter in Missoula. The University was closed yesterday due to the blizzard conditions. But it takes more than cold weather to keep folks in Western Montana indoors. Outdoor recreation is part of the reason they have chosen to live in the beautiful country surrounding the city that is home to the University of Montana as well as the nation’s first smokejumper base. There was a report on the website of the Missoulian, the area’s newspaper, that snowboarders were seen near the top of Mount Jumbo shortly before the avalanche. Skiers, snowboarders and snowmobilers can unwittingly set off avalanches by traversing cornices and other features of unstable snow. If the snowboarders were the cause of the avalanche, they are extremely lucky. Had they ridden the snow down from the top they would have almost certainly been buried beyond timely rescue.
The avalanche took out power poles and the gas main under Van Buren had to be shut off because of numerous gas leaks caused by the slide. A huge pile of debris lies at the foot of the slide.
The Sheriff has issued a warning for all of the homes that lie at the foothills in the city including Mount Jumbo, Mount Sentinel, Waterworks Hill and other steep slopes. A shelter has been established at First Baptist Church and a local veterinary hospital is sheltering animals for those who choose to move out of their homes. No mandatory evacuation orders have been issued, but officials warned that any slope steeper than 30 degrees has potential for slides in the snowy and windy conditions that persist.
21 years ago an avalanche on Mount Jumbo killed a hiker. The student at Rattlesnake School was hiking with friends. Three of the boys were buried. The fourth was able to dig out two of them, but the fourth perished.
We pay attention to Missoula because we have family and friends in the city. With the university closed yesterday was a good day for a few phone calls to make sure folks were safe.
Learning the risks of severe weather is part of surviving in the mountains. Even so there is plenty of potential for surprise. I remember one spring when we discovered a fresh avalanche scar with hundreds of broken trees on the side of West Mountain. The valley below is unoccupied in the winter, but a place where the trees were a hundred years old that hadn’t experienced a slide in at least that much time had on one winter day become the site of a major avalanche. I’m sure that the people in Missoula felt that their homes were safe and free from avalanche zones. There have been houses in the Missoula foothills for as long as people can remember.
I’m glad that our home isn’t at the base of a steep slope. That doesn’t mean that we can’t be surprised by severe conditions. It is just one less thing to worry about on a cold winter’s day.
When we traveled in the mountains in the winter, we learned to keep clear of certain areas. Living on the east slope , or downwind side of the Rockies, we knew about cornices forming in the snow near the tops of the mountains and the destructive power of the slides that might occur. There were rumors and tales of old timers, miners and explorers who put their cabins in the wrong place and were killed by winter avalanches.
The basic wisdom of the time was that if you were caught in an avalanche, you wouldn’t survive. Folks would have to wait until spring or summer to dig out your remains.
For the most part, however, we thought of avalanches as things that occurred in the backcountry and wilderness areas. The ski patrol used canons to blast away any potential avalanches so that they slid free from victims and resort skiing was considered to be safe.
The scene was dramatically different yesterday in Missoula, Montana, however. An intersection right in town, the corner of Van Buren and Holly streets, was the scene of a frantic rescue attempt where first responders, neighbors and volunteers dug for more than three hours to extract victims from an avalanche that roared down Mount Jumbo in the middle of the city and buried three people.
It turned out to be a good day for the rescuers. About an hour after the slide, an eight-year old boy was dug out of a space between a fence and a house alive with no broken bones. Nearby rescuers continued to ding where the remains of a home destroyed by the slide jutted at odd angles from the snow. the remains of the house at 1440 Harrison Street at the foot of Mount Jumbo was the site of the rescue of Fred Allendorf, a retired university professor. A fallen chimney had created an air pock roughly 5 feet by 2 feet that saved him from suffocation.
Night fell and portable floodlights were brought in as crews continued digging in search of Allendorf’s wife, who also had been in the home at the time it was crushed. More than three hours after the slide, they pulled her from the ruins of the house. Incredibly she was breathing and had no broken bones.
Everyone had been safely rescued.
The apartment next door to the Allendorf home was also occupied at the time of the slide, but escaped major damage. A closet and room at the back of the home filled with snow, but the occupants were uninjured.
It has been an unusual winter in Missoula. The University was closed yesterday due to the blizzard conditions. But it takes more than cold weather to keep folks in Western Montana indoors. Outdoor recreation is part of the reason they have chosen to live in the beautiful country surrounding the city that is home to the University of Montana as well as the nation’s first smokejumper base. There was a report on the website of the Missoulian, the area’s newspaper, that snowboarders were seen near the top of Mount Jumbo shortly before the avalanche. Skiers, snowboarders and snowmobilers can unwittingly set off avalanches by traversing cornices and other features of unstable snow. If the snowboarders were the cause of the avalanche, they are extremely lucky. Had they ridden the snow down from the top they would have almost certainly been buried beyond timely rescue.
The avalanche took out power poles and the gas main under Van Buren had to be shut off because of numerous gas leaks caused by the slide. A huge pile of debris lies at the foot of the slide.
The Sheriff has issued a warning for all of the homes that lie at the foothills in the city including Mount Jumbo, Mount Sentinel, Waterworks Hill and other steep slopes. A shelter has been established at First Baptist Church and a local veterinary hospital is sheltering animals for those who choose to move out of their homes. No mandatory evacuation orders have been issued, but officials warned that any slope steeper than 30 degrees has potential for slides in the snowy and windy conditions that persist.
21 years ago an avalanche on Mount Jumbo killed a hiker. The student at Rattlesnake School was hiking with friends. Three of the boys were buried. The fourth was able to dig out two of them, but the fourth perished.
We pay attention to Missoula because we have family and friends in the city. With the university closed yesterday was a good day for a few phone calls to make sure folks were safe.
Learning the risks of severe weather is part of surviving in the mountains. Even so there is plenty of potential for surprise. I remember one spring when we discovered a fresh avalanche scar with hundreds of broken trees on the side of West Mountain. The valley below is unoccupied in the winter, but a place where the trees were a hundred years old that hadn’t experienced a slide in at least that much time had on one winter day become the site of a major avalanche. I’m sure that the people in Missoula felt that their homes were safe and free from avalanche zones. There have been houses in the Missoula foothills for as long as people can remember.
I’m glad that our home isn’t at the base of a steep slope. That doesn’t mean that we can’t be surprised by severe conditions. It is just one less thing to worry about on a cold winter’s day.