Search crews recover body of girl killed in avalanche

Published 11:49 pm Saturday, January 5, 2008

VERLOT — It might have been the wind, the rain or the afternoon’s warming temperatures. Officials may never know what triggered an avalanche near Lake 22 that buried and killed a 13-year-old Mukilteo girl Friday.

Sheriff’s and volunteer mountain rescue teams worked in dark, wet and cold conditions Friday night. A team set out up the trail to try to attempt a rescue, Hover said.

About 10 p.m., searchers recovered the girl’s body. By 1:30 a.m. Saturday, they brought her body off the mountain.

She became the ninth person in Washington to die this season in snow slides, the third from Snohomish County.

The death toll is the state’s worst for avalanches in modern history, experts said.

Record snowfall, heavy rains, high winds and changing conditions have made this year’s snow pack dangerously unstable. Anyone going into the wilderness needs to be prepared with education on avalanche safety and rescue equipment, officials warn.

“This is the year that the snow pack is dangerous enough, you’re only going to have one chance to get it right,” said Mark Moore, the director of the Northwest Weather and Avalanche Center in Seattle. “If you don’t get it right, you’re going to be dead.”

Snohomish County sheriff’s search-and-rescue crews believe Friday’s avalanche may have been caused by a cornice failure, spokeswoman Rebecca Hover said.

In a cornice failure snow piles high on a peak or ridge, building up like a frozen wave. Heavy rains or winds can cause such a structure to give way.

Rescue crews believe Friday’s deadly avalanche started about 500 feet above where the girl was hiking with the rest of her group, a man, 45, and six children, ages 12 to 16, Hover said.

They had set out to hike the 2.7-mile trail, climbing about 1,500 feet, to Lake 22 on the north slopes of Mount Pilchuck off the Mountain Loop Highway.

Before reaching the mountain lake, bad weather forced the group to turn back. About 2:30 p.m. the avalanche struck.

Initially, four children were trapped in the slide. One boy was able to free himself, and the group was able to rescue two other girls, Hover said.

“As sad as this situation is, as tragic as it is, we were relieved and surprised that we didn’t have more fatalities,” she said.

The group went to call for help after spending an hour searching through the snow for the 13-year-old, Hover said.

They called 911 at 4:45 p.m. from the Verlot visitor’s center, she said.

The two girls who were rescued were treated for scrapes and bruises at the Verlot visitors center.

Fatal avalanches are rare at low elevations, said Paul Baugher, director of the Northwest Avalanche Institute and the ski patrol at Crystal Mountain.

It’s also rare that people are killed by avalanches that fall from above, he said.

The eight other avalanche deaths since the beginning of December all likely were triggered by human behavior.

“It just shows, boy, when things are bad like they are now, you have to take a second look at everything you do in the mountains,” he said.

The dead girl’s identity was not released Saturday, and the Snohomish County medical examiner wasn’t expected to release any information until Monday.

Hover said the child’s family requested time to grieve.

“The family asked that their privacy be respected,” she said. “It’s such a tragedy. Of course they’re grieving.”

The girl was a student at Harbour Pointe Middle School, said Andy Muntz, a Mukilteo School District spokesman.

The school plans to have grief counselors available Monday as news of the girl’s death is shared with students, he said.

“I’m so sorry for the family,” said Pam Dalan, who helps organize outdoor trips for the Everett Mountaineers.

Even people knowledgeable about the backcountry can get caught at the wrong place at the wrong time, she said.

Still, experienced winter backcountry enthusiasts trained in spotting avalanche dangers may have recognized warning signs Friday, experts said.

It’s best to avoid areas beneath cornices, Dalan said.

Checking avalanche and weather forecasts before hitting a trail is key, she said.

Friday’s weather created volatile conditions for an avalanche. The weather warmed, heavy rain was falling and high winds likely sent strong gusts whistling down Mount Pilchuck’s slopes.

“Whatever it was, it was enough to load the snow that released,” Moore said.

Many people familiar with winter in the Cascades may not realize how bad the snow pack is this year, he said.

“This year, everything’s changed,” Moore said. “You have to look at it through a different set of eyes. There’s snow around me. This snow has killed people. It’s like walking down the street and walking on the sidewalk. As soon as you walk in the street, it’s a whole other ball game.”

The Snohomish County Sheriff’s Office is encouraging people to heed the warnings, Hover said.

Just because a trail is open, or a person is familiar with an area, doesn’t mean dangers don’t exist.

“That doesn’t mean that it’s safe that day,” she said. “And that’s been made painfully clear in (Friday’s) avalanche.”

On Tuesday, an Everett woman, 43, was one of two people killed snowmobiling near Mount Baker. Just before Christmas, a Brier man, 22, died snowshoeing on Mount Rainier.

Typically, about two people die in Washington from avalanches each year, Baugher said.

The worst year for avalanche deaths was 1910, when a slide struck a passenger train near Steven’s Pass and killed 96 people, the nation’s highest avalanche death toll.

In 1981, an icefall on Mount Rainier killed 11 climbers, but Baugher said the event differed from this year’s deaths because it involved a glacier and tumbling ice cliffs, called seracs.

“They’re very distinctly different animals,” he said.

Now, people must think twice before heading outside, Baugher said.

“I’m not saying don’t go out. I’m just saying you have to dial it back,” he said. “I’m just hoping we’re done with this. But we’re just getting started. It’s January; we have a couple of months to go.”