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Topic: 3-14, east of stevens (Read 2095 times)
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alecapone
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Posts: 712
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was hoping for slightly lower FL's on the west side, but oh well. Parked at yodelin and broke a skin track across highway 2 for the first time ever. handrailed upstream towards lake valhalla giving the lichtenpath trimline a wide berth. snow was heavy on heavier with some light stuff to make it all ridable, though far from blower.
Wind was blowing up high, so we did not go. We did a couple laps from treeline to meadow and then left when the sun started to break throught he clouds.
Trying to escape the death rays, and curious how the north facing trees would be, we went back across the highway. Much better. a couple snow machiners where putting in some tracks as well.
Question.., and I have searched some..
does anybody know where to find the story on Yodelin? Mostly curious as to the location of the avi path that ended their operations. I've heard several conflicting stories. My thought would be that it originated from the west side of licthenberg, or even the east end of heather befoer any of the slopes on well diggers ass. Or was it below wenatchee bowl?
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scott
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garyabrill
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The mid-January 1971 avalanche incident took out one cabin and damaged another. Both cabins belonged to Seattle neighbors. If you cross the highway from the Stevens Pass housing facility and take the road to the west, then follow it as the road turns north perhaps a hundred or two hundred yards, you are there. The cabins were only 50' or so west of the road.
There was an ice layer on top of which it snowed 99" in three days, warming as the storm progressed. The avalanche happened in the night and killed the parents of two young girls. The girls survived in bed downstairs after being buried 24 hours. That cabin was destroyed. Snow came into an upstairs bedroom of the other cabin and suffocated the young niece of the owners of the other cabin, who were our next door neighbors. As a youngster, in my late teens and early 20's, I had stayed in the second cabin several times. Stevens Pass was closed for a couple of days after the slide. Two friends of mine who were on the ski patrol at Stevens (I was also on the patrol) described highway crews plowing a route out the east side over the top of a 75' pile of debris ( I wonder if this was at Schilling Creek?)
At the time of the avalanche, I was in Sun Valley with the neighbors who owned the cabin. I remember driving over Snoqualmie Pass with my neighbors and having to chain up near Asahel Curtis. It was snowing very wet snow. Two or three days previously I had skied at Alpental in the deepest, light snow I ever skied - I actually went completely under the snow at one point - not a cloud, completely under. It was around 15 degrees that day. We got a phone call as soon as we arrived in Sun Valley. Both girls have lived in Sun Valley for more than 30 years.
Apparently Ed LaChapelle had surveyed this area before the cabins were built and had said it was an unsafe area and had given a certain return rate for avalanches for that location which the developer had not disclosed. I don't know or don't remember any other details about this, however.
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alecapone
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Tragic...
Thank you very much Gary.
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scott
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telemack
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Gary, thanks for the history. It must have been tough for you and others involved.
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There is no cure for birth and death save to enjoy the interval.
George Santayana
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RossMac
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Fascinating history. We actually own the closest cabin to the one where the fatalities occurred. We hired Garyback when we bought it to confirm that it was the first safe lot. Still very eerie to walk through the slide alder in the summer and find the ruined cabin with crockery and christmas lights strewn around. I didn't know, or had forgotten, that you knew the family, Gary. Would love to host a TAY party up at our place sometime.
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garyabrill
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I could add one more detail I now remember. The rescuers (probably from Stevens Pass) had searched for a long period (24 hours) and really had little hope of finding anyone alive in the destroyed cabin. But somehow (and I don't remember much else about this) they heard voices and that led them to find the girls. The headboard of the bed had provided an air pocket as it fell or collapsed over them.
After the accident, the younger girl, who was perhaps in her early teens, was invited to live with the family who owned the second cabin (my nextdoor neighbors). She lived there through her high school years. It made her transition so much easier as she was able to keep her close friends. It shows how close the families in my neighborhood were at the time. Both families were among my parent's closest friends and the older girl was one of my sister's best friends. The nextdoor neighbor's boys were among my closest friends.
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« Last Edit: 03/16/11, 11:26 AM by garyabrill »
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alecapone
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Hmmm, I could swear I checked on alpenglow. I've visit it enough, don't know how I missed it. Thanks Lowell!
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scott
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