The avalanche April 17, 2006 on Mammoth Mountain's Climax run reminded us all, once again, that Mother Nature is a force that we cannot control. What can be controlled, however, is the way we respond as a community and in that respect the Town of Mammoth Lakes has proved itself to be a shining star.
Tom Cage showed up and was immediately put to work organizing volunteer crews coming and going from the probe lines
Mammoth local and owner of Kittredge Sports, Tom Cage, was riding on the gondola and passed over the top of Chair 3 right after the avalanche had finished.
"Bill Grady and I went over to the top of the run where Leslie McGrath (Ski Patrol) was trying to stop people from skiing down," Cage said. "We walked over to her and asked what we could do."
The two men started to help keep people from skiing down until things were more organized. Then, as people were sent down to start helping with the precautionary probe, Cage took over from McGrath, writing down the names of people being sent from the top to the probing area.
"I knew that she could be more helpful in other ways (patrol work), and that I could handle taking down names," Cage said.
Probers were sent down with Ski Patrollers in groups of about six to 14 people, and Cage recalls that he sent out 14 groups.
"Plus the Patrolmen, I sent down at least 150 people," Cage said. "Then there were some people that were scared to ski down, so they helped at the top. No one complained."
The zigzagging of the precautionary probe line shows patrol, employees and volunteers leaning into the exhausting work of probing
When Cage realized how big the area of the avalanche was, he called down to his store and had his staff there pull all the probes off the walls (about 10) and bring them up to the mountain.
Cage, like many people after the slide, commented on how well the community came together and worked as a team.
"When you see people like Tom Hodges, Mark Clausen, ski school people in mass, and just so many people from all of the mountain departments and all over town, it was really impressive," Cage said.
Looking at the fracture from the Upper Panorama gondola
Also in the fray of all the action were Mammoth's two avalanche dogs, Buster and King, who were able to experience a real avalanche scene for the first time.
Detective/Sergeant Paul Dostie, who owns Buster, said that the dogs did great, but he definitely learned from the experience.
"King and his owner Sean Macedonio were the first to arrive and he searched the upper part of the avalanche zone," Dostie said. "Once we arrived (Dostie and Buster) we searched the lower half."
Usually the dogs search for 20 minutes and then they rest for 40 minutes, according to Dostie, but when he and Buster first arrived, Buster searched for about 45 minutes.
"He searched until he just laid down and didn't get up," Dostie said.
Shadows lengthening toward end of the day
After some water and a Thunder Dog Electrolyte Bar, Buster and Dostie continued to search. Dostie said that Noreen McClintock from Search and Rescue, and her dog Ursa, as well as a new avalanche puppy in training from June Lake were also on the scene.
What impressed Dostie the most was that Buster worked well and paid no attention to all the people probing around him. Dostie did learn that he needed more water and a Thermarest pad for Buster for future searches.
"After all the probers left, we went up and searched the avalanche area again, and then we went back up and searched one more time the next morning," Dostie said.
Volunteers, who appeared out of the blue, and mountain employees wait to be called out to the site
He was confident that no one was buried, but in order to make sure the dogs were still searching and not just walking around, Ski Patrollers were purposely buried for the dogs to find.
"When Buster got within 30 feet of his buried victim, he did a head turn and took off like a rocket," Dostie said. "He started digging like he was on a fresh scene. He really was working!"
Whether it was the amazing Ski Patrollers, the Fire Department in their bright yellow gear, the avalanche dogs and their owners who ran themselves ragged in their searches, or the regular Mammoth local who dropped everything in order to get on the mountain and help with the precautionary probe, Mammoth came together as a community in the blink of an eye.
In a ski season that was recently dubbed by the Sacramento Bee as the "deadliest in recent memory," citing 17 deaths on slopes throughout California, Mammoth has stuck together and has come through the tragedies an even stronger community.