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DEM #98-0049 January 11, 1998 |
The Unit was contacted by the Pierce County Department of Emergency Management at 12:22 A.M. on Sunday the 11th ofJanuary. Both the Pierce County Sheriff and the Park Rangers at Mt. Rainier had requested our help in searching for amissing cross-country skier/snowshoer. The subject a 30 year old male had left friends at the Crystal Mountain cutoff fromstate route 410 at 9:00 A.M. Saturday morning. He had planned to ski into Mt. Rainier National Park as far as the turn off tothe White River Entrance. He then planned to ski through the Crystal Lake drainage to Bullion Basin and then into theCrystal Mountain ski area. When he did not meet his friends by nightfall Saturday night they called authorities.
The Unit was requested to be at the Crystal Mountain cutoff at 7:00 A.M. a callout was made and eleven membersresponded; they were: Jeff Sharp, Mike Mixon, Jim Andrues, Chris Berryman, Rick Wire, Ken Capron, Stan and AngelaKartes, John Kirkman, Jim Lewis, Phil Pletcher. Other units involved in the search were Crystal Mountain Ski Patrol,German Shepherd Search Dogs and a snowmobile rescue team from Yakima County. After some initial confusion as to whowas the lead agency on the search, the Unit met the sheriff's deputy at Crystal Mountain.
While the unit was gearing up word came in from the snowmobiles, that the subject had spent the night in a ski hut. He wasskiing with a couple of other skiers to Bear Gap. At first it was planned for unit members to ride the ski lift to the top of theski area and then snowshoe to Bear Gap to meet the subject. That idea was called off; the Unit waited until the subject andthe other skiers arrived at the ski patrol lodge. After the mission was terminated, some members stayed at the ski area tosnowshoe for fun. They returned to Cache Sunday evening in a snowstorm that left about 4 inches of snow in the city.
Tacoma Mountain Rescue |
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