Avalanche Buries Hiker, He Calls 911

[MichaelJ]

Ian Rogers is due to leave Overlake Hospital today following his rescue from a Snoqualmie Pass avalanche Sunday. (Granite Mountain, WA)
The 23-year-old Suffolk, England native called for help with his cell phone after a snow mass buried him during a hike along Granite Mountain Lookout Trail.
The rushing snow carried him around 100 feet, and left him buried with a small tunnel of air that allowed light and oxygen to reach him from the surface.
He waited nearly five hours before rescuers found him.
A search dog finally discovered Rogers beneath around 5 feet of snow, and a military helicopter flew him to an ambulance.

Full Article:
http://www.seattlepi.com/sound/418501_sound90798639.html

Interview video:
http://www.cbsnews.com/video/watch/?id=6387746n&tag=mg;mostpopvideo

 

[Jay H]

Simply... Wow, what kind of cell phone? I didn't think you'd get reception under 5 feet of snow...

Jay

 

[Dave Bear]

Amazing that he was okay and still able to get enough space to breath. Being slightly claustrophobic, it freaks me out to read articles like this! Great outcome considering!

 

[ColdRiverRun]

Simply... Wow, what kind of cell phone? I didn't think you'd get reception under 5 feet of snow...

Jay

Can you hear me now?!

I can't believe the luck of getting a foot wide window of air to the top..insane probability.

 

[cbcbd]

Yeah, he was real lucky. Helps that Granite is right next to the highway and cellphone towers.

 

[leaf]

i've hiked up granite. nice peak with insanely cool views of rainier. since i had just got off rainier the day prior it was awesome to scope it out like that. granite is right off the interstate, literally. so doesn't surprise me he got reception. it's certainly not in any wilderness. glad the dude is alright.

 

[leaf]

hah, doug! jinx!

 

[cbcbd]

We think alike, Leaf

Here is a picture of Granite with the avy:
http://picasaweb.google.com/bergtrage/April2010#5459696097022118306

 

[sardog1]

Here's a picture of the debris field, with a SAR dog in the background: http://picasaweb.google.com/bergtrage/April2010#5459090465166134466 Don't know whether this is the dog that made the find. Haven't seen anyone yet in the photo album from the event that I recognize: http://picasaweb.google.com/bergtrage/April2010#

(Ah, good old "Cascade Concrete" . . . Until you've had the pleasure, you have no idea how much water that snow out there routinely holds.)

EDIT: Here's raw video of an interview with the subject in his hospital bed: http://www.kirotv.com/video/23127630/index.html

 

[cbcbd]

sardog, were you a member of BARK?

 

[sardog1]

Nope, I was a member of GSSD back in the late 80s. BARK came along later, after I left WA. I wondered looking at the video whether they were the ones responding -- the emblems on the vests on a couple of Labs looked unfamiliar to me.

(FWIW, a GSSD member/Crystal Mountain patroller had a Chesapeake cross that liked to haul my German Shepherd Dog around by the neck . . . )