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发表于 2008-5-8 10:09:36
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轉貼 - Globe and Mail
Skier escapes death after fall down crevasse
Trapped in ice, woman rescued unharmed in B.C.
CATHRYN ATKINSON
Special to The Globe and Mail
May 8, 2008
A skier near Whistler had a narrow escape on Sunday after falling nine metres down a backcountry crevasse.
The 26-year-old woman, who was with two male friends, was uninjured by her fall but trapped in the ice. The Lower Mainland resident was ski touring through an area called the Spearhead traverse, a popular route of 12 peaks that connect Whistler and Blackcomb mountains.
Whistler Search and Rescue manager Brad Sills said yesterday that the woman fell through a bergschrund, a crevasse that is created by a moving glacier separating from static ice above it.
Such crevasses are deep and can extend all the way to the bedrock.
"Typically, they fill in with snow in the winter and it is a common danger in the spring that they become rotten, the snow that sits on top thins. It's not as strong as it is in the winter," Mr. Sills said.
The woman fell at around 11:30 a.m. and was finally freed at 4 p.m. Whistler SAR arrived at around 2:30 p.m., and took about 90 minutes to extricate the woman. Mr. Sills added that good weather, coupled with the fact that the party alerted SAR by satellite phone, allowing rescuers to get a helicopter in quickly.
"She was in good health, a little cold. We took her to the clinic for a check-up, but she was released soon after," he said.
"It's nice to do a good-ending story. It's prime time to go ski touring, but the people who are doing it need to know the basic rules. The basic mountaineering rule is that whenever you are on a glacier, you should be roped together."
Ski touring is popular from this time of year well into the summer, said Mr. Sills, because the days are longer, brighter and warmer.
He said backcountry skiers traversing this route can easily reach it from the lifts that are still in operation at Whistler.
Mr. Sills, who oversaw the nine-person SAR team on Sunday, said two other ski parties came by and weren't roped up either.
He compared skiers unfavourably with climbers, who he said understand the need to be roped together to arrest the fall of a person who slips into a crevasse.
"The lessons were really hard learned by the mountaineering community through fatal accidents. And I don't think that has been generally acknowledged by the skiing community. The culture of safety is taking a beating," he said. "Climbers are always roped, that's the cardinal rule, and it applies to everybody."
Mr. Sills said that apart from injuries, those who fall into crevasses can succumb to hypothermia.
He said the woman didn't seem to realize her potential peril.
"Had we not been able to access her in a timely fashion, she would have expired," he said. "I don't think she really understood the danger she was in. She was thankful for being rescued, but I don't think she understood in the way the rescue party was concerned about what could have happened."
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