JB in so cal
04-06-2006, 04:40 PM
Mammoth: This afternoon. With all of the snow of late, they were re-allingning border fence around a volcanic vent; the snow gave way and all of 'em went down. 1 still in hospital.
Very sad. These are the guys looking out for everyone's safety.
MAMMOTH LAKES, Calif. Three members of a ski patrol on California's Mammoth Mountain have been killed when they fell into a cave-like gas vent on the mountainside.
A fourth patrol member survived and was rescued.
The operator of the Mammoth Mountain Ski Area says the four experienced patrollers were fencing off the vent when the snow around it collapsed. The patrollers fell 21 feet into the opening.
Other members of the patrol began a rescue operation. Several of them were also injured, possibly from fumes in the vent. They're being treated at a hospital.
Local newswoman Bennet Kessler says the vent is well known, but heavy snow had hidden the regular fence that guards it.
The eleven-thousand-foot peak is in the Eastern Sierra, a volcanically active region 250 miles north of Los Angeles
Very sad. These are the guys looking out for everyone's safety.
MAMMOTH LAKES, Calif. Three members of a ski patrol on California's Mammoth Mountain have been killed when they fell into a cave-like gas vent on the mountainside.
A fourth patrol member survived and was rescued.
The operator of the Mammoth Mountain Ski Area says the four experienced patrollers were fencing off the vent when the snow around it collapsed. The patrollers fell 21 feet into the opening.
Other members of the patrol began a rescue operation. Several of them were also injured, possibly from fumes in the vent. They're being treated at a hospital.
Local newswoman Bennet Kessler says the vent is well known, but heavy snow had hidden the regular fence that guards it.
The eleven-thousand-foot peak is in the Eastern Sierra, a volcanically active region 250 miles north of Los Angeles