AVALANCHE Washington, Mt. St. Helens. Snow...

AVALANCHE— Washington, Mt. St. Helens. O n A pril 26, 1975, during a period o f wet snow, precipitation and high winds, five students from the University of Puget Sound were killed in a massive avalanche which occurred at 8 p.m.

T h e 29 climbers were led by UPS m ountaineering teacher H arm on Jones and had cam ped at the 6500-foot level earlier in the day. T h e climb was u n d er un iver­sity sponsorship, part o f a night school course listed as Ice Seminar and Overnight Snow Camp. T h e climbing class is offered by the university’s physical education dep a rtm en t and the climb was a field trip.

Jones said tha t his g roup cam ped in a relatively safe place on the east side of the ridge called the Little Lizard.

T h e first to rep o rt the massive snowslide was a clim ber, Bill G lenn, who descended to the parking area, got into his car and drove to the first cabin down the road.

Rescue operations took place over a three-day period u n d er very difficult conditions. (Source: Edited from several new spaper reports in The Seattle Post- Intelligencer. )

Analysis: As a field operation leader o f the M ountain Rescue Council, Seattle U nit, fo r 23 years, and as a m o u n ta in e er o f 29 years, and having personally participated in the recent St. H elens avalanche, I feel it is desirable that we break our trad itional silence in these m atters and point ou t some o f the basic factors involved in the recent tragedy.

G eographically, Mt. St. H elens is a m ountain which attracts thousands o f m ountaineers, many totally inexperienced, each year. It is easily accessible from tim ber line and in good w eather makes an interesting one-day climb. T h ere is not a w eekend, w inter or sum m er. tha t there are not parties upon the m ountain.

T h e m ajor ski areas all have snow rangers o f the U.S. Forest Service who are ex p e rien ced in forecasting avalanche conditions an d in contro lling such avalanches. T hese activities are, how ever, lim ited to ski areas, and the Forest Service at this tim e is curtailing the services because o f budgetary problems.

Recent years have seen a dram atic increase in the use o f ou r m ountains and w ilderness areas. M athem atically, increased exposu re by its very n a tu re m ust m ean an increase in the num ber o f accidents.

It is impossible for an experienced m ounta ineer to predict with certainty w hether a slope will avalanche simply by looking at it. Usually the m ountaineer arrives with no background on local conditions and m ust simply go by his basic knowledge. Even most experienced m ountaineers do not have in-depth avalanche training unless they happen to be m em bers o f a ski patro l unit.

I do know tha t the climb leader o f the accident on Mt. St. Helens perfo rm ed in an exem plary way. H e had known the location o f each ten t in the snowcave and had checked them out. W hen the avalanche came, his knowledge allowed him to organize the survivors and dig ou t those who were buried , including those in the snowcave.

T h e re a f te r , he saw to th e evacuation o f th e in ju re d , the safety o f the survivors. He even re tu rned on Tuesday to assist us in locating the buried tent.

H aving personally been to the scene of the tragedy, and excluding the use of hindsight, I cannot say that, had I been the party leader of that class, I would not have established camp in the same place. (Source: Paul M. Williams, O perations Leader, M ountain Rescue Council. Published in The Seattle Post-Intelligencer. )