Snowboarders Derek Tyndall and Thomas Dale ended up spending two nights on Mt. Ranier before finally being rescued are back off the mountain now, according to a story in the Seattle Times.
Tyndall, of Sumner, and Dale, of Indiana – were carving turns down from Camp Muir Sunday afternoon when a heavy storm forced them to halt their descent. They did not have overnight gear or extra food, save a few crackers, but immediately began preparing to hunker down for the night. . . “They are extraordinarily fortunate,” Mount Rainier National Park spokesman Kevin Bacher said. “This is a case where something went wrong, but from that point on they did everything right. They didn’t compound the situation by making poor decisions.” . . The two boarders called 911 and dug a snow cave near a freshwater spring not far from the southern end of the Paradise Glacier and used their snowboards to block its entrance and keep 70 mph winds at bay. They kept themselves warm and dry and did not move around.
Let this be a lesson. . .
[Link: Seattle Times]
