“We simply scooped them up and brought them back to civilization.” -Stowe Mountain Rescue
A group of four lost skiers in the Spruce Peak backcountry of Vermont were rescued Sunday evening after realizing they were running out of daylight and the path to the base was treacherous. Stowe Mountain Rescue has issued a breakdown of the rescue operation to help folks make better decisions in backcountry.
Stowe Mountain Rescue:
We were called out this evening to assist four lost skiers in the Spruce Peak backcountry. They had several good things going for them:
1: They had enough familiarity with the terrain to recognize that they had traversed too far left.
2: This triggered alarm bells as they knew about the dangerous cliffs beneath them in the Notch
3: They knew not to trust other peoples’ ski tracks.
The skiers were well aware that they were going to run out of daylight and sensibly called for help. Stowe Mountain Rescue instructed the group to start moving uphill and retrace their tracks until they hit the Long Trail. While the skiers were doubling back, members of the rescue team were shuttled to Meanwhile up Spruce Peak by “Bob the Bus-Cat-Driver”. Just as the rescue crew reached the top, the skiers emerged from the darkness and the were simply picked up and brought back to civilization.
“On the way down, we mulled over what a different night it could have been had they ignored those alarm bells and continued skiing downhill. We could have been facing a dangerous technical high angle rescue in darkness and frigid temperatures – and it could have cost them their lives. As it was, a phone call to Stowe Mountain Rescue confirmed the need to backtrack and they essentially rescued themselves. The experience of trying to navigate in the dark will have taught them to carry headlamps in future – as well as battery packs for their dying cell phones.” -Stowe Mountain Rescue
Stowe Mountain Rescue advises folks who think they might be in trouble in Stowe’s backcountry to call 911 and ask for their team, preferably before the night sets in:
“We would prefer to help talk you out of your predicament during daylight hours than carry you out in the dark.”
