Wilderness When Snowboarders Disappear
posted by on February 28 at 15:47 PM
This week in The Stranger, Courtney Nash writes about the three snowboarders who disappeared a couple months ago in the Crystal Mountain backcountry.
On Friday, November 30, 2007, Kevin Carter, Devlin Williams, and Phillip Hollins—roommates and coworkers—set out for a weekend of backcountry snowboarding near the Crystal Mountain Ski Area. It was an adventure they’d been planning for months. After an uneventful November, the snow was suddenly falling heavily, and the Cascade Mountains were covered in fresh, untracked powder. During the summer and fall months, the men had built a lean-to shelter near Union Creek, a few miles southeast of the resort, and by all accounts that was their planned destination. But they never made it to the shelter and they never came home.
Nash talks to Joseph Schaaf, the last person to see the three of them alive. The photo above—taken by Sean Hallissey—is of a memorial someone’s put up on the ridgeline near where Schaaf saw them.
Sad.
this year didn't fuck around - everyone who was out in those storms was consciously taking an irresponsible risk. even those who made it back home that day. no turns are worth your life.
"no turns are worth your life."
Speak for yourself, bro.
In respect for the dead, there will be no mention of...an enormous penis!!!
Big ups to Courtney Nash! She is one kick ass lady. EBX isn't too shabby either.
@5 -- yeah, but I don't know about that AM Gong Show they hang with...buncha bong-tokin' moonshinin' merry-makers.
what is so sad about two idiots snowboarding where they shouldn't have been? every time a snowboarder dies, paris hilton gets another pair of colored tights.
Don't you winter sport people have access to tracking devices or some such technology?
@8: That's right, Stolia! All us winter sports peoples need to do is plunk down $200 at REI for an avy beacon and we're all set! See you in the backcountry!
Seriously, dude -- technology doesn't really mean shit. I think it was Paul Baugher who called beacons, "body recovery devices."
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