Relay Pk Story - Avy Hunters By Atwater

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the v l n he

huntersMONTGOMERY M TW TER

There was a time when only a handful of hearty

souls experienced the joy of solitude among the

awesome heights and glitter of snow-covered peaks.

A few decades ago skiing, a development of man's

inborn desire to slide, had not advanced beyond a

swish and a long walk back. But the advent of

lifts, Head skis and stretch pants not only

created a vastly increasing army of enthusiasts

who look upon the white slopes and brisk air as

a friendly challenge, but also precipitatedserious new risks to lives and property.

Besides being something white, cold and beautiful,

what is snow? Its crystalline particles combine in

intricate detail to produce a cover restless with

the forces of pressure, temperature and gravity.

Never in repose, snow is continually being pushed,

pulled, pressed, warmed, chilled, ventilated

from hack cover)

He served as winter warfare instructor and

advisor during World War II participated in the

Kiska Campaign and the Battle of the Bulge,

then retired from the army because of physical

disability, with the rank of Captain.Joining the U. S. Forest Service in 1946 he

distinguished himself as a specialist in avalanche

research, control and winter recreation, working

until 1956 at Alta, Utah, where he founded the

first avalanche research center in the Western

Hemisphere. Snow and avalanche research at

Alta eventually produced all the modern

techniques of avalanche control now in use

throughout the Americas.

In 1956 Monty Atwater married the former

Joan Hamill and spent several months in Europe

visiting avalanche control and research centers

in Austria and Switzerland. Upon his return to

the United States, he was transferred to

Squaw Valley, California, to plan and execute

avalanche control for the Olympic Winter Games

of 1960. Following the games, he opened aresearch station at Squaw Valley and developed

the avalauncher, the first avalanche control

weapon designed specifically for the purpose.

He retired from the U. S. Forest Service in

1964 and since that time has been a consultant

on snow and avalanche problems for ski areas and

industrial concerns from South America to Alaska.



CHAPTER 2

~ w

» «

on ultant



SNOW P~OBLEMS CONSULTANT 3

techniques, plus the infinite variety of human nature. It is amazing, for

instance, how different in character two corporations can be. A corporation

is simply a collection of people working together. When the corporation is

large and the number of people is great, one would expect the individual

differences to cancel out. But it is not so. I have dealt with companies that

were emotional, others that were calm, and still others that were just plain

stuffy. Like individuals, they can be open-minded or suspicious, humorless

or gay, opinionated or merely ignorant. They are just as much a part of

the snow consultant's job as the snow.

In selecting the incidents for this chapter I have tried to pick those that

not only were successful but are also illustrative of the weird things that

can happen to a consultant on snow and avalanches. By 1948 49 the Winter

of Avalanches, I had acquired some reputation. This was not difficult to

achieve, since I was one of only two practicing professional avalanche men

in the Western Hemisphere at that time, the other being Noel Gardner in

British Columbia. An article had been written about my exploits. A per-

ceptive official of American Telephone and Telegraph Company read this

article, which amounted to a photograph and one sentence of text in a now-



4 THE AVALANCHE _

I had the kind of meeting that was to become familiar enough in

years but was a new sensation at the time. Privately until now, I labe

the official panic party. At least twenty officials of the giant corpo

had gathered, from every part of the country. They were in that state

unreasoning shock I have already described in narratives of the Leduc

and Portillo disasters. To me, an avalanche accident involving one

and a driver who was promptly dug out alive and only slightly hurt

warrant so much fuss; the project boss and I could go out there tog

see what happened and why, and take the necessary steps to see that

didn't happen again. It was my first demonstration of the special im

of an avalanche accident, a stunning side-effect compounded of surp -

violence, mystery, and apprehension that the mountain is going to rear

and strike again at any moment.

The AT T officials presented me with a written list of questions thatwas expected to answer on the spot. Some of them were meaningless,

I couldn't answer any of them without looking over the scene of the aces-

dent. At that time I hadn't perfected the technique of the rambling

highly technical discourse on avalanches which doesn't convince anyone



SNOW PROBLEMS CONSULTANT 5

wouldn't even have to think about it. This demand required a more elab-

orate remedy. Prowling about the mountain on skis, I found an alleyway

about fifty feet wide that was free of avalanche hazard. By good fortune,

the top end of it was practically at the door of the microwave station. It

lay on the fall line, straight up and down hill. An interesting piece of infor-

mation, but how to utilize it? A picture sprang into my mind of the barge

tows that served as lifts at Aspen in the days when today's famous ski area

was the playground of the Tenth Mountain Division. I recommended to the

telephone company officials that they do the following: Build a barge, or

snowboat, big enough to haul whatever was involved in manpower and

equipment. Attach it to a double drum winch, to haul it up the hill and

back down again. Eventually, replace this crude but effective rig with a

modern aerial tramway that would provide the all-weather access they

required for repair and maintenance of the station.

They did this. As result, a nationwide audience witnessed the signing of

the Japanese peace treaty on TV. It was, I believe, the first TV network

broadcast on a national scale.

In my report to the company I mentioned the fact that the power line



6 THE AVALANCHE HUNTERS



SNOW PROBLEMS CONSULTANT 207

That had an ominous ring. The air over the Sierras hadn't exactly been a

velvet carpet. We cinched up the seat belts. Other passengers did the same.

There were no more curious glances at our costume. People in skiing kit,on an airplane, were not as commonplace then as they are now.

Suddenly the plane staggered, exactly the wayan animal does that has

just been shot between the eyes. It stopped flying. It felt like something

dropped into a vacuum. Pieces of loose gear began to bang and clatter. I

don't know how long this went on, possibly thirty seconds. To me it seemed

that we fell for hours and miles. Finally the pilot revived his aircraft and

got it flying again. He pointed its nose to the sky, turned on all the power,

and headed back over the Sierras. Over Reno, that night, the low-level

turbulence was severe.

Eventually we got to Mt. Rose by other means. We climbed the moun-

tain. There was one interesting moment. I wanted to bomb a slidepath



208 THE AVALANCHE HUNTERS

that was beyond the range of my throwing arm from any protected posi-

tion. With Wiese belaying me from behind a rock, I ventured out into a

grove of trees which should give me some protection. I tossed the bomb.

The avalanche came down through the grove. I began to climb the nearest

tree. Wiese, unable to see anything, felt the tension on the rope and, rightly

assuming that I was in a slide, clamped down like grim death. I climbed;

he held. I got nowhere. The avalanche rose to my knees, to my hips, to

my chest. Then it stopped.

That summer the power line was moved to the other side of the canyon.

MT ALYESKA AND THE

MENDENHALL GLACIER 96

Snow and avalanche consultant jobs tend to be of the panic-party type,but not always. The Mt. Alyeska and Mendenhall Glacier assignments in

Alaska were more like a busman's holiday, memorable not so much for the

accomplishment as for the incidentals. The festive atmosphere was provided

entirely by Joan Atwater.

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