Spruce Peak Backcountry Skiers "Save Themselves," With Some Help from a Phone Call
Rescue teams would prefer to help talk you out of your predicament during daylight hours than carry you out in the dark.
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. Aware that they were going to run out of daylight, they had the good sense to call for help.
We instructed them to start moving uphill, retracing their tracks until they hit the Long Trail. Meanwhile, we were driven up Spruce Peak by Bob the Bus-Cat-Driver (thank you Bob and thank you Stowe Mountain Resort for supporting our mission). Just as we reached the top, our four emerged from the darkness safe and sound, so we simply scooped them up and brought them 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.
If you think you might be in trouble in Stowe’s backcountry, call 911 and ask for our team. We would prefer to help talk you out of your predicament during daylight hours than carry you out in the dark.