TNSAR Search 11/23/2010
Galena Creek missing snowshoer
Submitted by Dirk SchoonmakerSkiers |
---|
Bernie Mellor Dirk Schoonmaker Steve Twomey Russ Viehmann Jimmy Smith Brian York John Pang |
Troy met Mike and myself at safeway parking lot in Kings Beach at 05:15 on Tuesday, 11-23-10. 6" of new snow had fallen in Tahoe Vista overnight. The three of us drove over Mt. Rose hwy in white-out conditions and arrived at the incident command post at Galena Creek Park by 06:30 where we met Geoff and Devin. We were briefed by the Washoe County sheriff and informed that we were continuing a search for a 60 yr old male snowshoer who reported himself lost on Sunday 11-21-10. A hat and a running shoe, still laced in a snowshoe, had been found the day prior by search teams and we were given those coordinates for the found items. Our search area was a radius of 300 yards around the area of items found. The skiers were instructed to focus below the location of the items found and the Placer county snowshoers were advised to focus above the location of the items found. We drove north on Mt. Rose hwy to another trailhead, with atv access up a forest service road (047) heading up Whites Creek drainage. By 07:30 A Washoe County ATV was shuttling the Placer County searchers up to the wilderness boundary where we headed up Whites Creek trail apx. 2.5 miles to the items found. The winds increased steadily as we gained elevation up the canyon. The walls of the canyon narrowed and slopes got considerably steeper as we left the main trail and travelled cross country. The snowpack was varible: 6" or less in some spots and 3'+ in others. We were able to hike with skis/skins the entire way to our search area, often on top of rocks and large bushes. We reached our search area and advised the snowshoers not to proceed due to steep/tretcherous terrain. We split into two search groups: Mike and Geoff went up higher on the ridge, while Devin, Troy and myself searched below the items found to the creek bed. Around 14:30 we had completed our search area, with temps dropping and wind gusting 50+mph, the call came to return to IC. The five of us reluctantly skied out to the wilderness boundary where we reported to IC that we were all present and skied back down to our truck. We were debriefed back at Galena Creek Trailhead with Washoe County sheriff and the western Placer County snowshoers.
Update: on 2/7/2011 a body was found by Washoe County Search and Rescue volunteers about 3 miles away from the Whites
Creek Trailhead, in rugged terrain and underneath about 2 feet of snow.
Sheriff | Dispatch | CommVan | Truck | Skiers | Snowcats | Snowmobiles | Other |
---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
Washoe County Sheriff | Kelli Twomey Terri Viehmann | Placer County Sheriff | Troy Corliss | Sara Barrett Carbonari Devin Heimstra Troy Corliss Mike LeFrancois Geoff Quine | 3 placer county snowshoers: Kioji, Robert, & Joani |
The goal of TNSAR is to conduct fast and safe rescues, and to help educate the public on winter safety.
If you would like to help TNSAR in this cause, please use the following PayPal donate link. Thanks!
E-mail or
Snail mail or
Media Inquiries
TNSAR staff
Friends of TNSAR
©2021 TNSAR
Non-profit Tax ID# 94-2737988
Non-profit Tax ID# 94-2737988