Tahoe Nordic Search & Rescue, Inc. Tahoe Nordic Search & Rescue, Inc.

TNSAR Search 4/01/2017

Snowboarder's Long Hike- Sun Bowl to Grouse Creek

Submitted by Dirk Schoonmaker

A 39 year old snowboarder from Arizona slid off the side of the return road from Sunbowl at Squaw Valley and decided to keep going down- all the way to the Grouse Creek/Five Lakes juncture, about 5 miles away. He got separated from his friend at about 3 pm after getting off the Headwall Chair.

Squaw Patrol was alerted about 7 pm by his friend after having dinner etc. and not reuniting. TNSAR was activated at 8 pm. Squaw Valley sent out patrollers on snowmobiles to search in bounds off Headwall and alerted mountain personnel to keep an eye out. About 9 a sharp eyed groomer reported a snowboard track leading down below the return road from Sunbowl.

3 skiers got a ride from Squaw Valley to the track departure point and started following it. After a short downhill run it turned into uphill post holes and the team figured this was not it- this guy walked back to the road- but it soon headed downhill again and proceeded to posthole all the way down Five Lakes Creek to the Grouse Creek confluence, crossing 3 creeks en route. Along the way the team found goggles and snowboard.

A Calstar helicopter arrived overhead when the team was about a half mile from his bivy site and were able to confirm through night vision goggles that he was up and running in circles. The helicopter preferred not to land until daylight, 6 hours away.

The team caught up to him at 12:30 and he was cold, wet and hungry but said he could hike out 2.5 hours and 2000 vertical feet to the top of Alpine so he was fed and the hike out commenced. 4.5 hours later the group topped out- it was a long, slow hike due to the snowboarder's exhaustion. Alpine Meadows groomers transported the team to the base where pizza and a ride to Squaw Valley command post awaited. Everybody was in bed by 6 am.

SheriffDispatchCommVanTruckSkiersSnowcatsOther
John Riella
Roy Nevens
Laura Read
Ray O'Brien CoordinatorMark Johnson
Troy Corliss
Alex Heyman
Pat Grisel
Steve Hoyt
Scott Schroepfer

Dirk Schoonmaker
Calvin Mitchell
Eric Stendell

Squaw Groomer: Unknown but IMPORTANT!
Alpine Groomers/Transport:
Tiffany and Sam
CalStar6 Helicopter

Sorry, the PDF couldn't be displayed :(

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