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Interesting reading. Thanks for posting. Once you guys got into
trouble, it seems like you did everything right. <br>
<br>
However, I would take issue with his statement that the forecast called
for only 1 to 3 inches of new snow. Here is the actual forecast for
the West Slopes of the Central WA Cascades that the National Weather
Service posted at 4AM Saturday morning, December 1 . That forecast is
shown below.<br>
<br>
The 1 to 3 inches was for Saturday during the day. They forecast an
additional 6 to 10 inches for Saturday night and another 8 to 14 inches
for Sunday. If you take the high end of the range, you get a total
snowfall of 27 inches by end of day Sunday. That's quite a different
picture than the 1 to 3 inches he states in his account. More than two
feet of new snow forecast by end of day Sunday. <br>
<br>
As I said, what you did once you got into trouble was remarkable.
However, with a forecast of more than 2 feet of new snow, I believe the
trip leader realized that it was an error in judgment to go ahead and
do the trip. He offered an apology for this on the website that
organizes these trips.<br>
<br>
My point in writing today is not to point fingers or cast blame. But
rather to point out that the entire Search and Rescue operation could
have been avoided if the party had gotten an accurate forecast and
taken the forecast seriously. If they don't see that (and it seems
like some of them don't when they make statements like "<span
style="font-family: Arial;">weather forecast of light snow shower with
an accumulation of only 3 to 5 inches.")</span>, then nothing's been
learned (regarding weather forecasts) and it's possible that they could
find themselves in a similar situation in the future.<br>
<br>
ZONE FORECAST PRODUCT FOR WESTERN WASHINGTON
<br>
NATIONAL WEATHER SERVICE SEATTLE WA
<br>
400 AM PST SAT DEC 1 2007
<br>
<br>
WEST SLOPES CENTRAL CASCADES AND PASSES-
<br>
INCLUDING THE CITIES OF...DARRINGTON...MARBLEMOUNT...CONCRETE...
<br>
INDEX...SNOQUALMIE PASS...RANDLE...PACKWOOD...ASHFORD...MORTON
<br>
400 AM PST SAT DEC 1 2007
<br>
<br>
...WINTER STORM WARNING IN EFFECT FROM 10 AM THIS MORNING TO 4 AM
<br>
PST MONDAY...
<br>
<br>
.TODAY...SNOW. SNOW ACCUMULATION OF 1 TO 3 INCHES. AFTERNOON PASS
<br>
TEMPERATURES 19 TO 26. SOUTHEAST WIND IN THE PASSES AROUND 10 MPH.
<br>
.TONIGHT...SNOW. SNOW ACCUMULATION OF 6 TO 10 INCHES. SNOW LEVEL
<br>
BELOW 500 FEET. EAST WIND IN THE PASSES 10 TO 15 MPH.
<br>
.SUNDAY...SNOW. WINDY. SNOW ACCUMULATION OF 8 TO 14 INCHES. SNOW
<br>
LEVEL 1500 FEET. AFTERNOON PASS TEMPERATURES IN THE 30S. SOUTHWEST
<br>
WIND IN THE PASSES 10 TO 20 MPH SHIFTING TO THE EAST 15 TO 25 MPH IN
<br>
THE AFTERNOON.
<br>
<br>
<a class="moz-txt-link-abbreviated" href="mailto:cvano@tmail.com">cvano@tmail.com</a> wrote:
<blockquote cite="mid:1200929905.1178FAFA@ea26.dngr.org" type="cite">
<pre wrap="">This is Scott! The first guy to step into our camp that day and say
'Hi. I'm Scott. How you guys doin?'. Please read this.
<a class="moz-txt-link-freetext" href="http://scottstaton.blogspot.com/2007/12/rescue-at-denny-creek.html">http://scottstaton.blogspot.com/2007/12/rescue-at-denny-creek.html</a>
It's not the Mountains that we conquer,
but Ourselves. Sir Edmund Hillary 1919-2008
Ol' Three Toes aka Chris
S/V Drifter ~~~_/)~~~
Anacortes, WA.
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