Two teens swept away on Snoqualmie Pass

[octopuswithafez]

PI article

 

Two teenage boys were swept away Thursday afternoon by ice or snow after they posed for a photograph in a hollowed-out ice area on Snoqualmie Pass.

 

Rescuers are digging for the two but have yet to find them or hear any sound of them.

 

Officials learned Thursday around 1:30 p.m. that there was an ice cave collapse, an operator with Eastside Dispatch said.

 

The area where the youths are trapped is off the Denny Creek trailhead. It is described as rough and steep and west of the pass and north of Interstate 90.

 

The teens, ages 14 and 17, were exploring and entered the hollowed-out area, Snoqualmie Pass Fire & Rescue Chief Matt Cowan said.

 

"There was a boom or a collapse of some sort. They were either cut off, or it collapsed on them," he said.

 

"But there has been a collapse. We don't know their injuries."

 

The first rescuers on the scene began digging by hand before the specialized equipment arrived.

 

By 3:45 p.m., rescue teams had reached the area with specialized digging equipment, shovels and rope rescue gear, Eastside Fire & Rescue Deputy Chief Jeff Griffin said. They had search dogs and thermal-imaging equipment.

 

Griffin said he understands that the teenagers were standing at the mouth of a hollowed-out area where a river exited.

 

"A mom took a picture of them, heard a crash and turned around and they were gone," he said. "It was ice or compact snow, and they were standing underneath."

 

Two men who had been in the area told Griffin the ice or snow was about 4 feet thick.

 

As of 4:20 p.m., rescue teams were not hearing any activity from the hollowed-out area, Griffin said.

 

"Time is critical. That's why we're throwing so many resources at this," he said.

 

Officials believe the two boys are not related.

 

It is raining in the area, and the temperature is in the low 50s. The site of the accident is at least 3,000 feet.

 

The hollowed-out area is about two miles up a trail and near Melakwa Lake.

 

Crews from Bellevue Fire Department, King County Medic One and the U.S. Forest Service also have responded to the scene. There are about 40 people helping with the rescue.

 

The King County Sheriff's Office has dispatched four deputies to help.

[marc_leclerc]

that is terrible... people standing in scethcy ice caves always freak me out....

[ScaredSilly]

Both alive:

http://www.kirotv.com/news/17257621/detail.html

 

 

 

[mattp]

that is terrible... people standing in scethcy ice caves always freak me out....

 

When I first started climbing one of the first accidents I heard of which occurred in a place where I was climbing involved somebody who was killed falling underneath a snowpatch and getting swept underneath it in a stream entering the snow from a cliff band. that was 35 years ago. I have been fearful of (cautious with) the upper margin moat situations we regularly cross ever since.

 

I think I'll be careful for the next 35 years, provided I am lucky enough to be climbing that long.

 

[Hendershot]

Thank God they are ok.