Avalanche
6 US soldiers were injured in an avalanche while performing advanced mountain warfare training today in the backcountry near Stowe ski resort in Vermont.
They were swept 1,000′ downhill in the avalanche.
The avalanche occurred in Easy Gully on the north side of Mt. Mansfield in the backcountry between Stowe and Smugglers Notch ski resorts.
National Guard officials report that it took 10 minutes to locate all the soldiers in the avalanche and about 2 hours to extract them all to safety.
The soldiers were not fully buried by the avalanche.
5 of the soldiers were taken to the hospital, 1 soldier returned to duty.
4 of the soldiers were students, 2 were instructors.
“We don’t train in dangerous situations because we mitigate risk every day. But what we do is, we train up to a certain point where we know we can be safe but, as well, push our training to the limit to make sure that we are prepared for any situation we are put in.” – Nate Rivard of the Vermont National Guard
There was another significant avalanche in the Smugglers Notch backcountry involving our buddy and world record holding backcountry skier Aaron Rice this week.
Avalanche Warning have been issued currently in Vermont and New York due to heavy snowfall.
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