Sugarbowl to Onion Creek |
On Saturday, 3/23/02, four 19 and 20 year old snowboarders drove up from Oakland to snowboard together at Sugarbowl. Midway through the morning the group split into two pairs. Sometime after that, one pair boarded off the top of either Disney or Lincoln Peak, and got lost in the Onion Creek drainage. The other two got to their car after a day of riding but their friends never showed up- so figuring that their friends had gotten a ride back to the Bay Area from someone else, they drove themselves back home. On Sunday afternoon the two who had made it to Oakland started worrying about their friends, made some calls and figured out they might still be at Sugarbowl. A search was initiated at about 16:00 and TNSAR was dispatched at about 17:30. |
CHP helicopter H20 had been in the air on Sunday afternoon, just before dark, and reported seeing tracks into the Onion Creek drainage- when TNSAR arrived at patrol, the plan was made to send 4 skiers, 2 snowmobilers and 2 snowcats down from Ice Lakes to look at these tracks. 3 skiers were kept in reserve at patrol in case these tracks were not the victims'. At about 20:00 the teams got on the tracks where The Cedars road crosses Onion Creek. It was apparent that the tracks were snowboarders, two of them, they were going all over and that they had been made since the snow stopped on Sunday morning. The skiers and snowmobilers followed the tracks in circles, up and down, found the spot where the had bivouaced for the night, including half burned dollar bills, and finally, at about 23:00 caught up with them, cold and hungry, but otherwise all right. They snowshoed down to the Cedars Road, where they were put into the snowcat and all members headed back out to Ice Lakes, arriving at about midnight.
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Sheriff | Com Van | Dispatch | Truck/Command Post | Skiers | Snowmobilers | Snowcat | Sugar Bowl Patrol |
---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
Bert Houser
Mike Harris |
Jackie Thomas
Marty Schoonmaker |
Peter York
Brian York Joe Pace Steve Twomey Tony Bochene Mark Johnson Sarah Lagano Dirk Schoonmaker |
Brian Devore
Bill Koplin |
Dave Gleske
Tony Bochene |
Jim Zaloga
Mike Plessas |