Monday, Jan. 10, 2005 | 11:12 a.m.
The Las Vegas Ski and Snowboard Resort was closed today and a local middle school was mourning in the wake of an avalanche that swept a 13-year-old boy off a ski lift and buried him in snow Sunday afternoon.
Administrators at Sig Rogich Middle School, where Allen Brett Hutchison had been an eighth grader, brought in counselors from Becker Middle School to join her own staff and the school district's crisis response team this morning to help the campus community deal with Hutchison's death, Susan Tsukamoto, the school's principal, said.
Hutchison's body was discovered Sunday after searchers, buffeted by strong winds and hampered by heavy snows loosened by rain, discovered his body beneath about 10 feet of snow at the resort in Lee Canyon about 9:45 p.m., Clark County Fire Department spokesman Bob Leinbach said.
His death hit the middle school hard, Tsukamoto said.
"I have teachers who are as much in need as students," Tsukamoto said. "Our kids are having a very hard time with this and we have professionals here to help with the situation."
Hutchison, who was in his third year at Rogich, was a good student and "very popular," Tsukamoto said. "He was well-mannered, a terrific kid with a great family," Tsukamoto said, her voice wavering with emotion. "It's a tragic, terrible thing."
About 60 people including teams from Metro Police Search and Rescue, Clark County Fire Department, U.S. Forest Service ski patrol and several volunteers had searched the slopes under the ski lift where witnesses had reported seeing the boy knocked from the lift by an avalanche, Leinbach said.
"Our hearts and prayers are with the family," Metro Police Sgt. Chris Jones said Sunday night.
Three search and rescue dogs were involved in the effort to find Hutchison in snow drifts that ranged up to 25 feet high, authorities said.
About 2 p.m. Sunday three people had been reported missing in the avalanche, but two were discovered alive. The other two people apparently were all right, Leinbach said.
A year ago another skier, Larry Kinsman, was swept away during an avalanche at the ski resort, but managed to dig himself out of the drifts.
The U.S. Forest Service issued an extreme avalanche warning at 5:35 p.m. Sunday for back country areas of Mount Charleston, including Kyle and Lee canyons. The warning did not include the Las Vegas Ski and Snowboard Resort as the resort conducts its own avalanche control program, according to the U.S. Forest Service.
Brian Strait, the resort's general manager, said about five ski patrol members responded to the avalanche site within 10 minutes and established a "probe line," which consists of a multi-person team that places a long rod into the deep snow until it bumps into a person or equipment.
The resort employs about 30 patrol members, although Strait said he did not know how many were working Sunday. All told, about 20 people responded to the avalanche, he said.
He disputed reports that rescue personnel were slow to respond to the avalanche.
"There's been a lot of talk about slow response," Strait, speaking by cell phone from the base of the mountain, said. "Ski patrol was on the scene and had a probe line established within minutes. Undoubtedly for the people who were there the time they were on the chairlift must have seemed like hours and not minutes."
Calls to the resort Sunday night and early this morning were not returned until about 10 a.m., as phone service to the resort was down, Strait said. The slopes were to stay closed until at least 9 a.m. Tuesday depending on weather conditions, he said.
Jerry Horwitz, a ski patrolman who has worked at the resort for about four years, said skiers likely heard a loud booming noise caused by the snow above fracturing before the avalanche began.
Horwitz said the noise would not have been caused by "bombing," the snow-clearing process normally performed early in the morning before the lifts open to prevent avalanches.
He also disputed claims that rescue personnel was slow to react, saying that patrol members must be careful not to cause further problems.
"By the time they get up there and get the word out to not panic the public, it takes a few minutes," Horwitz said. "If they were up there in 15 minutes that's not a bad time."
Horwitz, 78, patrolled expert-level resorts in Colorado for 42 years before he moved to Las Vegas, he said. In that time, Horwitz said he has worked roughly eight similar avalanches at the Berthoud Pass Ski Area in Colorado.
Of those, he said he remembered only one person surviving.
"You're talking about such an awesome power," Horwitz, who was not working Sunday, said. "What generally happens (if a skier is trapped) is you don't know which end is up and which is down and you panic."
The National Weather Service's winter storm warning for the Spring Mountains above 6,500 feet is to last until at least 4 p.m. today.
Volunteer firefighter Duffy Grismanauskas, who lives in Kyle Canyon at Mount Charleston, said rain falling in the higher elevations since midnight Sunday destabilized more than four feet of snow on the ground before the latest series of storms pounded the mountains.
"It's raining like crazy," Grismanauskas, who has worked with the Clark County Fire Department for almost 30 years, said. "This is one of the weirdest weather systems I've ever seen."
Flooding occurred in housing developments on the mountain. People were concerned that their cabin roofs might collapse under the weight of the snowfall. One man had to seek medical attention in Las Vegas after cutting himself trying to start a snow blower, Grismanauskas said.
Another avalanche at Mary Jane Falls in the Spring Mountains occurred earlier Sunday, but everyone in the area was safe and accounted for, National Weather Service meteorologist Donald Maker said.
The official rainfall total for Las Vegas recorded at McCarran International Airport was 0.09 of an inch.
Tumbling waterfalls followed by flooding that tore highway pavement away occurred in the Red Rock Canyon National Conservation Area.
Charles Campbell, a maintenance worker for the Nevada Department of Transportation, said after 1 1/2 feet of water poured across State Route 159, linking the town of Blue Diamond southwest of Las Vegas to Red Rock, he had closed the road.
"There's lots of water washing across the road right now," Campbell said in a cell call from the area about 4 p.m.
The Bureau of Land Management, which manages Red Rock Canyon, had to close the 13-mile scenic loop after part of the road was washed out.
Bonnie Springs Ranch and Spring Mountain Ranch were also closed along State Route 159.
Roads in the area were expected to stay closed today.
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