Stowe Mountain Rescue

On Feb. 15 a skier left Stowe Mountain Resort intending to go down the Bruce Trail, but he ended up off trail in a gulley in deep snow, uninjured but lost. Two team members took an ATV into Ranch Valley, hiked to reach the skier and drove him out.

Another snowmobile accident, this time just past the apple orchard, brought Stowe Mountain Rescue back to Cottonbrook on Feb. 18. The snowmobiler was lying in running water with the snowmobile balanced precariously above her. Crews first secured the snowmobile to prevent further injury before extracting the woman in the rescue toboggan.

On Feb. 26, crews located a lost hiker in Thunder Basin in Underhill. A hiker lost sight of the trail back to Underhill in blizzard conditions near the summit. He inadvertently ended up in Thunder Basin and called for help when he realized he was lost. Stowe Mountain Rescue sent four team members up and over the summit via the Gondola and they hiked through deep snow down to the hiker’s location. They walked him safely down to the Underhill trailhead.

Two snowboarders found themselves stranded on a cliff and unable to descend the out-of-bounds terrain from Spruce Peak on March 1. Crews rode the Sunny Spruce Quad to access the scene and set up rope systems to lower the snowboarders safely down the cliffs.

Three days later, on March 4, Stowe Mountain Rescue were called out to help three different parties that had skied out of bounds from Stowe Mountain Resort. Two resolved themselves — the skiers were able to reorient themselves — and the Mt. Mansfield Ski Patrol was able to tend to the last one.

Mountain Rescue Association evaluations

In early March, Stowe Mountain Rescue played host to two teams from Tennessee and North Carolina that are aspiring for membership of the prestigious Mountain Rescue Association.

Stowe Mountain Rescue was involved in setting up and evaluating a rescue scenario in Smugglers Notch involving three injured ice climbers.

Both teams successfully passed the evaluation, taking them one step closer to membership.

Happy 80th birthday to Lennie Kliger

The Stowe Mountain Rescue Association has received several donations in honor of Lennie Kliger’s 80th birthday.

The association wishes him many happy returns and is honored that he chose to associate his milestone birthday with the team.

The donations help fund training and equipment.