Mammoth Ski Patrol Deaths Hit Swiftly

The ski patrol had been at work since first light, inspecting Mammoth Mountain’s reopened runs after a week of heavy snow and blustery winds.

By midmorning Thursday, seven of them had set to work digging out a nearly buried fence erected to keep skiers away from one of the mountain’s dangerous volcanic vents.

Suddenly, the snow beneath them gave way.

Two of the ski patrollers dropped into a 21-foot maw filled with deadly carbon dioxide fumes and landed on the ground, trapped in a deep hollow.

Their cries rose to the top for a few minutes, then stopped.

Two rescuers went in after them and were quickly overcome by fumes. Others followed. The ordeal lasted barely 20 minutes, but three members of the ski patrol were dead and seven others hospitalized.

In the wake of the deadly accident, officials on Friday were trying to determine how it could have been avoided. One issue is whether the area around the crevasse, known as a fumarole, should have been designated a hazardous confined space, which would have required Mammoth Mountain to keep rescue gear at the site, including breathing equipment and tethered ropes. Investigators from Cal-OSHA were expected to arrive today.

“This is not the first time we’ve been at this site,” Cal-OSHA spokesman Dean Fryer said. “The first time was in 1995 when we were looking at this exact area and helping the ski area understand why it needs to be avoided. The hazards of this location are well known.”

Mammoth Mountain Chief Executive Rusty Gregory said Cal-OSHA did not instruct the resort to provide additional safeguards at the site.

“I’m quite sure there are no recommendations from them on dealing with the fumarole or we would have dealt with it and they would have made sure that we did,” he said.

Gregory said the hazard was well known and well marked. The site was surrounded by a four-foot tall plastic snow fence and posted with a sign reading: “Closed area. CO2 emission area. Natural toxic gas.”

The snow crevasse that claimed the men is part of Mammoth Mountain’s volcanic legacy. The mountain is dotted with fumaroles, which release occasional puffs of foul-smelling gases. . During most of the year, the vents are harmless because the carbon dioxide fumes they emit dissipate in the air. But in winter, the volcanic gases pool and concentrate in pockets formed beneath the snow.

Mammoth Mountain officials and geologists say the severe winter storms that have dumped a record 638 inches of snow -- more than 53 feet -- on the mountain are at least partly to blame for the tragedy.

But one veteran ski patroller questioned whether the resort had taken adequate precautions.

“Any area in which you put employees that has a danger or atmospheric hazard or anything like that is required to provide certain safety gear,” said Mike Kelly, a San Francisco lawyer and founder of the Tahoe Backcountry Ski Patrol.

Exposure to carbon dioxide gas causes rapid breathing, an elevated heart rate, shortness of breath, unconsciousness, then death.

Gregory said the first two victims were conscious immediately after their fall. “They were asking for help, and then they were silent within two minutes,” he said.

Accounts of the rescue seem to indicate that the two men were not carrying oxygen, which is usually stored on the ski patrol sleds.

Those men were identified as John Scott McAndrews, 37, and James Juarez, 35.

McAndrews, known as “Scottie” on the mountain, was a newcomer to the ski patrol and had just called his parents to tell them he had been voted “Rookie of the Year” by his team members.

Juarez was a five-year veteran. Originally from Granada Hills, the former Marine so loved his job, his father said, that he continued even after he broke his back working on the ski runs and his Swedish girlfriend -- also a member of the ski patrol -- died in an avalanche while off-duty earlier this year.

Gregory said it appeared that the hot gases had hollowed out the snowpack, which left the two men standing on unsupported snow. He provided this account of the tragedy:

After the two men plunged into the fumarole, their five patrol partners began digging through the snow, frantically trying to reach them.

The first patroller in, Charles Walter Rosenthal, carried a small bottle of oxygen for the fallen men, but none for himself. He was quickly overcome and died.

Patrol member Jeff Bridges then donned an oxygen mask and climbed in. He, too was overcome by fumes.

A third rescuer, Steve McCombs, hooked himself to a rope, held his breath and plunged in. He managed to pull Bridges to safety.

On Friday, Gregory recalled Rosenthal, a 25-year veteran. “Walter, more than anyone I know, was immersed in the mountains,” he said. “He was a great skier, but that was secondary to him. He liked being on the front lines of Mother Nature, and that’s what he lived for.”

An expert in snow hydrology, Rosenthal, 58, had just received a federal grant at UC Santa Barbara to study the stability of snowpacks.

A work colleague of Rosenthal’s said he thought that April 1 was to have been Rosenthal’s last day patrolling the mountain and that he went back to help out after the heavy snowfall.

Bridges remained at Mammoth Lakes Hospital, suffering from oxygen deprivation and lung irritation. He was expected to be released today.

Dr. Stephen Swisher, an emergency physician at the hospital, was among the team of doctors who attended to the three who died.

“By the time of their arrival, there was nothing really that could be done,” he said.

Seven patrollers were admitted, and six were kept overnight, suffering from difficulty breathing, nausea and a general feeling of weakness.

On the mountain Friday, there were few signs of the tragedy.

The parking lot at the main lodge filled up early, as it often does, and snow from recent storms was piled everywhere.

A few skiers schussed up to the extra fences that had been erected around the fumarole, looked, then went on their way. Two mountain hosts in yellow jackets were nearby to answer any questions.

Eighteen-year-old Mammoth Lakes resident Zach Jones said he had been snowboarding with friends when the accident occurred.

“It was weird,” he said. “We were up there having fun and so were a lot of other people, and there were people dying.”

Gregory said the resort’s more than 70 ski patrol members recognize their job is dangerous. They are called upon to trigger avalanches with explosives, to rescue skiers and snowboarders in dangerous terrain, to splint broken legs and attend to head injuries. They take risks to make the mountain safe to ski.

“This is not a theme park,” Gregory said.

Gregory met with the ski patrol Thursday night, hours after their colleagues died, and told them that if they did not feel ready to return to work, he was willing to close the entire mountain.

Everyone showed up for work Friday, he said.

Times staff writers Sandy Banks, Michelle Keller and J. Michael Kennedy contributed to this report.