"That would be extremely difficult. Digging through avalanche snow is very, very difficult. With 12 skiers buried under the snow and only three on the surface, it would have been highly unlikely they could all be located alive."
"The rescue under Perry's Peak would have been harrowing, experts said, as those on the surface typically only have about ten minutes to locate and dig out avalanche survivors - possibly already wounded by blunt-force trauma as they were swept up by a wall of snow - before they run out of oxygen and asphyxiate."
"A soft-slab avalanche could have either involved the new snow itself failing, or the weaker layer underneath failing and releasing the new snow on top. Those scenarios could either be triggered by new snow falling on existing snow; a cornice, or mass of hanging snow, falling; or a human trigger."
A deadly avalanche near Lake Tahoe killed nine people during a backcountry skiing trip on February 17. Three of the survivors were buried under snow and rescued by fellow skiers in the critical minutes following the disaster. With twelve people buried and only three on the surface, rescue efforts faced extreme difficulty. The avalanche was identified as a soft-slab type, involving new snow failing or releasing from weaker layers beneath. Survivors typically have approximately ten minutes to locate and excavate buried victims before oxygen depletion causes asphyxiation. Rescue operations were hampered by severe weather conditions that delayed recovery efforts for several days.
Read at The Mercury News
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