In March 1982, Larry Heywood, head of the Alpine Meadows Ski Patrol, heard a frantic voice on his radio.
“I need help … I need (search and rescue) dogs,” the radio crackled. Heywood and three other patrols who had been in the nearby Squaw Valley (now Palisades Tahoe) made their way back to Alpine Meadows, arrived just before dark, and what they saw shook them.
“Suddenly you could only see a wall made of 3 or 3 meters of snow. As far as the eye could see it was an avalanche. Big trees had fallen, ”Heywood told the RGJ after the incident. “A snowmobile was completely torn up and destroyed … You could see people wriggling in the snow.”
This winter, marking the 40th anniversary of the deadliest avalanche in a North American ski resort, two Tahoe filmmakers bring history back to life.
“Buried: the 1982 Alpine Meadows Avalanche” is a 90-minute documentary that examines the hours and decisions that led to the historic event that killed seven people in the popular ski resort.
It also picks up on the historic rescue efforts of the following days, including the first known rescue by a dog of a living person caught in an avalanche.
The Epic Slide is a pivotal piece of North American history that has flown largely under Tahoe’s radar for the past several decades.
“One of the premise of the film is to make sure this story doesn’t go down in history. A lot of people tried to sweep it under the rug back then, ”says Steven Siig, who co-wrote and directed the film with Jared Drake. “We need the public to understand that the mountains are not tame just because you are in a ski area.”
“The people who live up here know it’s damn dangerous,” added Drake, who lives with Siig in Alpine Meadows. “People outside of our community don’t understand that … Hopefully the film will shake people up and make them awake.”
A wall of snow
In March 1982, no one in Tahoe thought of drought.
The base snowpack at Alpine Meadows was over 7 feet deep and up to 4 feet at higher elevations.
In late March of the same year, a series of storms drew up, dropping almost two meters more snow in four days. With the storm came strong winds that swept over the ridges at 160 miles per hour.
“The visibility had dropped to zero. It was a violent storm that was difficult to handle, ”said Bob Moore, Winter Sports Specialist for the Forest Service’s Truckee Ranger District and avalanche expert, told RGJ in 1997.
The resort is classified as a “Class A” avalanche area by the US Forest Service, which means it has a high avalanche frequency. Back then, the resort recorded the most avalanche releases per year of any ski resort in the United States.
As the storms continued to lash the Tahoe region, Alpine Meadows closed its lifts on March 29 and only opened three lower lifts on March 30 due to the high winds and the risk of avalanches.
Every day, ski patrols planted up to 100 pounds of dynamite in areas with heavy snow accumulation to create controlled avalanches. In the areas of Poma Rocks, Pond Slide and Buttress Slope, to which area patrols had no safe access, explosive projectiles were fired from a recoilless 75mm rifle and a mobile howitzer mounted underneath.
On March 31, Alpine Meadows closed again due to heavy snowfall. The several hundred employees of the resort were mostly gone, only a remaining crew of 13 employees was on site.
At 3:45 p.m., just before closing time, millions of tons of snow pelted down a 700-foot drop of Buttress Slope, Pond Slide, and Poma Rocks.
The avalanche overturned heavy equipment, piled snow in the main hut and with its force blew up a two-story building belonging to the ski lift workers.
The slide killed seven people: Frank Yateman, David Hahn, Leroy Nelson, Laura Nelson, Beth Morrow, Bernie Kingery, and Jake Smith. Laura Nelson was only 11 years old.
In addition, an Alpine Meadows employee was stuck in one of the collapsed buildings for more than 117 hours. When found by an avalanche dog, it was the first time an avalanche dog rescued a living person in North America.
“It’s a game changer in dog search and rescue and the development of ski slopes as a profession,” said Siig. “It’s really a glimpse into the ski patrol.”
After the avalanches hit, the storms continued. Nearly 300 people have been evacuated from Alpine Meadow and parts of Squaw Valley because of the ongoing threat from the storms.
Accept the danger
Avalanche barriers surround Siig’s house in Alpine Meadows. His family property was hit several times by slides.
On average, the ski area gets more than 400 inches of snow annually, and Siig and Drake, who live down the street, don’t get much less to their homes.
After a major thunderstorm, they set avalanche transceivers to clear snow from their rooftops and text the other one to let them know if they don’t hear anything within half an hour.
“You have to accept and acknowledge and accept the danger of living up here. That doesn’t mean you have to freak out every morning, but you have to be aware of it, ”said Drake. “To be buried in snow is part of life here.”
A decade ago, Drake didn’t have to worry about snow. He and his wife lived in Southern California where he worked in Hollywood. But eight years ago they traded the hustle and bustle of Southern California for the laid-back pace of Tahoe, and Drake bonded with Siig, a filmmaker who worked for Warren Miller and co-owns the Tahoe Art House and Cinema.
They’ve worked on a variety of smaller projects together, but “Buried” is the first feature they’ve co-directed.
Since its release at the festival, the film has won several awards including the Audience Award at MountainFilm in Telluride, the Silver Audience Award at the Boulder International Film Festival, and Best Documentary at the Bend and Austin Film Festivals. It was also included in the Banff and Whistler film festivals.
The 90-minute film will be shown in an extended screening from December 3rd to 9th at Tahoe Art Haus & Cinema. The film is also slated for commercial release in March, followed by streaming options.
Amy Alonzo covers nature, recreation, and the environment for Nevada and Lake Tahoe. You can reach her at aalonzo@gannett.com. In this way you can support ongoing reporting and local journalism.
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