“I don’t have a signal either. Is his transceiver not on?”
“We need all hands on deck now!”
Their confidence was crushed. The most essential avalanche rescue tool, fundamental to their training scenarios, was suddenly useless. They’d have to find him using other means: pole-like probes and shovels. If they didn’t find him in 15 or 20 minutes, he likely wouldn’t survive. They were approaching the two-minute mark.
No way, McIntosh said to himself. This
can’t be how Nick McNutt dies.
They thrust their probes into the snow, guessing at which bit of debris he lay beneath. Lustenberger, the mountain guide, suggested they begin a probe line a methodical search of the whole avalanche area, top to bottom. “Now we’re relying on techniques used for body recovery, not rescue,” she says. McNutt, meanwhile, had no idea what was happening above. His snow tomb was soundproof. He realized he could pull in air through the porous snow, but only if he breathed slowly. So he