On the afternoon of January 30, 2021, the Team received a standby notice that a 42-year-old male skier had been caught and carried in an avalanche at Punta Bardini. The skier was not buried, but suffered varioius moderate injuries, and members of his party were present and able to assist him in evacuating the area.

Shortly after the standby call, the Team was requested to send one field team of two snowmobiles with riders to assist with the evacuation. A deputy from the Sheriff’s Office was able to ride one of the Sheriff’s Office snowmobiles to the victim and transport him to the road head.

When the MOSAR team arrived, they were directed to assist a Mono County medic with snowmobile transportation, and to assist the Mammoth Lakes Fire Department in retrieving 2 snowmobiles that had become stuck in the deep untracked snow.

Assisting MLFD in digging out their buried sled. Image by J. Bush

Those missions were completed, and the field team returned to base. The subject was transported by POV to Mammoth Hospital for treatment.

This is how deep you sink if you step off the sled… Not a ‘kneel to make it look deep’ image. B. Beck

IC: Pelichowski Ops Leader: Bush Responder: Beck