‘I Thought I Was Dying’: 3 Hurt, 1 Missing in Cascade Avalanches
Three people were injured and one is missing after a pair of dangerous avalanches barreled down the mountain slopes near Snoqualmie Pass on Saturday amid heavy snowfall, King County sheriff’s officials said.
The first avalanche, on Granite Mountain, injured two snowshoers and left one man missing. The site is off milepost 47 on Interstate 90.
“They started out, everything’s fine, they’re in a gully-type area - when they’re hit by the avalanche,” said Sgt. Katie Larson of the King County Sheriff’s Office.
“One of the climbers tells me that they had no warning. The avalanche, at this point, from what he’s describing, is 30 feet wide, eight feet deep and about a quarter-mile long,” she added.
Larson said one of the hikers was carrying a GPS device, which showed that they were carried more than 1,200 feet down the mountain in the avalanche at speeds of up to 53 mph.
One survivor has a shoulder injury, the other an injured hamstring. Both men are from the Kent-Auburn area.
They were apparently among other snowshoers up in that area who are now helping with the search for the still-missing hiker, a 60-year-old man who is also from the Auburn area.
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