On Friday, Feb. 9, 2001, Lake Valley resident Mike Wong and his older daughter, Stephanie, were on their annual skiing getaway; this year they went to Vail.  Younger daughter, Jenny and wife, Sue, retired Niwot Elementary teacher, were unable to make it this year.   

On this day, Wong and his daughter decided to rent a snowmobile at Nova Snowmobile Rental near Leadville to tour the back country.  They were told they should bring their skis along and ski Ptarmigan Hill, a 14,000 foot mountain, 30 miles away.    Wong was told it was really "sweet" with some extreme skiing.  What Wong didn’t know was that "extreme" would  mean "avalanche."

After a day of winter fun, Stephie took her dad to the top on the snowmobile for one last run, and then went to the bottom to wait.  Coming down the mountain, Wong took a minor fall, but recovered quickly. Very soon after, he saw a shadow out of the corner of his eye, and it wasn’t a skier. His fall had caused an avalanche that covered him completely in a fraction of a second.

“As the snow kept building above my chest, I took my one ski pole, with both arms, and waived in a circular motion to create a cylindrical air hole above me.” Wong said.  

When the snow stopped, it was well above his head, and his legs were stuck.  After an exhausting amount of effort and time, Mike was able to clear enough snow off above his head to see down the hill.

Meanwhile, Stephie was at the bottom, wondering what had happened to her dad.  “It was not until another snowmobiler asked her if she had seen the avalanche that she realized I was in trouble,” said Wong.  Stephie asked the snowmobiler to call 911 on her cell phone and raced her snowmobile up toward the avalanche site until it got stuck.  She then began running up the hill.  When she saw two cross-country skiers she asked them to help look for her dad.

After a very long time, Mike was able to dig himself out.  It was then that he saw the cross-country skier.  The skier had seen him skiing down the mountian when he saw the avalanche.  The skiier had been looking for Wong ever since.  

“He yelled over to Stephanie that he had found me, and we managed to crawl, swim, and everything else to each other, and hugged and she cried,” stated Wong.

According to Wong, the unfortunate truth is, there is no law that requires rental places, such as the Nova Snowmobile Rental, to warn people of all the dangers. “They're there to rent their wares,” Wong warned. “Learn the dangers of the back country yourself, and always, always, always, evaluate dangers for yourself.”

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Photo courtesy of Michael Wong

Mike Wong on Ptarmigan Hill before he was swept up in an avalanche.