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| 3/9/2009 2:59:00 PM | Email this article • Print this article
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Lisa Roepke, wearing helmet, talks with Wallowa County Search and Rescue Coordinator Steve Rogers moments before her husband's body was packed out of the Eagle Cap Wilderness Tuesday afternoon. Roger Roepke, 50, of Enterprise, was killed by an avalanche that buried three people in a remote area of Wallowa County Saturday.
Photo by (Photo by Kathleen Ellyn/Wallowa County Chieftain) |
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| The trailhead to Aneroid Lake Basin begins with this “road” and climbs approximately 2,000 feet to Aneroid Lake Basin, the site of this weekend's avalanche.
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Avalanche buries skiers
Enterprise man dies after getting trapped under snow, two others survive avalanche
By Kathleen Ellyn
Wallowa County Chieftain
A search and rescue team made up of professional skiers, a medicine woman, and the widow of the man killed in an avalanche over the weekend skied out of the Eagle Cap Wilderness Tuesday afternoon, March 10, pulling the sled bearing the body of Roger Roepke.
Roepke, 50, of Enterprise, an experienced backcountry skier, was killed when a quarter-mile-wide slide at 8,000 feet in the Aneroid Lake Basin just below Pete's Peak buried him, his 15-year-old son Erich Roepke and another skier, Don Woodhouse, 52, of Brush Prairie, Wash.
Erich Roepke was buried up to his neck and quickly rescued by other members of the group. Woodhouse was located and dug out within 30 minutes, according to sheriff's reports. Sheriff Fred Steen reckoned that Woodhouse survived because there was a small air pocket in the snow when he was buried.
Roger Roepke was located too late and despite 90 minutes of life-saving effort, rescuers were unable to revive him.
The men were part of a nine-member group that had gone up to the remote area Thursday, March 5, intending to return to Joseph on Sunday, March 8.
The surviving skiers made it out of the wilderness within hours of the event. A recovery team of 13 skiers left Monday to retrieve the body and study the avalanche site.
Woodhouse, who is fire captain of the Vancouver Fire Department in Washington and a former ski instructor and ski patrol member on Mount Hood, was part of the retrieval team that included Ropke's wife, Lisa.
The nine-member ski group that was vacationing in the area at the time of the slide was returning from Pete's Peak (elevation approximately 9,000 feet), descending to the Aneroid Lake Cabins where they had been camping and were approximately one-half mile down (vertically) from the ridge when the avalanche struck.
"They had taken reasonable precautions prior to embarking on the trip, including digging a snow pit to examine the snow layers, and had determined the avalanche danger was moderate," Wallowa County Search and Rescue director Steve Rogers told the Chieftain.
The remote area is accessed by hiking and skiing from the trailhead at the end of Powerhouse Road on the south end of Wallowa Lake. The ski group went up the steep 7-mile trail on Thursday, March 5, led by Aneroid Lake Cabin caretaker Dennis Lund. Private groups with the permission of the owners regularly use the cabins, which are held privately by Halton Tractor of Portland.
"It's a normal occurrence for people to go up there and camp and back-country ski," said Wallowa County Sheriff Fred Steen. "This group was very professional."
Steen reported that the two survivors of the slide, Erich Roepke and Woodhouse, were the ones who skied "extremely fast" down to the head of the trail and called the sheriff's department to report the accident at 11 a.m. Sunday. Cell phone service is not available in the backcountry area and some satellite phones do not work either. Police and Search and Rescue in Wallowa County use a Sprint satellite.
Sheriff Steen praised the recovery group. "This is the first time to my knowledge we've used professional skiers from the area and beyond and it's just worked perfectly," he said "Hopefully, if we have something like this again we can call on these people. It couldn't have worked out better."
Lisa Reopke said that the retrieval team was her support system and called the experience of retrieving her husband's body "the most profound experience of my life." The stunning beauty of the harsh landscape that killed her husband moved her, she said. "I thought, no wonder he came out here. It was a perfect place."
Ferguson Ridge Ski Patrol and other professional guides have issued a warning for all backcountry skiers to "please be careful and prepared," said Rodgers. "They cornered me this morning and made sure I would ask the press make this warning public," he said. "They want people to know that the avalanche danger is very, very high. Rescue beacons are highly recommended."
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Reader Comments
Posted: Monday, July 06, 2009
Article comment by:
Tony Stapleton
I grew up with Roger in the San Francisco Bay area and have many fond memories of him. As my mother said when I told her of his passing, "A small part of us dies whenever we loose an old friend." My sympathy goes out to his family.
Posted: Friday, March 20, 2009
Article comment by:
NatEdmands
Roger was a very good man with wonderful family. He designed and engineered my home and taught me more about permaculture and sustainability than anyone else did. He will be missed.
Posted: Monday, March 16, 2009
Article comment by:
Jimmer Sites
First and foremost, my thoughts and heart are for those close to Roger Ropke it sounds like there is a loving, caring community around you to help you survive this tragedy.
I have enjoyed the Wallowas in the winter, and agree that they contain stunning beauty, and harsh landscape.
I always consider the potential consequences of backcountry travel, but having been in the Wallowas one week earlier, and assessing the avalanche danger as "moderate", this article sent shivers down my spine. I hope this incident provides other backcountry skiers with valuable information regarding the hazards we face, and not to take them lightly.
Posted: Thursday, March 12, 2009
Article comment by:
John Spengler
I am from Colorado but have driven through Joseph several times. Each time I have admired and longed to ski the mountains to the south. Although this is a terrible tragedy, life endures. What I would like to know is if the members of the party had avalanche gear (beacons, probes, shovel, etc.). None of the reports make this clear.
John Spengler
Colorado Springs, CO
Posted: Thursday, March 12, 2009
Article comment by:
John Spengler
I am from Colorado but have driven through Joseph several times. Each time I have admired and longed to ski the mountains to the south. Although this is a terrible tragedy, life endures. What I would like to know is if the members of the party had avalanche gear (beacons, probes, shovel, etc.). None of the reports make this clear.
John Spengler
Colorado Springs, CO
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