“For a life lived wholeheartedly for one year is better than a life with no
ambition
that is dragged out in a pitiful existence for a hundredfold of that.”
-Lygon
The following accounting of the avalanche was written by Gary Fallesen,
President of Climbing for Christ, and posted on the
www.ClimbingforChrist.org website on January 17, 2008 one week
after the avalanche.
Lygon Stevens, 1987-2008
Lygon Stevens loved to step out into the mountains and praise the One who
created the high places. Members of Lygon’s family will tell you that her
love for God was so great that He called her to be with Him.
Lygon Stevens was called home after she and her brother Nick were caught in
an avalanche on 14,037-foot Little Bear Peak in southern Colorado’s Sangre
de Cristo (“Blood of Christ”) Range on Thursday, Jan. 10. Lygon was 20 years
old.
On Thursday, Jan. 10, Lygon and Nick left their camp near Lake Como to
attempt a winter ascent up the West Ridge of Little Bear. They had been in
the Blanca Group (Blanca Peak, Little Bear, Ellingwood Point, and Mount
Lindsey) since Monday, Jan. 7, having camped the nights of Tuesday, Jan. 8
and Wednesday, Jan. 9 near Lake Como.
Lygon
and Nick were pushed off the ridgeline and were high on a snow slope
somewhere around 13,000 feet when a large avalanche occurred between 11 a.m.
and noon Thursday, Jan. 10. The slide broke near the ridge in complicated
terrain. The avalanche swept Lygon and Nick through a cliff band, and set
off a secondary avalanche that added snow to the debris field. The slide was
about four feet deep, 400 feet wide, and ran 800 to 1,000 vertical feet over
some cliffs, according to the Colorado Avalanche Information Center.
The debris zone was estimated to be five to 20 feet deep.
Nick was knocked unconscious by the avalanche. He does not know how long he
was unconscious. When he regained consciousness he found himself kneeling
in waist-deep snow. He had suffered three broken ribs, a punctured lung, and
a laceration to his forehead, a dislocated finger, and a knee injury. His
titanium ice ax, which was clipped into his harness had the adze ripped off
and the pick bent at a 30-degree angle.
Nick yelled, searched and probed with his ice ax for Lygon in the debris,
but found no sign of her.
Nick then climbed back up over the ridge they'd been on and descended back
to camp at 11,700 feet as a cold darkness settled over the mountain. His
sister’s cellular phone was in their tent, but there was no cell signal.
Nick spent what must have been a difficult night at the camp. At first
light, he descended the rest of the way to the trailhead at 8,000 feet. When
he was able to get a signal on the cell phone he called for help. The
Alamosa Valley Search and Rescue (AVSAR) picked him up along the trail.
Flight for Life later transported him to the near-by hospital in Alamosa
where he was kept overnight for observation.
A search-and-rescue operation was set up on Friday. Two searchers were
hospitalized by the difficult conditions — one was treated for exposure and
the other reportedly hurt a previously injured hip. The rescue was halted at
nightfall.
Following is the Colorado Avalanche Information Center report of the
avalanche in which Nick and Lygon were caught:
Little Bear Peak
January 10, 2008
Two climbers caught, one partially-buried non-critical, one completely
buried and killed.
PRELIMINARY REPORT
Two climbers attempting to climb the west ridge of Little Bear Peak were
caught in an avalanche while crossing a rugged and steep southwest aspect in
Little Bear Basin on January 10. They triggered the avalanche near the
ridgeline. The two were washed over a cliff (~100 feet). At the base of the
cliff, the first avalanche triggered a second avalanche that was about four
feet deep and ran to the ground in places. The debris stopped in a gulley
near the top of a moraine. One of the climbers was buried to his waist. He
dug himself out of the debris, but could not find any sign of his partner.
With significant injuries, he climbed back to the ridge and down the other
side to their camp. The next morning he descended the Como Lake drainage and
called for help via 911 once he regained cell phone coverage near the San
Luis Valley floor.
On January 12, rescue teams reached the bottom of the avalanche via
helicopter. They completed a scuff-search, but found no sign of the second
climber. They deemed the site too dangerous for an extended rescue
deployment. Random probing indicated debris 7 feet and deeper.
To link to CBS Channel 4 news coverage of the avalanche:
http://cbs4denver.com/local/avalanche.alamosa.missing.2.628938.html
