Alan Austin will have to cancel his New Year's ski trip, unfortunately. But he does plan to be back on the slopes this winter.
The Palo Alto attorney and snow-cave survivor, now recovering from minor frostbite to his toes, was found Monday, Dec. 5, after two nights in the back country behind Squaw Valley ski resort.
"I'm doing fine. My toes are numb, but the doctors tell me I'll make a full recovery," he said Friday from his Atherton home, just four days after he was rescued in the Five Lakes Range between Squaw Valley and Alpine Meadows.
"I keep thinking of that Andy Warhol quote about how everybody at some time gets 15 minutes of fame. Well, I guess this was mine, although I would have preferred if it were for something else than getting lost."
Austin, a securities lawyer with Wilson Sonsini Goodrich & Rosati in Palo Alto, made a brief appearance at work Thursday and found that his colleagues had made a mock snow cave out of his office, complete with pine branches, skis, a toy rescue helicopter and 500 Eskimo pies. He returned to work full time on Monday.
"He's walking a bit gingerly but otherwise he's fine," said Sandy Gray, his secretary of more than 18 years.
Gray said she and everyone in the office were devastated when they learned Sunday morning Austin was missing, but she had faith he would be found alive. "I just had a feeling in my heart he would survive. He's very, very smart, calm. He understands what to do at all times, in work or play."
Austin had decided to make one last run before rejoining his three young daughters at the lodge Saturday, Dec. 3.
A blizzard had created white-out conditions at the top of the mountain, Austin said, and he accidentally skied out of bounds off the KT-22 chair lift, an expert lift that serves runs so steep that it was named because it took a skier 22 kick-turns, hopping back and forth with one's skis nearly perpendicular to the slope, to get down.
Austin, who serves on the boards of his daughter's schools, Castilleja in Palo Alto and Phillips Brooks in Menlo Park, apparently skied down the back side of the mountain toward Alpine Meadows and found himself disoriented, in dwindling daylight and in snow too deep to walk in. That's when he knew he'd be spending the night and had better find shelter.
He found a pine tree with a branch laden with snow that made a natural lean-to. He started digging a cave into the side of the snow drift under the tree with his ski pole and soggy-gloved hands.
"I'd never dug a snow cave, but I'd read about it and seen it on TV. I did sleep out one night 35 years ago in the Boy Scouts, but there wasn't much snow. I remembered we took pine needles and pine bows to keep us off the snow and provide insulation.
"It was snowing hard but twilight seemed to go on and on," he said. "Searchlights were on the opposite side of the mountain which reflected off the clouds so I could see a little bit to keep working on my cave.
"The mouth of the cave was still letting a lot of wind in so I got more pine branches and put them partially over the opening and sealed it with wet snow," he said. "Even so, when the wind would gust, it would blow in.
"I didn't sleep at all. I tried to stay awake. The hardest thing was keeping my toes warm. I did toe wiggles constantly, about 20 a minute or more. My hands weren't a problem. My gloves were sopping wet but I balled up my fists inside them, wrapped my arms across my chest and stuck my hands into my armpits, and that kept me pretty warm. I didn't want to shiver so I did exercises."
The cave was about six feet deep and two feet tall, he said, so he could lie on his side. The next night he made a better cover with pine branches and sticks to put over the cave opening.
"That really helped keep out a lot of the wind. I was actually more comfortable the second night, except for my toes. I had a technical ski parka with a substantial hood and a wool stocking cap to keep my head warm."
It was still snowing, so he kept a ski pole inside the cave in case he had to dig himself out in the morning.
He debated whether to stay near the cave or try to hike out to safety. "I shouted a lot. I knew they were looking for me. I knew I needed to get out in the open, because I wasn't visible enough in the trees. But the snow was too deep to walk in so I had to stomp a path." The meadow was about 100 yards away. "It took probably seven or eight hours of really intense, laborious work to stomp a path out there."
Austin's mental state was positive.
"I really stayed pretty up. I had a few moments of depression, but I just told myself to stay moving, be tough, keep burning calories for heat. I had to resist the temptation to do something dumb, and get injured or trapped."
"I ate a lot of snow (to keep hydrated), but I didn't really feel like I needed to eat. I tried nibbling on a pine cone to see if there were any nuts in there; it wasn't too satisfying. I figured I could go at least a week without food as long as I had water."
At 3:25 p.m. Monday, Austin was spotted and picked up in the meadow by a California National Guard Helicopter and taken to a hospital in Truckee, suffering from mild hypothermia. "I was wet to the skin," he said.
As he is now well-qualified to do, Austin has a bit of advice for anyone who ever finds themselves in similar straits.
"If you get in this kind of situation the right thing to do is get yourself safe and secure and wait for help. It's the best strategy for survival." --Peter Gauvin
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