The White Death Page #4

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A computer model shows just how

the tragic slide progressed.

Here in Sapporo at the sight

of the 1972 Olympics,

he recreates an avalanche

on a small scale

to increase his understanding

of the internal flow of snow.

Tracking individual particles

of snow

as they behave in an avalanche

is all but impossible.

Nishimura's inspired substitute

over 300,000 ping pong balls!

The behavior of the balls

will be fed into a computer

to learn more about how hard,

how far and how fast

an avalanche will run.

Dr. Nishimura hopes to

better predict

how and where it is safe to build.

In Juneau, Alaska,

that lesson has still to be learned.

As the city has expanded

into several avalanche paths,

Juneau is a disaster

waiting to happen

Just past 5 AM on March 22, 1962

above Behrends Ave

in the Highland district...

a fast moving avalanche raced down

Mt. Juneau

and smashed into

the neighborhood below.

Miraculously no one was hurt.

But there was

an immediate public outcry.

Yet none of this should have come

as a surprise.

Avalanches had fallen in the past

and Behrends Ave lies directly

in their path.

Studies were commissioned.

Plans were made,

but nothing happened.

Mayor Dennis Egan remembers...

The city and borough of Juneau

has spent

hundreds of thousands of dollars

doing avalanche research,

doing studies.

In fact what we did was list high

hazard areas right on the maps

so when folks see those

and go out to purchase a home

from someone else

and come into

our Planning Department,

they'll know that they'll be buying

a piece of property

that's in a high hazard area.

Now we tried to put language

in the deeds that

when the property was sold

and was refinanced through lending

institutions

that they were

in a high hazard area.

But the property owners

were violently

opposed to it as well as

the financial institutions

and it didn't pass.

In fact, we had talked about

a program to buy the properties back

and the folks were violently opposed

to that as well.

It's the place they want to stay,

it's the place they want to retire

and they don't want anybody

telling them what to do.

They know they're

in a hazardous zone

but they've come to accept it.

This summer I started in July

and I've now built this deck

and I'm working on this building

which...

I'm building as I think of it.

I'm not

I don't have an exact plan but it,

I know what I want.

I want a hot tub right here.

I want to be able to see

that avalanche come and get me.

And I guess it's sort of

a King Lear thing,

uh blow ye winds and

rage ye hurricaneos.

I like the weather.

I love the weather. It's everywhere.

Apparently the risk of dying

in an avalanche

is less than that

from choking on meat

and I'm not a vegetarian

so you know,

it's just... whatever you do,

wherever you live,

I mean, people live in flood plains,

people live in mud zones,

people live in hurr...

I went to school is Sarasota Florida

where we waited for hurricanes

on a regular basis.

You know, there's no place on earth,

I don't think,

that is completely hazard free.

My friends they make jokes about it.

They call this Fort Liston.

And I get a charge out of it,

I think it's pretty funny.

And they say, well we know

you're going to be seeing

the avalanches coming down

and I say... Bring it on!

In 1972, a powder blast rocketed

straight into the center of Juneau.

Luckily by the time it hit town,

it's energy had already dissipated.

Many residents thought it was simply

a fast and furious local blizzard.

A look up should have been enough

for all to see the truth.

Experts say that it's not

a question of "if"

but "when"

the next disaster will happen.

While some choose to live

in danger zones

others must earn a living there.

One of the most incredible

survival stories

took place at the Bessie G mine

high in the La Plata mountains

of Colorado.

In November 1986, Lester Morlang

was working frantically

to build a snow shed

with his partner, mentor

and best friend Jack Ritter.

We knew this storm was coming

and we had to get this timber

in place before the storm came.

That was the whole purpose was

to keep that old east portal open

for our ventilation inside.

Because of winter weather,

the Bessie G had only been

worked three months a year.

But Jack Ritter, who knew more about

gold mining than just about anyone,

had figured out how to

operate her year round.

Yet this was the worst weather Jack

had seen in over a decade.

Two feet of snow had already fallen

and both men were

in a race with the storm.

Lester was in the bucket

of the skip loader

and Jack was handing him timbers

when everything

suddenly turned white.

When it initially hit

when I come out of the bucket.

I'm sure that was only a matter

of seconds before I landed.

And just naturally

you put your hands

in front of your face

in kind of ball up

because you don't know

what's happening to you.

But for the first few seconds,

my whole life's flashing

in front of my eyes.

And I'm seeing things

I could never remember normally.

I'm actually seeing things

like my son graduating from college

and you know I was sure

I was going to die right there.

Although the snow was

packed loosely around him,

Lester Morlang's odyssey

had just begun

When I come to of course

I had my hands

in front of my face

and everything was packed.

One of the first things I could do

was get the snow away from my face

because you go to inhale

and you were

just inhaling a mouthful of snow.

And then of course, I was screaming

for Jack, you know, I just,

screaming and crying

and everything at the same time.

I mean it's trying to

take your mind over.

Jack was already dead.

And now... buried only

a few feet from Lester,

the skip loader's diesel engine was

spewing deadly exhaust

into the snow.

I could feel the vibration

in the snow and I could hear it,

definitely hear it and I knew

to keep away from it

because I knew it would have been

a big pocket of gas.

For if I'd a dug into that loader

why that would have been it.

Lester knew where not to dig.

But which way was up?

And when I had my face free I was

kind of overlaying over on my side.

I had moisture from my mouth

and I could feel it running across

the corner of my eye.

So I knew I was laying kinda

of on my side, head down,

so I knew I wanted to start

the incline you know to get back up.

What Lester couldn't know

was that he would have to dig

through almost 30 feet of snow

fighting cold, claustrophobia

and a fear so intense,

it sickened him.

Several times I would go

into convulsions and I did throw up.

It seemed like every half hour,

why you'd have the dry heaves

and some convulsions

kind of like attacking you.

I wasn't thirsty at first

I knew not to

try and eat the snow

but my mouth was drying out

and everything and I'd take

a little bit of snow in my mouth,

just to wet my lips,

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