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Show Page B2 Thursday, December 29, 1988 Park Record A scary story of being part of an avalanche by GREG DOLLHAUSEN ParkWest Ski Patrol Red Pine Backcountry Rescue It was late in the day as we began our descent from the upper reaches of Butler Fork. We had spent the last six hours skiing bowl after bowl of untracked snow without any problems pro-blems or signs of instability. I stopped stop-ped at the top of a short open knob and watched Brad casually ski over the brakeover. A large crack appeared ap-peared behind him. Before he could react, the entire slope splintered into a million pieces, taking Brad down with it. As fast as it had begun, it was over. I called his name but there was no reply. Now it was time to start moving, for in an avalanche rescue every minute counts. If you are caught in an avalanche, your main chance of survival depends on your companions. A buried victim must be recovered as soon as possible; 50 percent perish in the first half hour; and with the dramatic increase in snow depth in the last week, we should all be brushing up on our backcountry rescue techniques. A pieps and shovel are essential items. Having one without the other is useless. Knowing how to use them is not as easy as you would expect. If you are not willing to carry both a shovel and a pieps you should probably pro-bably consider skiing alone. Next, don't ski alone. If you are caught and burned, you will be found sometime in the spring. When skiing in a group, ski one at a time, with everyone watching and listening. listen-ing. As a general rule, talk is kept to a minimum when someone is in a bowl unless something goes wrong. Always have a good vantage point of your partner and the slope. If an avalanche does break loose, scream directions; right, left, or straight. Mark the last seen point and make sure it's safe before entering enter-ing the slope. If there are a few people, peo-ple, consider sending one for help, especially if it's close by. However, if you are alone, follow the slide path down to the last seen point while looking for surface clues. Turn your pieps on receive and begin zigzagging, zigzagg-ing, listening for a signal. Look for areas of greatest deposition such as TDae Csait's SBBBBSBBBBESEBBSHRnBm by Randy Hanskat Promoting up the wrong tree? Two weeks ago I did a story on an interesting guy who has come up with an idea for an interesting in-teresting program, all with the earnest desire to ' do something good for a segment of the population. popula-tion. How many people and programs can you say that about? The guy is Jack Wells and his program is called It's Never Too Late. It is a ski instruction program designed for beginning skiers, mostly over the age of 50, who may have thought it was too late to take up the sport of skiing. While talking about information for the article, it occurred to me that the marketing of the sport of skiing may not be hitting the right target market. It may be barking up the wrong tree, so to speak; For instance, the market Jack is seeking to satisfy with It's Never Too Late To Ski is rapidly becoming the largest segment of the population. In case you didn't read the earlier article, here are a couple interesting statistics. By the year 2000, demographic studies show that one out of five people peo-ple in the United States will be 55 or older, making that group the fastest growing segment of the population. Skiers, like the population as a whole, are aging. Cheryl Russel, editor-in-chief of American Demographic magazine, says, "Skiing is no longer a youth-dominated sport... The number of Americans aged 40 to 60 will increase by 68 per-. cent between 1986 and 2010... Skiing will soon be ruled by the middle-aged." But you couldn't tell that from magazine covers and promotional literature. On virtually every magazine about skiing what do you find on the cover? You find young guys doing hairy jumps off cliffs. You find guys spread eagled in the midst of an aerial maneuver. You find anything but the day-to-day average skier. The thinking is probably that such photos will sell magazines. That may be so. But beneath the surface something else may be going on scaring the wits out of many a would-be skier, reinforcing the image that skiing is a very dangerous sport. That image is timeworn. How many movies or TV shows have shown the beautiful woman sitting in the lodge with a broken leg after her first day on the slopes? With advances in equipment, however, the modern reality is that broken bones are very rare. The more predominant injuries nowadays are ligament strains and tears, the same injuries which can happen in more gentle sports such as tennis. But the public still perceives skiing as a dangerous, macho sport reserved solely for those young of heart and big on courage. Jack told me surveys show that only 12 to 20 percent of the Salt Lake Valley residents ski. How can that be true, with the excellent skiing so near to them? ( Fear. If you don't take up skiing at a somewhat early age, the feeling, reinforced by ski marketing and advertising, is that you missed the boat on something young people do. Jack says he knows that is a misconception, after all, he is a 67-year-old skier himself, and it is what spurred him to start a program to counter some of what's missing in the ski industry. If the middle aged and elderly are the fastest growing segment of the industry, why isn't anyone paying attention? Why do nine out of 10 magazine photos and promotion photos depict people getting air? Why are Warren Miller movies the norm, where young guys defy death, all the while skiing? Could it be that much of ski industry marketing is peopled mostly by those who have come off the mountain, maybe starting on lifts, ticket checking, check-ing, or hosting, and moving their way inside, ending en-ding up in the marketing end of the business? Maybe these people know expert skiing, but do they know marketing? The way the ski business continues to target youth makes you wonder. The Professional Skier, the official publication of the Professional Ski Instructors of America (PSIA) has similar questions in its Winter 1988 edition. Of ski marketing it asks, "Are we creating the impression that skiing "ends" at 35 with heavy emphasis in advertising (and magazine covers!) on young flashy skiers caught by cameras in breathtaking, if not downright frightening to some, skiing situations? One could argue that these images scare off would-be skiers and turn off other skiers for whom skiing at this level may no longer be possible... By in large, the image that skiing is a youth-oriented sport prevails." Jack says he would simply like to see, for once, a magazine cover depicting a group of "average" skiers out having fun. Or a group of senior skiers on the mountain. The Park City Ski Area seems to have partially targeted the family market of the ski business, and its mountain layout fits well with that segment. seg-ment. But it also fits well into the scheme of the older skier, with short steep sections followed by rejuvenating runouts, with top to bottom beginner skiing. So, Jack took his idea to attract older beginning skiers to Phil Jones, president of PCSA. With an open attitude, Jones jumped on the idea and the Park City Ski Area became the base of It's Never Too Late To Ski. Hopefully, the area will promote the idea, not let it sit and die, as it seems evident it is an idea whose time has come. And maybe who knows, Park City could become the destination of the largest segment of the population. Some changes will have to be made, the focus of some promotions promo-tions changed. But if we target them right, they'll come, and everybody will like that. American Heart Association WE'RE FIGHTING FOR YOUR LIFE MB ; m ' ' if ; -m : ; ! -iifitiP NC PROGRAMER Lucas Western-a world leader in the production of precision geared products for the aerospace industry-has commenced operations in its training facility Park City and is building its 88,000 square foot manufacturing plant at the junction of highways 40 and 80 in Summit County. Lucas Western anticipates a workforce of 200-250 employees at full capacity. Lucas Western has an IMMEDIATE NEED for a NC Programmer. This position's job duties include; programming and reprogramming CNC lathes and mills using blueprints and sketches and acquired machining experience; instructing machinists and machine operators in machine set up techniques; working closely with tool design on special tooling and fixtures for CNC machines. The successful candidate MUST HAVE experience in tooling for CNC lathe (indexable inserts); knowledge of APT language; an Associates degree in machine tool technology with 1 year of NC programming or 3 years of NC programming. Knowledge of Okuma controls desirable. If you possess the minium qualifications please IMMEDIATELY send us a resume to P0 Box 680910, Park City, Ut. 84068 with present and expected salary as well as shifts you prefer to work and shifts you are willing to work. , If you have applied with us previously, please send us a letter referencing this position along with salary1 and shift information. Lucas Western offers competitive salaries and a full package of benefits including group health, dental, vision, life insurance as well as tuition reimbursement and a 401 K savingsretirement plan. Lucas Western is an equal opportunity employer. benches, trees, and gullies. Once a signal is picked up, change the orientation of your transceiver until it is strongest and keep it oriented the same direction. The terminal ter-minal phase of a search can be approached ap-proached from many different methods. Bracketing, right angles, whatever, it doesn't really matter as long as you practice. Speed is of the essence. Once you've found where your companion is, begin digging by cutting blocks to avoid breaking the shovel. Go for the face, trying to get an air space to the victim. Handle them delicately due to possible hypothermia andor. traumatic injury. in-jury. CPR and first, aid skills are essential. " Being able to rely on the speed and efficiency of your companions in a backcountry emergency is extreme ly important. However, the grim statistics still show that most totally burried avalanche victims do not survive. This Sometimes false sense of security in numbers can lead to problems. The best avalanche is no avalanche. If you witness an avalanche avalan-che accident contact your local ski patrol, forest service, or police dept. Red Pine Backcountry -Rescue will be activated immediately. LET IT 5II0W LET IT W LET IT MOW! i n n o . ERNST riMT noonn nouxr fREMrLOlMtWWim CALL 040-0910 U HILLSIDE in OLD T0WI1 iff Dinner 6 a.m. -Midnight 7 days a week MONDAY Spaghetti Dinner $3.35 Tossed green salad, vegetable, . garlic bread. J s. f TUESDAY Chicken-Fried Steak $4.95 Whipped potatoes, vegetable. tossed green salad, dinner roll , & butter. J WEDNESDAY Prune Rib 8 ounce $6.95 Baked potato, tossed salad, vegetable, dinner roll n & butter. P0 I I CAFE THURSDAY 2 Large Pork Chops $5.45 Baked potato, applesauce, tossed green salad, . dinner roll. Park City friendly family restaurant. As good as the best, better than the rest. We also serve a breakfast and luncheon special daily. Private parties. No substitutions Specials Jet. 224 & 248 East Park City 649-9868 -X. FRIDAY Halibut Steak 8 ounce $6.50 Baked potato, tossed green salad, vegetable, dinner roll s & butter, J ' SATURDAY T-Bone Steak 12 ounce $6.95 Baked potato, tossed green salad, vegetable, dinner roll t fit butter. J c SUNDAY One half Fried Chicken $5.95 Baked potato, tossed green salad, vegetable, dinner roll & butter. HIGH SCHOOL NEW YEAR'S EVE PARTY Dec. 31st 8 pm-2 am ess T PLACE (WRK CITY FNTER'AINMENT CENTER INC. MAIN STREET. PARK CITY. )vi '$10 per person admission f. Lock in after 10:30 pm Rides to hotels at 2 am j wmutjb lu iiuieis cii ciiii A d provided for tourists dV3 Pizza Dance Contest ft ft Popcorn ft Soda ft Russ Mathews as DJ ? CO 1 OA -sr. 649-4579 I s V |
