Miracle mutt survives avalanche

Hungry Horse News

Imagine standing on a cornice of snow high above a steep mountain face.

Now imagine the cornice cracking and busting off from your weight.

You go crashing down hundreds of feet, tumbling through the subsequent avalanche, feet churning, mouth open.

It takes all of six, eight seconds.

When it's all done, you come up wagging your tail.

A chocolate Lab named Vidar who likes to chase sticks had the ride of his life April 3 when the cornice he was standing on gave way, creating a tree-churning avalanche.

Kalispell attorney Jim Cossitt said one moment he was admiring the views from atop Flattop Mountain near Marias Pass and the next moment the horizon disappeared.

"We had just skinned up to the top and were taking a break when, with a loud crack, 40 to 50 feet of cornice, about twelve feet wide, gave way, triggered by the weight of my Lab," Cossitt said. "Vidar was on the wrong side of the fracture line."

Finding himself about five feet from the new edge, Cossitt looked down to see trees torn loose and tumbling in the resulting avalanche.

"I saw Vidar bob to the surface and go back under a couple times," Cossitt said. "About eight to 10 seconds after the cornice broke, the slide stopped and I could see Vidar on the surface, wagging his tail and looking up at us."

With more overhanging cornices on Flattop's east-facing slope threatening to break loose, Cossitt and another skier headed north along the ridge looking for a safe place to descend.

In the meantime, having heard their calls, Vidar struggled in the deep snow to reach them until he was stopped by tree wells and a steep section. The two skiers made their way through the trees and cliffs to the avalanche debris, beating a trail for the unharmed dog to follow.

Cossitt estimated the slide's crown fracture to be 300 feet across and three to five feet deep. The debris field was almost a quarter of a mile long, he said, and chunks of cornice twice the size of a refrigerator lay a hundred yards or more below the ridge top.

With temperatures approaching 40 degrees, a thick layer of week-old snow had softened to create sticky conditions for skis and dogs. The warmth had also weakened the cornices created by the strong, prevailing winds near Marias Pass.

"One of the lessons for backcountry skiers is that you gotta pay attention to keeping the dog under control at all times," Cossitt said. "This event was triggered by a mere 80 pounds of Lab."

Vidar-whose name comes "from Germanic mythology and personifies the imperishable forces of nature," Cossitt said-is a stout six-year-old who is no stranger to mountaineering. He's been to the summit of peaks across the state, including an ascent of Great Northern in a whiteout.

But what he really likes to do is fetch sticks.

No sooner was Vidar shaking off his avalanche ride then he was looking for another stick to chase.

Fetch Vidar, fetch!