Two rescue operations; two very different results

On the afternoon of April 24, the Mono County Sheriff Search and Rescue (SAR) Team was called out to search for a lost snowboarder. Tiffany Pridanonda, age 21, of Walnut, Calif., was snowboarding on June Mountain with a group of friends when she became separated and went out of bounds from the top of Chair 6. She went downhill to the east but could not climb back up. She sent cell phone text messages to her friends and attempted to navigate to U.S. 395. She went as far as the Hartley Springs campground, called 911, and was advised to stay where she was until the SAR team arrived. SAR field teams on snowmobiles located and transported her to U.S. 395 to join her friends. –MCSD

Another Search and Rescue operation, however, did not end on such a happy note. Powder Magazine reported that the bodies of Kip Garre and Allison Kreutzen were discovered on April 28 during a search-and-rescue operation. The Tahoe couple had taken a ski mountaineering outing to Split Mountain, south of Bishop, Calif. on Tuesday, April 26.

According to Robb Gaffney, one of Garre and Kreutzen’s friends from Squaw who was involved in the SAR operation, “Three days ago Kip and Allison went down to ski the Split Couloir on Split Mountain. They slept and then went out early the next morning [Tuesday]. Usually at the end of a big day, they’ll call and share the details and let people know it went OK. But nobody had heard from them, so yesterday Dan Molnar drove up to trailhead and found their car with Allison’s dog still in it. That was pretty alarming, because it’s a day trip and they didn’t bring gear with them for over-nighting.”

For the full story, visit http://www.powdermag.com/mantle/kip-garre-1973-2011/.