Grouse Hollow Journal for
April 25, 2013 by Greg Koelker
Have you smelled the sweet
scent of new mown grass yet? We have. Okay, we had to drive four hours to Altoona,
Iowa to experience it this last weekend. We went down to visit our friends Jane
and Tom Downs. After Tom stuffed us full of Iowa sausage and eggs on Saturday
morning, we drove to downtown Des Moines and took the tour of the World Food
Prize Hall of Laureates. The idea was founded by Nobel Peace Prize Laureate Dr.
Norman Borlaug, who received the prize for saving millions of lives through the
advancement of the production of food in many countries. The hall is housed in
the former Des Moines Public Library building that was restored and remodeled
to magnificence for something like $30 million. The Ruan family, you've seen
their semi-trucks no doubt, were instrumental in raising and organizing the
hall. The place is gorgeously decorated complete with gold leaf trim and marble
entry ways and floors and tall stained glass windows and the original stained
glass dome. After that we toured the Iowa Hall of Pride, a nicely appointed
museum of Iowa high school accomplishments and famous Iowans like John Wayne,
NFL star Kurt Warner and Shawn Johnson of Olympic fame. It is the first and only one of its kind in the nation. It is a
project of the Iowa High School Athletic Association (IHSAA). The Iowa Hall of
Pride honors past and present Iowa high school students involved in
extracurricular activities including athletics, academics, and the arts. The
Hall was designed to celebrate notable graduates and their achievements in all
Iowa communities over the past 100-plus years! It has countless touch screens
and interactive games. Each of the Hall's 26 exhibits tell the stories of
Iowa's rich traditions in education and extracurricular activities. Eight
interactive kiosks showcase outstanding alumni, individual and school
accompishments, and outstanding attractions in each of the towns and cities
that make up the 403 school districts in Iowa. Ellen and I competed in throwing
footballs through a moving target and hitting a moving basketball hoop. I won!
Barely. Anyway, this is pretty cool and Wisconsin should have one I think.
That evening we
attended a 40th anniversary/slash 60th birthday party. While we were
there, Ellen got a call from Ben out in Colorado. She said he sounded upset, so
she went outside to hear better. Ben told her that there had been a terrible
accident in the mountains near Loveland Pass. Five snowboarders had been killed
by an avalanche. A sixth boarder managed to dig himself out and call for help.
He and Mark and Whitney were friends with a couple of them. One of them was Joe
Timlin, the rep for Jones Snowboard Company, Mark's main sponsor (Mark is a pro
snow boarder).
When we talked with
Mark the next day, he said that he and his friends Joe Otremba and Wookie had
been riding with the six boarders that morning. They had all helped raise money
for the Avalanche Center the night before. They
were participating in a snowboarding event called the Rocky Mountain High
Backcountry Bash sponsored by the Snowboard Colorado magazine to raise
money for the Colorado Avalanche Information Center. On Saturday
afternoon, snowboard reps and avalanche experts talked to a crowd of boarders and
skiers about avalanche awareness and promoting backcountry snow sports and safety.
The
event was organized by Timlin.
Mark and Joe and
Wookie decided not to go with them to Loveland Pass, an apparently notorious
area for avalanches. Mark was having a hard time comprehending what they had
done after what they had just said at the meeting. He told us that there had
been six riders and one managed to dig himself out in three hours and call for
help. They were all found within ten
feet of each other tangled in trees and rocks. Several of them left behind
wives and one had an 8-month old baby. Ben
said he was going out for a walk to clear his head when we talked with him on
Sunday. He just couldn't understand it. He said one of the dead boarders was an
expert and knew more than most anyone about how to avoid avalanches and what to
look for. Perhaps the survivor, Jerome Boulay, will be able to shed some light
on what happened.
Our hearts go out
to the families and friends of Christopher
Peters, 32, of Lakewood; Joseph Timlin, 32, of Gypsum, CO; Ryan Novack, 33, of
Boulder, CO; Ian Lamphere, 36, of Crested Butte, CO; and Rick Gaukel, 33, of
Estes Park, CO as well as Jerome Boulay, who was buried and survived. If you
wish, you can check out the Vail Daily newspaper at: http://www.vaildaily.com/ and read more
about what they say is Colorado’s deadliest avalanche in 50 years.
We are so very thankful that our Colorado mountain men and
woman are safe.
Until
next time, get out – it was 64 and sunny in Altoona on Sunday and people were
mowing their lawns. By the time we got
to Albert Lee on the way back, the temp had dropped to 38. Back at Grouse Hollow, I discovered a pinkish
spring flower growing along our ridge road Sunday afternoon when Scout and I
were out for a walk. Maybe just maybe,
we'll be able to think spring, find some morels, and smell that sweet aroma of
newly cut grass soon.
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