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WEDNESDAY, 07.08.2015
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Body recovered from cave Probe Crews use explosives to reach woman; 911 caller described collapse
clears deputy exec Lynnwood police conclude Mark Ericks did not pressure planning staff, an investigation that highlights ongoing tensions. By Noah Haglund Herald Writer
weakens,” said Bernard Hallet, a glaciologist with the University of Washington’s Glaciology Group. That increases the danger of a snow bridge or cave roof collapse, Hallet said, but it’s compounded by the fact that the water flowing into the snow makes it heavier and even more prone to collapse. The caves have been a popular tourist destination since at least 1921, when brothers Wyatt and Bethel Rucker of Everett opened a resort called the Big Four Inn on the spot where the trailhead parking lot is today, according to an essay on Historylink.org. The inn burned down in 1949. Adrienne Hall, manager for
EVERETT — Police detectives have found no evidence to support claims that Deputy Snohomish County Executive Mark Ericks illegally pressured planning staff to approve permits for developers. Prosecuting Attorney Mark Roe asked Lynnwood police to investigate after Mark Ericks allegations surfaced in an earlier report that looked into Ericks’ workplace behavior. In the recent investigation, authorities interviewed Ericks, county staff and developers. FBI agents assisted because of the suggestion of public corruption. “There’s nothing that could remotely be considered criminal,” Roe said. Ericks was a career police officer and former U.S. Marshal for the Western District of Washington before becoming County Executive John Lovick’s top administrator two years ago. The probe put him in the unfamiliar role of responding to detectives’ questions, rather than asking them. “I did nothing wrong and somebody set out to wreck my character,” Ericks told The Daily Herald. “It’s what I said all along.” The investigation highlights ongoing tension between Lovick’s administration and three of five County Council members. Council Chairman Dave Somers is one of four candidates challenging Lovick, a fellow Democrat, in next month’s primary election for the executive’s job. Roe said he alone decided it was necessary have an outside police agency look into the allegations against Ericks. Claims that the deputy executive had influenced county land-use decisions came up in the workplace investigation that a majority of the County Council authorized in December. The purpose of the earlier workplace
See CAVES, Page A2
See ERICKS, Page A2
Herald Writers
VERLOT — Theirs was a fragile duty. They needed to bring out the dead without risking another life. For 23 hours, the body remained on the frozen floor at the foot of the Big Four Ice Caves in the Mount Baker-Snoqualmie National Forest. They consulted experts, including a glaciologist and avalanche technician. They weighed many options and ultimately decided that explosives were the best tool to reach the 34-year-old woman who died when the caves collapsed early Monday evening. As they drew up their plans, they could hear the crashing of rocks and ice deep within the rapidly melting caves. By 4 p.m. Tuesday, the blasting was done and they could finally reach her, lifting her body out by helicopter. Search and rescue crews estimated the woman was about 50 yards within the cave. When others escaped, she was motionless. A witness to Monday’s fatal collapse relayed to 911 dispatchers a grim, detailed description of the injured and expressed little hope for the woman trapped inside. In a calm voice, the young woman can be heard on a dispatch center recording saying:
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“There was an avalanche down at the Ice Caves. ... There was a compound fracture and there was an amputated leg practically. ... There was a lady unconscious in the ice caves that nobody ended up bringing out when we left.” The woman’s body was taken to the Snohomish County Medical Examiner’s Office, which will confirm her identity. Five survivors were rushed to hospitals after the 5 p.m. collapse. Two of them remained at Harborview Medical Center in Seattle on Tuesday. They were a 25-year-old man in serious condition in the intensive care unit and a 35-yearold man in satisfactory condition. By Tuesday morning, the others had been treated and released from hospitals. They included a 35-year-old woman taken to Harborview, and a 14-year-old girl and another girl of undisclosed age treated at Providence Regional Medical Center Everett. Multiple groups of hikers were on the trail that evening. Whether the people caught in the collapse knew each other is unclear. “All we know is they were all in the cave at the same time,” Snohomish County Sheriff ’s Office spokeswoman Shari Ireton said. One of two 911 calls was made by the young woman who rushed with friends to the first pay phone they saw, she told The Daily See COLLAPSE, back page, this section
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By Rikki King, Eric Stevick and Noah Haglund
VOL. 115, NO. 146 © 2015 THE DAILY HERALD CO.
INSIDE
Business . . . . .A9 Classified . . . . B1
Comics . . . . . .D4 Crossword . . .D4
How ice caves form, dangerously devolve By Chris Winters and Noah Haglund Herald Writers
VERLOT — The Big Four Ice Caves that collapsed Monday, killing one person and injuring five, are natural phenomena that Puget Sound-area residents have been visiting for decades. But despite their persistence, the caves are always changing, sometimes to deadly effect. Big Four refers to the mountain, where a snowfield sometimes appears in the shape of a numeral four. The caves below the north face of the mountain are not made of pure ice, the way a cave in a glacier might be. Rather, the caves are the result of avalanches filling the gully with snow. The snow, sheltered from direct sunlight by Big Four Mountain, persists year-round. The caves are then carved out by meltwater streams and are expanded by an inrush of warmer air under the snow. And that’s where the danger lies. “As ice caves grow, the roof of the ice cave thins and
Get closer to tiger Now say ‘borscht’: As many as 10 Russians have died while taking selfies, prompting Russian authorities to discourage people from photographing themselves while climbing on roofs, posing with guns or hugging tigers (Page A8). As he rode shirtless atop a Dear Abby. . . .D5 Good Life . . . .D1
Big Four Ice Caves S. Fork Stillaguamish River Mtn. Loop Hw y Verlot
Granite Falls Pilchuck Mtn.
Ice Caves Big Four Mtn. The Herald
bear and wielding an AK-47, Russian President Vladimir Putin told his people, “Do as I say, nyet as I do.” Put Grogg on waivers: The PBS documentary series “First Peoples,” which explores the competition between Homo sapiens and Neanderthals to become the dominate human species,
Horoscope . . . B6 Lottery . . . . . .A2
Silverton
Obituaries. . . .A6 Opinion. . . . .A11
concludes tonight at 9 (The Clicker, Page D6). Spoiler alert: Homo sapiens wins the trophy, but judging by the DNA of more than a few of us, Team Sapiens traded for a few Neanderthals in exchange for a wheel, fire and a player to be named later. Stars and barred: South Short Takes . . .D6 Sports . . . . . . . C1
Carolina’s Senate voted to remove the Confederate flag from the Statehouse grounds, 36-3, with one senator saying the vote kicked flag supporters “in the teeth” (Page A8). We wonder if the senator recalls who else was getting kicked in the teeth about 50 years ago.
—Jon Bauer, Herald staff
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MARK MULLIGAN / THE HERALD
The Big Four Ice Caves are devoid of visitors early Tuesday afternoon, a day after a woman was killed and five other people hurt in a collapse.
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