2 teens rescued from ice cave

SNOQUALMIE PASS — In a region blessed with dozens of soaring peaks that act as magnets for thousands of adventure-seekers, tales of deadly mountain mishaps are too numerous to count.

For the families of Alec Corbett, 17, and Allesandro "Ollie" Gelmini, 14, much of Thursday was spent fearing that the Seattle neighbors had met with a similar fate. With huge, rough-edged chunks of ice barring the path of rescuers after the sudden collapse of an ice cave on the teens, the odds of reaching Corbett and Gelmini alive seemed to diminish with each passing minute.

"All we could see was ice. It was like 5-by-5-foot chunks of ice. I didn't see how anyone could survive that," said hiker Chris Pyke, among the first to arrive at the snow cave in the Denny Creek area near Snoqualmie Pass.

But two hours after search-and-rescue crews began chipping away at the ice with hand tools and power saws, they heard the voice of one boy, distant but alive. A short time later, there was a second voice.

Finally, about four hours after the ice cave had collapsed on them, Corbett and Gelmini were freed from the tumble of ice and rushed to Seattle's Harborview Medical Center. Both suffered serious but not life-threatening injuries, as well as hypothermia, said Sgt. John Urquhart, King County sheriff's spokesman.

"I was ecstatic," said Joni Corbett, Alec's mother, who was with the boys on a day hike about two miles southeast of Interstate 90 and west of Snoqualmie Pass. "It sounds like the boys are going to be just fine."

"I went from the lowest I've ever been to now; it's just great," said her husband, Brian Corbett, who was among the many family members gathered at the scene to wait out the rescue.

"I thought ... these kids were gone," he said.

Corbett was listed this morning to satisfactory condition at Harborview and is out of the Intensive Care Unit, said hospital spokeswoman Mary Guiden. Gelmini remains in serious condition.

The teens were among a group of climbers that included their mothers and two younger sisters who set out from Seattle for a hike along Denny Creek, said Sue Aiello, Joni Corbett's mother. The boys are neighbors in Seattle's Magnolia neighborhood and will attend Bishop Blanchet High School in the fall, Corbett as a senior and Gelmini as a freshman.

The two boys hiked inside an ice cave formed by a stream. Witnesses said they walked about 15 feet inside the cave, with the roof of the cave forming a bridge about 20 feet above their heads. They were taking photos.

A second group of hikers from a church group in Tacoma saw what happened next.

"It was kind of like a deafening crash," said Matthew Miller, 15. "It was kind of astonishing."

The Pierce County group ran to the site to try to help, Miller said.

"We were just hiking up when Joni, the mom, was on the phone with 911," Miller said. "We went into the [portion of the] ice cave that was still intact and started calling out the boys' names for a really long time." Miller said they used sticks and their hands in an attempt to dig the boys out. But there was no way they could cut through the huge chunks of ice.

A dispatcher for Eastside Fire and Rescue said they received an initial 911 call at 1:26 p.m.

Search-and-rescue crews from Eastside Fire & Rescue and Snoqualmie Pass Fire & Rescue arrived almost immediately, and attacked the ice throughout the afternoon in steady rain. Witnesses estimated the pair were buried under 15 feet of ice.

The first good news came about two hours later, when Deputy Chief Jeff Griffin, of Eastside Fire & Rescue, reported the boys had been found.

"They're talking to some patients," he said of the rescue efforts. "That's a great sign. There's somebody there, and they're talking back."

By 4:30 p.m., rescuers working with chain saws to cut the ice into 1-foot-square chunks reported they had about 5 more feet of digging to go.

About an hour later, Gelmini was pulled free, said Urquhart, the sheriff's spokesman. By about 6:45 p.m., Corbett had been rescued.

A Navy Blackhawk helicopter was brought in to land in a small clearing near the collapse and to take both youths to Harborview. They were listed in serious condition shortly after they arrived at the hospital.

Jeff Bowman, who manages The Mountaineers bookstore in Seattle, said ice caves can last in the area year-round.

"Most of them are pretty hard to get to," Bowman said, adding that he hadn't heard of an ice cave near Denny Creek. He said people are attracted to ice caves because they're a rare formation in the continental United States, something generally only seen in the Pacific Northwest.

Ice caves frequently are formed by water and wind. The region's best-known ice caves are the Big Four Ice Caves, about 25 miles east of Granite Falls in Snohomish County.

The Big Four caves crumble often.

In August 1998, a Bothell woman was killed when collapsing ice at the Big Four Ice Caves fell on her. Catherine Stockton Shields, 27, was with her husband and his parents, visiting the ice caves off Mountain Loop Highway, when an ice arch at one of the caves' main entrances collapsed.

Two boys were cut by falling ice when they ventured inside in 1996.

The previous year, a 28-year-old woman was buried under 6 feet of ice and snow. She suffered cuts to her head.

In January 1992, a pregnant woman was thrown 300 feet after her companions entered the caves and an avalanche slid down and sealed them inside. She suffered minor injuries, and her friends had to dig themselves out.

Peyton Whitely: 206-464-2259 or pwhitely@seattletimes.com

Times staff reporters Jennifer Sullivan and Noelene Clark contributed to this report.