Backcountry

Five snowboarders died in a backcountry avalanche Saturday afternoon  about 60 miles west of Denver, authorities said. A group of six snowboarders started out at Loveland Pass, which is  just short of 12,000 feet in elevation, but got no more than a mile down the mountain when the slide swept them away, Clear Creek County Sheriff Don Krueger told the Los Angeles Times. One snowboarder dug himself out and called for help. The Sheriff's Office said the call came in around 2 p.m., about an hour after the avalanche.

AVALON - I'm standing at the railing, the late-morning sun warm on my face and hands, when the ship turns slightly and I see it, a rugged jumble of mountains jutting from the sea. We slow and enter the harbor, where a village clings to the hillside and colorfully painted speedboats flash by pulling water skiers. As we draw close to land, children swim out to our vessel yelling, "Throw a coin, throw a coin. " When I do, a boy dives, popping back to the surface clutching it and laughing.

Students with a passion for nature and science have a chance to perform hands-on research this summer at Yosemite National Park during two-week trips organized by NatureBridge . Trips visit the park's backcountry to teach students backpacking and wilderness survival skills as well as how to perform field research while they are in the wild. Participants who take the Field Research Course will collect and analyze data on a particular project and report their findings to scientists at the park and others afterward.

Five snowboarders died in a backcountry avalanche Saturday afternoon  about 60 miles west of Denver, authorities said. A group of six snowboarders started out at Loveland Pass, which is  just short of 12,000 feet in elevation, but got no more than a mile down the mountain when the slide swept them away, Clear Creek County Sheriff Don Krueger told the Los Angeles Times. One snowboarder dug himself out and called for help. The Sheriff's Office said the call came in around 2 p.m., about an hour after the avalanche.

Days after her dramatic rescue from a brush-covered ledge, the 18-year-old hiker who was missing for four days said she has only fleeting memories of her time lost in the south Orange County hills recalling only hallucinations, fending off animals and crying when she and her parents reunited. "I honestly didn't even know I was missing," Kyndall Jack told reporters Monday outside UC Irvine Medical Center in Orange. "I didn't know I was gone. I didn't know anything was going on. I just thought I was in a big dream.

A snowboarder survived three days lost in the backcountry wilderness by building a shelter of pine boughs as temperatures dropped into the low teens, his rescuers said. John Ryan, 31, of Erie was found a few hundred yards from the boundaries of the Keystone ski resort, where he had gone riding alone Wednesday, said Mike Schmitt, spokesman for Summit County Search and Rescue. "Whatever he did, he did something right to stay alive these last three days," Schmitt said.

Errol T. Bratley adjusts his winter cap, shoves aside his 4-year-old oversized German shepherd and presses on the gas pedal of his bright green Chevy Blazer. In about four hours on a recent chilly morning, Deputy Sheriff Bratley, or "Sheriff Bratley," as he is called in these parts, travels 150 miles of slick rural roads. He begins with a visit to his sergeant's office in Julian, then takes photographs of a camper trailer in a Riverside County towing yard for evidence in a grand theft probe.

State wildlife commissioners shut down the wolf hunt in backcountry adjacent to Yellowstone National Park after nine of the predators were killed there in recent weeks. But the Fish, Wildlife and Parks Commission kept the statewide kill quota at 75.

BACKCOUNTRY Workshop Expert Simon Mayer will discuss primitive survival skills in the backcountry. When, where: 7 p.m. Wednesday at the REI store in Arcadia, 214 N. Santa Anita Ave.; and Thursday at the REI store in Northridge, 18605 Devonshire St. Admission, info: Free. (626) 447-1062 for Arcadia; (818) 831-5555 for Northridge. SKIING Workshop Sierra Club members will share stories, photos and tips on backcountry skiing on Southern California peaks.

SAFETY Workshop For the winter backcountry traveler, this two-hour session introduces and explains where and why avalanches occur and provides a basic approach to managing risk. Learn to recognize basic signs of avalanche danger and how to avoid it. When, where: 6:30 p.m. Wednesday at the REI store in Tustin, 2962 El Camino Real. Admission, info: Free. (714) 505-0205 Please email announcements at least three weeks before the event to travel@latimes.com .

Days after her dramatic rescue from a brush-covered ledge, the 18-year-old hiker who was missing for four days said she has only fleeting memories of her time lost in the south Orange County hills recalling only hallucinations, fending off animals and crying when she and her parents reunited. "I honestly didn't even know I was missing," Kyndall Jack told reporters Monday outside UC Irvine Medical Center in Orange. "I didn't know I was gone. I didn't know anything was going on. I just thought I was in a big dream.

As the search for two missing hikers in Orange County's rugged backcountry drags on, authorities on Wednesday said they have been forced to examine worse-case scenarios. So far, though, investigators said they have found no evidence of foul play or any indication that what was supposed to be a casual day hike by a couple of teenagers was actually a diversion and that the two might have gone elsewhere. Lt. Jason Parks of the Orange County Sheriff's Department said there is nothing so far that undermines the belief that the youths, who attended high school in Costa Mesa together, are lost in the southern Orange County hills.

Virginia "Ginny" Hill Wood led a life of adventure beginning at a young age, guiding horseback trips in her native Washington state, bicycling through Europe before and after World War II, serving as a WASP pilot and, after moving to Alaska, building a rustic backcountry lodge and leading wilderness treks. But her lasting legacy may be her role as a pioneer Alaska environmentalist. Wood died Friday of natural causes at her home in Fairbanks, Alaska, friends said. She was 95. The outdoors enthusiast guided her last backcountry trip at age 70, cross-country skied into her mid-80s and gardened into her early 90s. But she also "had a vision outside of her own personal interest.

Students with a passion for nature and science have a chance to perform hands-on research this summer at Yosemite National Park during two-week trips organized by NatureBridge . Trips visit the park's backcountry to teach students backpacking and wilderness survival skills as well as how to perform field research while they are in the wild. Participants who take the Field Research Course will collect and analyze data on a particular project and report their findings to scientists at the park and others afterward.

A Lake Tahoe-area resort ski patrol member for nearly 30 years, Bill Foster would have understood the dangers of avalanches better than most. But even knowing the exact date and time of a planned avalanche didn't save the 53-year-old's life. Moments after another member of the ski team set off an avalanche with explosives late Monday morning as part of an effort to reduce the risk of an unpredictable avalanche, Foster was buried in Alpine Meadows. He had taken cover in an area that history had suggested would be safe from the rolling snow.

SAFETY Workshop For the winter backcountry traveler, this two-hour session introduces and explains where and why avalanches occur and provides a basic approach to managing risk. Learn to recognize basic signs of avalanche danger and how to avoid it. When, where: 6:30 p.m. Wednesday at the REI store in Tustin, 2962 El Camino Real. Admission, info: Free. (714) 505-0205 Please email announcements at least three weeks before the event to travel@latimes.com .

A Lake Tahoe-area resort ski patrol member for nearly 30 years, Bill Foster would have understood the dangers of avalanches better than most. But even knowing the exact date and time of a planned avalanche didn't save the 53-year-old's life. Moments after another member of the ski team set off an avalanche with explosives late Monday morning as part of an effort to reduce the risk of an unpredictable avalanche, Foster was buried in Alpine Meadows. He had taken cover in an area that history had suggested would be safe from the rolling snow.

Virginia "Ginny" Hill Wood led a life of adventure beginning at a young age, guiding horseback trips in her native Washington state, bicycling through Europe before and after World War II, serving as a WASP pilot and, after moving to Alaska, building a rustic backcountry lodge and leading wilderness treks. But her lasting legacy may be her role as a pioneer Alaska environmentalist. Wood died Friday of natural causes at her home in Fairbanks, Alaska, friends said. She was 95. The outdoors enthusiast guided her last backcountry trip at age 70, cross-country skied into her mid-80s and gardened into her early 90s. But she also "had a vision outside of her own personal interest.

SAFETY Workshop For the winter backcountry traveler, this two-hour session introduces and explains where and why avalanches occur and provides a basic approach to managing risk. Learn to recognize basic signs of avalanche danger and how to avoid it. When, where: 6:30 p.m. Tuesday at the REI store in Manhattan Beach, 1800 Rosecrans Ave. Admission, info: Free. (310) 727-0728. ADVENTURE Presentation Follow a group of adventure seekers as it explores the Santa Ana Mountains in Orange County.

There was a time when the Pine Mountain Inn hosted the biggest party in town. Bikers would roar up the tortuous mountain roads north of Ojai, and cowboys would mosey by in their pickups. Hunters - sometimes more than 100 at a time - would camp in Tom Wolf's field and string fresh deer jerky on clotheslines. The menu boasted of "the purtiest waitresses, best food, lowest prices and only flush toilets within 14 miles in any direction. " There was no phone and only a generator for power.