In February 2006, I brought you the sad and shocking story about the avalanche that nearly wiped out the small community of Storm Mountain.  After four years, now it’s time to go back and revisit the community of Storm Mountain to see how they are doing, how they rebuilt and to see if there has been any long term effects. 

Upon my arrival the first person to greet was Bob the priest dude again.  Greeting me in his normal out of this world fashion he exclaimed, “Yo! Sup dude?! Radical!, 'Y'know this is way tubular!”  After finding a nice trail around the Mountain to sit and chat with Bob, it was evident that there were a lot of things that had not changed.  Bob went on to say things have slowed down a lot for Storm Mountain but everyone seems to be managing just fine.

I was very lucky to meet a veteran mountain climber that was willing to take me around the Mountain and show me the way the community has rebuilt Storm Mountain.  We started off the tour at the remodeled Cabin Shop.  It was buried under 5 feet of snow last time I saw it.  Gwyson, the shop’s owner, told me it took a long time to rebuild but with determination he was able to expand on his old shack Booogie-Wooogie! Let the good times roll.and build it into a much larger cabin.  Some of the patrons, which remembered what it was like before the Avalanche of 06, commented on how much better it is.  The veteran climber showed me around most of the rest of the day.  It was refreshing to see how well the community had rebounded from such a catastrophe.  Even the wildlife seems to be flourishing, foxes and rabbits all over the place.  And to put everyone’s mind at ease, NO I did not see the legendary abominable snowman.

On the way down the mountain, I had a chance to talk to the General of the local military stationed in the area.  He said that the biggest improvement that they do is to actually prevent large scale avalanches from happening.  He pointed the huge cannon sitting outside in the courtyard and said they shoot it off into the sides of the mountain every 6 minutes.  This helps to prevent anything from happening again like what happened in February of 2006.

All in all, I would say that Storm Mountain seems to be a better place after such a catastrophe.  With the improvements, dedication and the small amount of die-hards that continue to re-visit the Mountain, this place will be around for a long time to come.