K-911 AVALANCHE VICTIMS COME TO RELY ON FOUR-LEGGED FRIENDS FOR RESCUE.

Byline: BILL BECHER

MAMMOTH LAKES - I'm buried alive.

The 3 feet of snow over my head lets in a dim light. I can hear scratching sounds made by a four-legged avalanche rescue specialist named Ursa.

I'm participating in a practice session by Wilderness Finders, also known as WOOF, at Mammoth Lakes in the Eastern Sierra. Handlers are training their dogs to find victims like me buried under the snow. Three handlers are working today, first digging the holes and then taking turns as rescuers and rescued.

Noreen McClintock, Ursa's owner, doesn't like the getting-buried-in- the-snow part. It's like a scene from Fear Factor.

``Especially if you're claustrophobic,'' McClintock said. ``Then you have a big dog head come in on you that wants to play.''

Sallee Burns, who has been doing this since the 1970s, had given me a radio and told me several times that all I had to do was call and they'd come dig me out without waiting for the dog to find me. Then Burns covered the entrance hole with snow.

My snow cavern was big enough to squirm around in, a lot more comfortable than if I was buried in a real avalanche. It was surprisingly warm. I tried digging the hard snow and got a sense of how hopeless a real avalanche victim must feel.

``We'll wait five or 10 minutes for your scent to rise,'' Burns said.

I had thought about tying a pork chop around my neck to make sure the dog found me, but Burns assured me the dogs would have no problem sniffing me out.

My rescuer, Ursa, is a 2 1/2-year-old female German shepherd. At one time, most avalanche dogs were German shepherds, despite the St. Bernard's rep as brandy-keg-toting snow rescue canines. Now many hunting and herding breeds are used, including golden retrievers, Labradors and even a border collie. Lassie would be proud.

Most dogs have a good-enough sense of smell, but not all are enthusiastic enough for the job. A good rescue dog has high energy and likes to play.

``The dogs learn that digging through the snow is the fastest way to get to the person,'' Burns said. ``Then they get to play. It's all about the play.'

The WOOF handlers and their dogs are part of the Inyo and Mono County Sheriff's Search and Rescue teams. The dogs first learn ``area searches'' in the summer to find hikers and others who are lost in the wilderness. Avalanche rescue training starts by having the dogs find victims in a snow trench. Next, the ``victims'' are buried in shallow holes, then progressively deeper ones.

The handlers need to have good ski or snowshoe skills. They also need good mountain training to know whether the area they are searching is safe for the rescuers.

The dogs are taught not just to locate buried victims but also to dig an air hole and to stay with the victims. This is why the dogs are trained to first locate the victim's head.

My job was pretty simple. I just had to lie still and not scream while I waited for Ursa to find me. Then I was to give some doggie treats sealed in a plastic bag to Ursa and encourage her to play with a rope pull toy.

This is a game for the dogs and they seem to really enjoy it. But it's deadly serious for the humans.

Unfortunately, most WOOF avalanche operations are search and recovery, not search and rescue, because most avalanche victims are dead when they are found. Avalanche victims have to be located quickly to be saved, as the air they have to breath under the snow is very limited.

The light in my snow tomb gets brighter and suddenly I see a paw and then a snout. Ursa keeps digging and I hand over the doggie treats. She barks happily and I tell her she's a good dog. Burns helps open the hole she's dug and I crawl out of my snow tomb.

Burns tells me one rescued avalanche victim at the Kirkwood ski area in Lake Tahoe was so happy he was found by Doc, a golden retriever search dog, that he had a portrait of Doc tattooed on his chest.

I'm really glad to be rescued, but I think I'll skip the trip to the tattoo parlor.

CAPTION(S):

2 photos

Photo:

(1) If you're a victim of an avalanche, seeing the face of a rescue dog is the greatest sight of all.

(2) Dash, a black Labrador, helps pull Noreen McClintock out of the snow during an avalanche training session at Mammoth Lakes. The dogs are trained to track the scent of the victim.

Bill Becher/Special to the Daily News