These are my 2 great dogs. Summer's name is actually "Marcy Summer". The Douglas Kids - Langton, Riley, Ripton and William helped me to name her. And of course Winter the incredible search and rescue dog. Winter was my constant ski, run and paddle companion in all of my Adirondack adventures. Winter by herself found the body of Toma Vracarich in the avalanche on Wright Peak. Winter was in the process of digging him out. She had dug a hole 2 feet deep. Myself and the other searchers were looking and probing in the snow in the area where the others had ended up. Unknown to us Toma was quite a distance away. I went to see where Winter was and all I saw was snow flying up in the air. Winter was far down in the hole that she was digging. She was totally focused on digging Toma out. I knew that Winter had found him. I yelled for the other people to come over here as I pushed my avalanche probe dead center into the hole that Winter had dug and struck Toma. We all hoped that he was still alive and started to frantically dig him out. But Toma had been killed in the fall. Toma died from injuries suffered in the fall down the slide. He didn't suffocate waiting for rescue to save him. But Winter one of "mans best friends" did everything that she could do. She is a great dog.There will be more to come of my experience concerning the Wright Peak Avalanche. Keep posted to mtmarcyxcs.com for the real story..... by Bob Thomas
