SKIERS SURVIVE 4-NIGHT ORDEAL

                         Roanoke Times
                 Copyright (c) 1995, Landmark Communications, Inc.

DATE: WEDNESDAY, February 24, 1993                   TAG: 9302240168
SECTION: NATIONAL/INTERNATIONAL                    PAGE: A-2   EDITION: METRO 
SOURCE: Associated Press
DATELINE: ASPEN, COLO.                                LENGTH: Medium
SKIERS SURVIVE 4-NIGHT ORDEAL
Five skiers who survived four nights of subzero weather and avalanche danger in mountain wilderness turned up in remarkably good shape Tuesday. Two told rescuers where they were by calling from a pay phone.
Several hours after the two skied into a remote trading post and made their call, searchers in a helicopter found the others. Three of the five suffered frostbite, but only two were hospitalized.
"There was no question in our minds at any point that we weren't going to make it. It was just a matter of how ugly it was going to be," said Ken Torp, 50, of Denver, one of the skiers who called from the trading post.
"We just did what you do in the mountains to survive," said Rob Dubin, 38, one of the three rescued by helicopter.
The five skiers and two others had set out Friday from Ashcroft, a hamlet 10 miles south of Aspen, on a planned two-night trip. When a snowstorm hit, they tried to retrace their route. Two from the group made it to safety Saturday.
Dozens of rescuers had mounted an intense, three-day search of the rugged terrain between Aspen and Gunnison, 45 miles to the south.
Officials had said early Tuesday that there was no more than a 10 percent chance of finding the five alive. They were considering calling off the search at day's end. More snow and extreme cold was forecast.
But shortly before noon Tuesday, Torp, former chief of staff for ex-Gov. Richard Lamm, and Elliott Brown, 43, of Golden, reached a trading post in Taylor Park and called the Gunnison County Sheriff's Office. The park, 30 miles south of Aspen, is 15 miles southeast of where they disappeared.
Several hours later, a helicopter crew found the three others in heavily wooded mountain country 15 miles south of Aspen. They were Brigitte Schluger, 50, an art gallery owner, and Dubin and his wife, Dee, 40, owners of a video production firm. They live in Denver.
Dee Dubin and Schluger were taken on stretchers to an ambulance and later were hospitalized in Denver with frostbite. Brown suffered frostbite on three fingers but wasn't hospitalized.
Torp said his chief concern was staying warm, which required getting enough water to drink.

by Archana Subramaniam by CNB