Tonga RPCV Joseph Gashler who died in ski accident in Colorado was a Stanford University graduate who majored in physics, Gashler worked as a marine researcher at the Monterey Bay Aquarium Research Institute in Moss Landing
Pacific Grove skier killed in New Year's Day avalanche
MARINE RESEARCHER WAS STANFORD GRADUATE
By Ken McLaughlin
Mercury News
Joseph ``Drew'' Gashler was only 37, but he was already a Renaissance man when his life was cut short by a Sierra avalanche on the first day of 2004.
A 1988 Stanford University graduate who majored in physics, Gashler worked as a marine researcher at the Monterey Bay Aquarium Research Institute in Moss Landing. Before that, he had done a stint in the Peace Corps in Tonga and worked on a sheep ranch in New Zealand. He was a guitarist, sailor and marathon runner who designed and built furniture.
The sheriff's office in Nevada County identified Gashler late Monday night as the cross-country skier who was buried in a New Year's Day avalanche. His body was found earlier Monday by a search-and-rescue team that included more than 100 volunteers who worked for more than two days in the hope that a miracle had kept him alive.
The body was buried under 4 feet of snow in a remote area west of Truckee and north of Donner Summit, said sheriff's Sgt. Joe Salivar. It appeared Gashler had been rammed into a tree by the force of the avalanche and died almost immediately.
Douglas Hagan of Campbell, a fellow 1988 Stanford graduate who was skiing with Gashler, survived the avalanche by digging himself out of snow that was nearly chest-high. According to deputies, he hunkered down for two days in blizzard-like conditions in a small cabin called the Peter Grubb Hut and found a stash of canned food, but waited in vain for help to arrive.
When it didn't, the 40-year-old Hagan took off on his own and ran into cross-country skiers with a cell phone that he used to call for help.
Members of the search-and-rescue team had to fight 2 to 3 feet of new snow that had fallen since Thursday. They were amazed when they looked at the cornice that had collapsed, creating a debris field 150 yards long and 20 to 25 feet deep.
``A lot commented that they had skied under the cornice countless times,'' said Salivar, noting that the area was not very steep and didn't seem as if it would be prone to an avalanche.
Salivar said Gashler and Hagan, two experienced skiers, were under the cornice without realizing it because of whiteout conditions. ``It was just bad luck,'' Salivar said.
He said Hagan and Gashler were trying to reach a back-country shelter for the night when the cornice collapsed. An exhausted Hagan dug himself out, with no sign of where his friend was buried. Gashler's avalanche beacon had either malfunctioned or been turned off, Salivar said.
Gashler's parents, who had flown in from Kansas City, and his fiancee, Teri Nicholson, were in the Lake Tahoe area when the team returned with the bad news. Nicholson, with whom Gashler shared a home in Pacific Grove, is a sea lion researcher at the Monterey Bay Aquarium. They were to be married in the fall.
Hagan, Nicholson and Gashler's parents declined media interviews Tuesday.
Gashler was the supervisor of ``autonomous underwater vehicle'' operations at the research institute, where he had worked since 1996. The Dorado AUV looks like a torpedo but has a more benign mission: collecting oceanographic data.
Colleagues at the institute were devastated.
``I felt like he was a son figure to me,'' said Steve Etchemendy, director of marine operations.
``He had just the right blend of technical expertise and scientific background,'' Etchemendy said. ``He had software skills, electrical engineering skills. He understood exactly what was going on in the ocean.''
Gashler also played a mean electrical guitar, which he played at a recent Christmas party held at the aquarium.
``He was a really kind person who always made you feel important when you were talking to him,'' said friend Doug Achterman, school librarian at San Benito High School, where Gashler taught science for two years in the early '90s. ``His deadly wit was often directed at his own expense.
``He really was thoughtful about the way he wanted to live his life,'' Achterman said. ``He made good choices. It was almost as if he knew he was going to die in an avalanche at age 37.''
Contact Ken McLaughlin at kmclaughlin@ mercurynews.com or (831) 423-3115.
