"Skating Blind" and "Buried Alive"

Action osked Tony Hqwk, "who inspires you?" He soid, .rTommy
Corroll." Tommy con't see. But he's on oirozing skqteboqrder.
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Whoosh! Tommy Corroll,
17, is in the oin He londs
perfectly on his skoteboard
and continues cruising up
ond down the hol$ipe. At his
local skote park near Chicogo,
Illinois, Tommy is known
for his creotive skoting. He
does tricks that other people
wouldn't think of doing. He
has o style oll his own.
There's o good reoson for
thot. Tommy con't wotch
ond imitqte other skoters.
He's blind. As o boby, he hod
cancer in his eyes. His eyes
were removed, and reploced
with plostic ones.
Tommy recognizes
friends by their voices. For
schoolwork, he uses Broille
and o loptop thot reods out
loud. Being bl.ind hosn't kept
from li -wing o full life.
.him
toke them. The teochers were
ofroid Tommy would get hurt.
In elementory school,
recess was tough. "The
big thing for oll the boys
wos to ploy footboll," he
remembers. Tommy wonted
to ploy but his friends
weren't sure how to include
him in the gomes. Usually,
he wos left out.
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Tommy was strong and
fast. But in order to ploy
most sports, he needed help
from others. In sixth grode,
he got into skoteboarding.
"It wos sornething I could do
individually," he soys.
Tommy went to the locol
skote pork olmost every
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Still, Tommyhos foced
diffrculties. He loves sports.
As o kid, he ron, swom, ond
biked-with guides to help
him. But in korote class, he
felt frustroted. He got good
enough for odvonced lessons,
but he didn't get o chonce to
ScholosticAction I October +, ZOfO 13
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'Joy. He woiked oround it.
.- nen he skoted one Porl
ot o time. He creoted a
mop of the skote park in
his mind. \Mhen he skoted,
the chonging sound of his
wheels told him where he
wos on eoch romp.
Tommy fell o lot, but he
never gave up. He leorned
to do tricks, such os o nose
pivot-turning on the very
front of the boord. His
confidence grew.
*rcerms Can*e Trc-Ee
As o serious skoteq TommY
wonted two things. One
wos to ioin the teom of o
rkoteboord company. The
other wos to skote with his
rvorite pro skoteboordeq,
-Tony Howk.
The summer after seventh
grode, Tommy got o visit
from Rob Busch, who owns
o compony colled Agent
Skateboords. Rob osked
Tommy to join Agentts team.
From then on, Tommy got
free T-shirts ond skoteboords
from Agent. In r€turn, he
skoted in shows to helP
moke the company famous.
In ninth grode, Tommy's
other wish came true. Rob
colled him ond said,."Guess
who wonts to skate with
you? Tony Howk!"
Tony hod seen o video of
Tommy skating. They soon
met ond skated together.
Iony interviewed Tommy
on video for his Web site,
shredordie.com. "It wos
awesome," soys Tommy-
Fes€ FeressE'd
Today, Tommy is o senior
in high school. He runs trock
and ploys drums in a bond.
Tommy is thinking obout
becoming a reporter somedoy.
He once interviewed Tony
Howk on his school's rodio
stotion. "I hod an hourlong
tolk show," he remembers.
"We got more phone colls
thon ony other radio show ot
the school."
Next year, Tommy will go
to college. He will foce new
chollenges there, but he's
not worried. "I know thot if I
put my mind to onY octivitY,
there's o- woy to figure it
out," Tommy soys.
-Christy
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ScholostlcActlon I October4' 201O
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*"-'=E*et*E=*: o lorge omount of snow (or ground)
thot suddenly moves down the side of o mountoin
se€€F**e€e: die from not being oble to breothe
o lorge, flot, thick piece of something
=E=b:
=rE=EE*s: people who ore hurt by something
Feople con trigger
svolqnches,when they
ski or snowboord.
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ScholosticAction I Jcrnuory 10,
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2O11
shoky, not steody, wobbly
r
Dolton
like q r
Poyt
buried,
The he
felt likr
move.
disopp
of snor
boots l
Onll
snow. I
ovolon
,so he k
no tim
could E
Usin
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An evsEcnehe ccffi turm c fexm winter day imto c nightrncre.
De Sreu knew how to survive one?
On o'snowy Soturdoy lost
yeor, Dolton Anderson wos
hoving o greot time. He
wos snowboording with his
friends Poyton Weber ond
Wyott Boird.
Suddenly, the boys heord o
Ioud crock. The snow oround
them begon to slide. It wos
on svslcnche!
&engen em
€3epes
€fue
J.
"Huge blocks of snow holf
the size of me come down,"
Dolton, 13, said loter.
The snow croshed into
Dolton. "It pushed me oround
like o rog doll," he soys.
Poyton's body wos olmost
buried, but he could breothe.
The heovy snow oround him
felt like cement. He couldn't
move. Wyott's heod had
disappeored under two feet
of snow. The tip of one of his
boots wos sticking up.
Only Dolton wos obove the
snow. He hod learned obout
ovolonches from o TV shoq
,so he knew thot there wos
no time to go for help. Wyott
could suffocste in minutes.
Using his honds, Dolton
dug Poyton free. Poyton hod
a shovel ond o cell phone.
He colled 911, and the two
boys dug Wyott out.
€pce<EEffi€ gffi€Hs
The boys were smortond lucky. Mony people who
get cought in ovolonches
don't survive.
Avolonches hoppen on
mountoinsides, where snow
builds up in loyers. Eoch
snowfoll leoves o new
loyer. In on ovolonche,
one loyer of snow slides
over onother.
Within obout five
seconds, on ovolonche
con reoch neorly 100
miles per hour. Nobody can
run or ski or snowboord thot
fost. It's olmost impossible to
get out of the woy.
An ovolonche gothers
snow os it trovels. A lorge
one con grow to L0,000 tons
of snow. Thot much snow
will flotten everything in its
poth os it roces downhillincluding trees, houses, ond,
of course, people.
ScholastieAction I Jonuory tO, 2Ott 13
To
the Reseue
Warming temperofures,
strong winds, or heavy
snowfoll con stort an
avalonche. But often, people
colrse them when they hike,
ski, o1 snowboord. Their
weight couses weok loyers
of snow to crack, ollowing o
slqb to breok free.
When someone is trapped
in on ovqlonche, rescue
workers hove to move fost.
Most ovolonche victims
don't survive more than 30
minutes under the snow.
Some of the best rescue
workers ore ovolonche dogs.
These onimols troin for o
/eor or more. They proctice
by finding their troiners
hidden under deep snow.
14
ScholosticAction I Jonuory 10, 2011
A trained dog con seorch
on oreo in less time thon it
would take a whole teom of
humons. Some con smell o
person under 10 feet of snow!
Snow Sofety
The best woy to avoid
getting hurt in on ovalonche
is to stoy out of its woy in
the first place. Here ore some
things you con do:
. StoI o,wcry from places
where ovolonches hove
hoppened recently.
. Look for signs of unstqble
snow like cracks.
. Hike up mountains in
single file. You'll move less
snow when you wolk.
o Go to rryayw.trvolanche
.org for more tips.
Life rrnd Deqth
If on ovolanche does
hoppen, it helps to be
prepored. Troveling in a
group ond corrying o shovel
moy hove saved Wyott's life.
Thonks to Dolton's
quick thinking,. Wyatt wos
buried for only obout seven
minutes. Even so, he wos
in the hospitol for doys.
It took weeks for his lungs
to heol.
The teens' scory experience
hosn't stopped Dalton from
snowboording. But this
winter, he signed up for an
ovolonche safety closs. "I
wont to leorn more about
snow conditions and how I
con avoid being in dongerous
situations," he soys.