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Three members of the Mammoth Mountain Ski Patrol died Thursday morning, April 6, when they fell 21 feet into a volcanic fumarole in a "snow collapse" near Chair 3/Facelift, ski area officials said.

"Four patrollers were involved and three didn't make it," said ski area communications director Joani Lynch.

The patrollers were identified as Charles Walter Rosenthal, 58, who lived in Sunny Slopes; John Scott McAndrews, 37, of Bishop and James Jinkuk Juarez, 35, of Granada Hills, Calif. Memorial funds in their names were established on Friday.

Seven other ski patrollers reportedly were injured as the result of inhalation of dangerous gases and were taken to Mammoth Hospital, but Rusty Gregory, the ski area's chief executive officer, said they were recovering. Six were kept overnight.

According to various accounts, McAndrews and Juarez were trying to reconfigure fencing around the well-known fumarole area, which was buried under recent snow. Apparently unknown to the patrollers, the fumarole, which spews steam, had created a cavern underneath them, filled with deadly gases.

The fumarole itself is a small slit on the rocky surface of Mammoth Mountain.

As the two patrollers were manipulating a fence, they dropped through the roof of the snow cavern.

Rosenthal, a member of the patrol since 1972, reportedly saw the two patrollers drop through and attempted a rescue and died in the process. Another ski patroller, identified as Jeff Bridges, tried to lower himself into the abyss by rope but was overcome by gases. He was pulled from the 12-foot-wide cavern by other patrollers who quickly responded to the crisis.

Rosenthal worked at the Sierra Nevada AquaticResearch Laboratory (SNARL) in Mammoth Lakes and was an expert in snow hydrology and remote sensing of snow. SNARL is part of the University of California, Santa Barbara.

"He apparently jumped in to try to help with the rescue effort of those who were on the patrol and as a result, he died," said UCSB spokesman Paul Desruisseaux.

Rosenthal was the head avalanche forecaster for the mountain, according to SNARL director Dan Dawson.

"Walter also had a long affiliation with UCSB and SNARL," Dawson wrote in an e-mail that was widely distributed. "He was an expert in the mathematical algorithms used to process satellite imagery of the earth's surface, particularly that of snow covered areas."

Rosenthal was also president of the Eastern Sierra Avalanche Center, said Allan Pietrasanta, a director of the organization. Pietrasanta said Rosenthal and others started the avalanche center in the winter of 2004-05 to release information about snow stability and "increase the public's awareness of snowpack stability."

Mammoth Lakes Mayor Rick Wood, quoted by the Associated Press, said the police detective working on the case indicated there was a significant amount of gas involved in the accident at the 10,000-foot level of the mountain.

"The level of carbon monoxide inside this cavity was extremely high," Wood said to a reporter from the Associated Press.

"This is a steam vent that has been there hundreds of years," Wood said.

Lynch, meanwhile, said the ski area will release details of the accident as they become available and can be confirmed.

The fumarole area is one of the more distinctive areas on Mammoth Mountain and frequently is called "the stink hole." Lynch said the patrollers were fencing off the natural hazard, situated on Christmas Bowl, at 11:29 a.m. "when the snow around the vent collapsed and the patrollers fell 21 feet into the opening."

Lynch said other members of the ski patrol initiated rescue efforts, and were helped later by the Mammoth Lakes Fire Department and a Mono County paramedic team.

According to David Hill, the United States Geological Survey's scientist in charge of the Long Valley region, the fumarole has long been recognized and has not changed its behavior over time.

It existed before the 1989 Mammoth Mountain earthquake swarm and the onset of diffuse CO2 "degassing" responsible for the Horseshoe Lake tree-kill area.

The hazard develops during the winter months when snow builds up over the vent, with the hot gases (80 deg. C or 180 deg F) melting the snow, forming a pit in the snow -- or snow cave, in deep snow conditions.

The dominant gas emitted from the fumarole, aside from water vapor, is carbon dioxide, with an average flux of six tons a day.

"We have seen no evidence for changes in the Long Valley caldera-Mammoth Mountain volcanic system that might be related to this accident," Hill said.

Mammoth Mountain is a cumulo-volcano of multiple overlapping lava domes and flows that last erupted 50,000 years ago. There was a small steam explosion 600 years ago.

According to the online encyclopedia Wikipedia, a fumarole (Latin fumus, smoke) is an opening in Earth's crust, often in the neighborhood of volcanoes, which emits steam and gases such as carbon dioxide, sulfur dioxide, hydrochloric acid, and hydrogen sulfide.

Fumaroles may occur along tiny cracks or long fissures, in chaotic clusters or fields, and on the surfaces of lava flows and thick deposits of pyroclastic flows. A fumarole field is an area of thermal springs and gas vents where magma or hot igneous rocks at shallow depth are releasing gases or interacting with groundwater.

From the perspective of groundwater, fumaroles could be described as a hot spring that boils off all its water before the water reaches the surface.

The deaths of the ski patrollers bring the number of dead on Mammoth Mountain to eight this season. A ninth fatality occurred above Bridgeport, when Mammoth Mountain ski patroller Sara Johanna Carlsson was caught in a backcountry avalanche.

Previous to Thursday's deaths, a 57-year-old Los Angeles woman died at the ski area on Wednesday, Feb. 8.

Susan Barbara Klausner was pronounced dead at Mammoth Hospital following a long fall through trees, according to a spokesman from the Mono County Sheriff's Department.

The incident occurred on Viva, which is a double-black diamond run in the Lincoln Mountain section of the ski area, according to Lynch.

In a written statement, Lynch said that preliminary reports from witnesses "indicate that the skier had skied down Avy 1 prior to skiing Viva.

"Ski Patrol was notified and arrived on scene within minutes. They immediately transported her to Canyon Lodge, where paramedics were waiting, and she was rushed to Mammoth Hospital Emergency Room. Emergency Room personnel worked on the patient, but despite their best efforts, the skier passed away as a result of her injuries."

Klausner, whom the sheriff's office described as "apparently an advanced skier," was wearing her helmet when she fell about 500 yards through the tree area.

Counting the backcountry death of Carlsson, a Mammoth Mountain Ski Patroller who was killed in an avalanche near Bridgeport, six skiers died within a two-week period.

According to ski area officials, in a normal season, three people die in accidents or from natural causes at the resort. Last season, only two people died.

The tragic fortnight began with the death of Benjamin David Trees, 16, of San Diego, who was fatally injured in the South Park terrain park, near Roller Coaster Express on Thursday, Jan. 26. Trees overshot the landing area on a jump in the terrain park, and emergency medical personnel were unable to revive him.

The next day, Bronislaw Tanski, 38, a Laguna Miguel athlete who also was a running enthusiast, hit a tree on Quicksilver, a run near the intersection with the trail Goldhill, according to Mono County authorities.

Preliminary reports from witnesses indicate the skier lost control and slid into a group of trees. Ski Patrol was notified and arrived on scene within minutes. They immediately transported him to Eagle Lodge where paramedics were waiting and he was rushed to the Mammoth Hospital Emergency Room, and then to Reno. He died four days later as a result of his injuries.

On Saturday, Jan. 28, 61-year-old Luther Sartor, a dentist from Los Angeles, died in a skiing accident shortly before 11 a.m., according to the Mono County Sheriff's office.

Investigators said they believe Sartor was traveling at a high rate of speed on West Bowl when he lost control and ran into a group of rocks between West Bowl and Saddle Bowl.

On Sunday, Jan. 29, James Albert Ferguson, 63, of Garden Grove, suffered a heart attack in the White Bark Ridge section of the ski area. Paramedics were unable to revive him. Officials said that Ferguson "had a pre-existing health condition that led to cardiac arrest."