IT WAS WAR for the men on the avalanche-control team at Alpine Meadow’s. For four days a blizzard had been heaping two to three feet of snow daily on an already deep pack. They fought back with explosives, throwing 250 charges a day to trigger slides and pounding the high ridges with cannon. Still, it was a battle they couldn't win. The avalanche came on March 31 at 3:45 p.m. Flying on layers of light snow, . weighty slabs thundered across the entrance road, catching trail crewman JakeSmith-(1) in an icy grasp. Ripping across the mountain, the slide swept ,over visitors Leroy and Laura Nelson and David Hahn (2) and roared into the summit terminal building (3)— all this within ten seconds. Amazingly, four of the seven people inside survived — ,maintenance man Randy Buck, night security'man Jeff Shover, and lift operators Tad DeFelice and Anna Conrad. Visitor Frank Yeatman died inside. The bodies of mountain manager Bernie Kingery and lift operator Beth Morrow were found 150 feet away.