Avalanche

[tirolski]

yea no thanks I'll stick to meadowskipping, I can still fuck myself up pretty royally

Had my only fall last year first step walkin on pretty flat pavement with warm ski boots that got packed with snow just after bootin up in the car. Instantly my skis & poles went everywhere and I hit the back of my helmeted head on the ground. It woke me up. Had a great day skiing.
Snow/ice is slippery.

 

[Harvey]

HOLEEEEEFUUUUUUCK....

What a terrible feeling it must be, to be sliding on that slab, in that chute.

 

[Campgottagopee]

What a terrible feeling it must be, to be sliding on that slab, in that chute.

Right?

Holy F

 

[Campgottagopee]

You could get safe skiing conditions in that terrain in December but you need to have the experience to know how to identify that. Thin, early season snowpacks and rapid wind transport though is the perfect recipe for avalanche conditions. You can absolutely visibly see that that was the case on the mountain that day and by observing the weather prior leading up to this accident.

Maybe my initial reaction after watching those clips was a bit harsh but as someone with almost 30 years of experience I couldn’t help but say to myself, you fucking jackasses are lucky to be alive and that was extremely avoidable but I also need to remind myself that 30 years ago ain’t that long and we all start out somewhere. I was a jack ass too and often but a lucky one.

Thanks for sharing your thoughts on this, especially given your experience.

I've skied Tux twice. I was young, in incredibly good skiing shape, and I was still scared AF. I only went with a group of rippers from Smuggs. I'd never go there solo, even on my best day. Those mountains command respect.

 

[raisingarizona]

What a terrible feeling it must be, to be sliding on that slab, in that chute.

It's the worst. That footage triggered me a little since I've been there before and this was definitely avoidable.

 

[Harvey]

You see him at the beginning of that clip. He realizes what is happening and he thinks about trying to get himself off the slab. But with his skis on, he can't really move or roll, and he resigns himself to riding it out.

I've always thought it would be terrible way to go, your last thought haunting you until the end.

They took a bunch of stills after the slide. Insta uber alles.

 

[tirolski]

Instagram uber alles.

F#ck th#t sh#t if it’s gonna get folks hurt.

 

[riverc0il]

That said…Airplane (more remote than anything in Tuckerman Ravine, steep and narrow, with pockets aplenty to load, and low tide coverage) was probably a terrible choice for a day with the known wind loading conditions. Perhaps more likely to slide (they call it Gulf of Slides for a reason) and harder to effect rescue than other places they could have chosen to make turns in the area that day.

You may not have intended it, but this reads like Airplane is in the Gulf of Slides. For clarification, Airplane is in the Great Gulf. Though, GoS is indeed aptly named and representative of the many steeper Presidential gullies!

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BP's post about parties in Tux during the spring is off the mark. The Presi's in the winter are a different animal. Based on their snow tests, these guys obviously had avi training and BC experience (maybe just enough to be dangerous?). Regardless of their decision to drop in, they are not spring time Tux nuts.

I will echo that the only way to avoid all risk is to not go at all. Which is my preference, I only ski there in the spring (still many risks! But easier to mitigate and manage). It is possible, if not likely, for skiers of all experience levels to make inaccurate assessments and take a ride.

 

[Harvey]

RA posted this in ECRC on TGR. I think it was issued two days ago (12/10) by the MW Avalanche Center:

New rain, snow and wind will create dangerous avalanche conditions where snow exists in steep terrain. Watch out for isolated pockets of unstable snow at middle and upper elevations that could avalanche spontaneously or from the weight of a person. Avalanches and long sliding falls can be highly consequential due to exposed hazards like rocks and trees in the early season snowpack.

That's pretty direct. I don't ski avy terrain and don't know much about it, but even I get that.

How often do they post something like that? Does it happen so often that people ignore it? What legitimate mitigating factors could get an experienced MW skier to discount that advisory?

Sincere power to him, he put it out there for us to learn from it. From this distance I learned that when MWAC says something like that ^^ go ski at a resort. I can't imagine being so confident that you would ignore that.

I hope all of that is not too harsh. It sounds like he is not going to lose his leg, as was rumored at one point.

I wish you the best Dominic.

 

[raisingarizona]

The thing is, even if you didn't read the report the red flags were all there right in front of them. As a back country skier in the MWV you'd be paying attention to the weather constantly even when not up on the mountain. I do that here. I keep an eye on winds, precipitation events, temps etc. and I generally always have a good idea with what's going on up on the mountain and how I imagine the snow is changing. These guys chose not to see those red flags.

If you scroll through the comments on his posts there's a lot of people that believe these guys were safe and did everything they could to mitigate the dangers. I hope he explains more to his followers and goes into detail about their mistakes. So far his description was a little misleading for people that have very little experience.