Avalanche riding

gonehuntnpowder · Mar 1, 2009

Has anyone that is caught in a soft slab slide ever tried slowing down and letting the slide run out in front of you? I have been in a few, but always ran it out or to the side. Any thoughts?
Stuck at home when I should be gonehuntnpowder.

Rprecision · Mar 1, 2009

Thoughts.............sure

How do you know right away that its only a shallow slide and if you do that it wont overload the slope below and turn it into a larger slide?

Sounds like playing Russian roulette with a machine gun

cpatts2000 · Mar 1, 2009

"I have been in a few" hmmm, sounds like you should get some formal training and learn how to stay out of them, and usually by the time you try to slow down, you get blown off your sled due to the avalanche blasting you in the back. YOU ARE VERY LUCKY MY FRIEND, unfortunately not everyone has been so.

gonehuntnpowder · Mar 1, 2009

Involved in 3 slides in 30 years of riding 2 above Bedford, both the same day in 95, and you are right I was lucky. 3rd Madres in 05. Looking back I should have avoided all three hills, but this year there has been hills sliding that have never gone before. We all carry becons, shovels, and probes, and generally all snowmobilers try to run when caught in a slide, my point is should we always try to get to the side or the front of it? If you are close to the top going down can you let it run out below you?

Those poor guys killed up Indian Creek have had me thinking all weekend. If I would have been in that situation what would I have done? I feel so bad for the families. RIP

cowboysedge · Mar 1, 2009

At the avy class I went to they said you should do what ever you could to get to the side of the slide if possible. Fight, Fight Like Hell! Your Fighting for you Life. They said!

T-DAWG · Mar 6, 2009

The class I went to, he said,
"Get to the side if possiable, but every situation is different. Sometimes you may need to go up, down, left, or right."
He also said he had been in 2 slides, and he went up on both.
I guess it just depends on the situation, and you don't have much time to decide, so think fast and hope you make the right decision.

WXNic · Mar 7, 2009

gone through the pics with the survivor at indian creek - sometimes there's nothing you can do. be careful.

gonehuntnpowder · Mar 7, 2009

Saw those pics also. I posted the question before I saw the pics because I was so bothered by this accident. That was a big slide, there was no way to avoid it. Very sorry for your loss and all the other families.

skibreeze · Mar 7, 2009

I started one back in '00, it was a slope that I had just climbed and had turned around to head back down. As I dropped in, it broke loose and I tried to keep the majority of it in front of me as it was a large slide. I think that most avys aren't going to be started this way though. I think that in most cases, getting to the side or just the hell out of the way is the best case senario.

BCAlpinejunkie · Mar 7, 2009

Ride to the side

Avalanches are risky business.

Everything goes LEGO land underneath you, and its all moving.
Head to the side,
hopefully you have a turbo , cause the more HP the better to get outta there!

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=77FK2tdKCsU&feature=channel

WARY · Mar 8, 2009

Our advice, hammer the throttle. Everything in the slide, you and your sled in particular, are going to continue to move downhill and eventually get buried. So don't wait for the avalanche to pass you by, hammer it and head down and to the side........

dgoetz · Mar 8, 2009

WARI Avalanche Research said:
Our advice, hammer the throttle. Everything in the slide, you and your sled in particular, are going to continue to move downhill and eventually get buried. So don't wait for the avalanche to pass you by, hammer it and head down and to the side........

I was caught in an avalanche and rode it out this year. The two most important things I did to save my life besides a lot of luck and some skill where:
1. Before I went up I looked the hill over and decided to come down at an angle to my right (the hills left) out of the full fall line.
2. On the first couple of times up any suspicious slope I only go up part of the way keeping an eye open for any movement.
The fact that the avalanche started after I had already turned down the hill face was critical. If I were trying to ‘high mark’ on the first pass I probably wouldn’t be writing this. I only went fast enough to keep control and not sink into the snow giving me time to find my line. I did go to the right to drive out at the side of the slide but it is like swimming across a fast running river, you work with the current and pick at spot farther down. I didn't try and go straight across; instead I kept my sled level with the surface. I didn’t try to turn too sharply across the face because I could have caught a ski or a wave could hit me from the side which would upset the snowmobile and maybe flip it over or bury it. If I would have pinned the throttle I would have hit the wave at too high of a speed and could have lost control of the sled or I could have been knock off and risked being buried in the avalanche. If I would have come straight down or to the left I would have hit a wall of 10'-15'. I didn't want to wait the wave out because of not knowing what was behind me.
The helmet video of this event will be included in some upcoming educational videos.

READY2RIDE · Mar 25, 2009

are the pics on the web?

dgoetz · Mar 26, 2009

READY2RIDE said:
are the pics on the web?

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ySWnOTOp_zE

zacs · Mar 26, 2009

dgoetz that is an excellent piece of footage. Thank you for posting the link.
Is there any chance that you would give me permission to show this to our avy students? As Zac's Tracs we present to more than 800 sledders every year.
If possible, I would love to combine the footage with a running loop of sled related avy footage that we use at snowmobile tradeshows at the Canadian Avalanche Centre booth. Let me know what you think.
Thanks, Lori Z.

dgoetz · Mar 26, 2009

zacs said:
Is there any chance that you would give me permission to show this to our avy students? As Zac's Tracs we present to more than 800 sledders every year.

Thanks, Lori Z.

Of course it is ok
D Goetz

zacs · Mar 26, 2009

Anyone know how to pull a video clip from You Tube? I am hoping to save the clip to my computer as I am not always in areas with web access?

dgoetz, how many Megs is it? Is it a file that I might be able to receive by email?

dgoetz · Mar 26, 2009

19,885 kb PM your email address

jgd · Mar 26, 2009

...incredible...had to watch it twice! be safe!

youngent · Mar 26, 2009

dgoetz said:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ySWnOTOp_zE

All you did is ride fall line nothing special. lucky yes, expert no, But who is good job just don't preach.

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