Always something to learn from an incident, even when the task itself is done poorly. The group still reached the desired end state. Did they get there properly? Some will say no and be correct. Some may say that with what they had available, they were successful. I feel they were successful. Should they have been in the backcountry to begin with. ABSOLUTELY NOT!!!!
They obviously had a plan given their resources. Again, not enough resourses to go around so shoud not have been in the situation at first.
All the things mentioned in previous posts were obvious mistakes that they got away with.
Some things that went right. They appeared to be in a safety zone while only one skier was descending. The zone may have been a touch close. Could have improved that.
They kept an eye on him and apparently designated a spotter, although, that became unclear as the incident unfolded due to one spotter (the guy talking) had no beacon and had to detract feom his watch. The other spotter(it seemed to me) was wearing the beacon yet was not qualified to perforn the rescue. Remember, not everyone has to jump in and start after the buried party. There CAN and HAVE been secondary avalanches that have buried would be rescue parties.
This brings me to my next point. The one guy said, you do not need a beacon, you can see him right there. WRONG! A secondary avy could come and bury him. I am assuming he did not put the beacon on and in the case of a secondary, the beacon could have been ripped feom his hands and rescuers might only find a buried beacon.
The obvious mistakes are obvious and the group put themselves in great danger. However, if we take time to critically think about an incident, we can pull out the finer points. I can't tell you the amount af times I have seen a full group of the party trying to perform a rescue on a multi camber slope that could easily rip again. Usually it goes ok. However, something to think about. Everyone wants to help. Sometimes helping means staying out of dnger from the worst case senario.
It is hard not to judge in a senario such as this and trust me, I did. However, I continued to watch as I was interested in if they would be successful and how.
Strange how the guy with the camera seemed so calm, yet he was clearly freaked out and made mistakes a plenty. Gloves, shovel handle, all things mentioned and of course more. It does a lot to keep a group calm to speak calmly and encourage someone to slow down. Slow and steady is fast. Check in with youself before engaging. Take 10 seconds to gather and prepare yourself. 10 seconds in the beginning can save a minute later.
The one thing I did judge, is what a pus the guy was to stop digging to warm up his hands while the buried dude dug himself out. Again, acted calm, but clearly all over the place and frantic.
My point is. High risk, low frequency events will not always go perfect (this one far from perfect), but if we think critically about an incident and remove judgement, we can better prepare ourselves and our group for success in the backcountry.
Stay humble as we all make mistakes in our lives.
I am glad they made it out and I hope they learn from this as I did and I hope others do as well.
Spelling might be jacked due to iPad so I apologize. Also, not attacking anyone here, just my humble opinion that this is still an excellent learning tool beyond the obvious mistakes.
Thanks for letting me take up you valuable time with my rant
Later