Avalanche and one lucky rider

[SledGimp]

Jus south of Tower Mountain, I think on Current Creek Peak a rider was coming down and it slid about 5 ft in front of him. He was able to get the sled ver on its side and stop it from sliding down the shear ice slope and with the help of 2 friends they got it out of the slide zone and he traversed out and rode down safely. This could have been very ugly, be safe out there people.

 

[Chief]

I think I've seen that slope slide more often than any other in that region over the many years I've been riding there.

One day it's going to kill someone.

 

[POWDR]

Was the dude that ripped the slide ok before his buddies headed up?

I ask because sometimes it is best to let him get unstuck on his own. The slope is obviously prone. They seem to walk out to the side after the rider is unstuck and leaves.

Perhaps the rider should have given the I am ok signal (if indeed he was ok) and got himself unstuck. Less exposure this way.

Also, the "rescuers" should have walked out down the slide path. They look to have egressed via a prone slope.

Not bagging on anyone here just asking questions and trying to learn. Any further info you can give would be helpful. Also an intelligent, solution oriented conversation would be greatly appreciated.

It is always important to analyze near misses and other incidents logically to learn and be better prepared in the future. This is important even if the incident went perfect.

I am by no means arm chair quaterbacking. Seeing an incident from afar or totally removed always involves hignsight and is devoid of emotion, adreneline and time crunch.

Lets all learn together.

 

[m8braaaap]

Was the dude that ripped the slide ok before his buddies headed up?

I ask because sometimes it is best to let him get unstuck on his own. The slope is obviously prone. They seem to walk out to the side after the rider is unstuck and leaves.

Perhaps the rider should have given the I am ok signal (if indeed he was ok) and got himself unstuck. Less exposure this way.

Also, the "rescuers" should have walked out down the slide path. They look to have egressed via a prone slope.

Not bagging on anyone here just asking questions and trying to learn. Any further info you can give would be helpful. Also an intelligent, solution oriented conversation would be greatly appreciated.

It is always important to analyze near misses and other incidents logically to learn and be better prepared in the future. This is important even if the incident went perfect.

I am by no means arm chair quaterbacking. Seeing an incident from afar or totally removed always involves hignsight and is devoid of emotion, adreneline and time crunch.

Lets all learn together.

you never help a stuck sled on a steep hill.let them get it themselves and watch incase it slides.avy danger is full throttle here in colorado.guna take a break after today.skier died in the basin next to us today in silverton.r.i.p

 

[POWDR]

^^^^^^ yup I come from backcountry skiing in CO. I do, however,take my risks at times. In fact, I did today. CO teaches one A LOT about avy safety. This is why I brought it up. Thanks for the post.

All safety signals should be discussed ahead of time. Whatever you safety signal is, throw it up if you are ok, get YOURSELF unstuck while your buddies provide for a lookout

Still, I am only asking as I was not there. However, you caught my drift. Speaking of drift- holy wind and drifts up high, know how to read snow folks.

BTW, I was launching drifts and cornices onto wind loaded slopes today. I am home safe, but I took a couple of risks. I do, however, read the avy report everyday, also the weather, report (multiple sites) I live in the mountains, know the slopes I ride and I dig pits if I am going to take a risk.

 

[SledGimp]

I arived after the slide and his 2 friends were already up the hill. My nderstanding is that it slid right in front of him and he stopped before he was in the slide path. He then proceeded into the slide path and tried to sidehill to his left to get to an area where he could decend the mountain. He told me the hill was solid ice and could get no traction so he laid the sled on its side and tried to dig it in so it would stop sliding.

His 2 buddies then climbed up the slide path and helped him get the sled across teh path and intointo the softer snow so he could get the sled off the hill. After getting to the softer snow he kept getting stuck so they kept working the sled across the hill until he was free, about half way to the trees.

After he was free and road down his buddies followed his path across the hill and slid down on thier own by the trees.

While watching this all transpire I felt sure that the hill they were crossing was going to slide as well so we stayed well back. These guys were all lucky to get out of this bt I don't know if he could have gotten that sled off the hill alone without help or a chopper, unless he just let it go through the rocks and trees alone.

The last pic is of the 3 on the hill and the bald guy is the one that was stuck. They did all three have beacons on I will say that for them.

I also saw a guy stuck on Tower Mountain right below the cornice and his buddies went around above him and came down over the cornice to help hime get out. Like you said Powdr if they are stuck in a possible slide area best to let them get themselves out.

 

[snengineer]

That looked extremely dangerous!

 

[wjl]

Scary stuff right there.
Where they exited looks like it could go anytime in the near future.

 

[harrysmith500]

Why wouldn't they (he ) just exit down the slide path?

 

[savagerunner07]

The whole slide path was nothing but ice. He had no chance of coming down the path in a controlled decent. I thought for sure the path they took was going to slide as he kept loading it with snow from the sled. This is the first time that I have come across a slide in the 7 years of my riding. It was a scary site. I know that I do think twice about the hills I need to go up. This confirms that I am not a hill banger. I am glad they did get out safe. SledGimp and I were ready if anythng else happened. I really dont ever want to get my probe out to look for someone.

 

[snowmobiler]

after i sh!t my pants,i might have let my sled ghost ride down the hill and walked to the top before crossing like that.glad it worked out for you guys.


edit....but walking to the top could have broke loose too so dont listen to me.

 

[m8magicandmystery]

wow...thanx for posting this....a very dangerous situation...complicated extensively by an apparent icy slide path..no second guessing here..just taking in all the info and suggested other possible options constructively....

thanx again for the pics and really glad you fella's dodged a bullet...

 

[harrysmith500]

I want Craig Gordon to give us his $.02 on how to escape the situation. Sounds like everyone has their own idea how to get out of this.

 

[SledGimp]

If you look closely at the slide path you will notice that his only decent that way would have taken him through some really nasty rocks and trees. Not saying he did the right thing by going the way he did but his sled would not have survived the slide path and not sure he would have either.

I was not a member of this riding group just a bystander that came along after they were already in this situation. I do know that the one rider with the group still at the bottom said he had the money for a chopper and wanted to airlift it out.

 

[zebiraross]

I think I've seen that slope slide more often than any other in that region over the many years I've been riding there.

One day it's going to kill someone.

X2, back in my younger, dumber days this hill almost took out my buddy. I remember the cloud of snow being higher then the trees.

 

[Rixster]

I am having a hard time picturing where this hill is, could someone post a map with a mark on it? Thanks.

 

[SledGimp]

Ok, so here is a google map image showing where I was sitting when I took the pictures.

 

[POWDR]

If you look closely at the slide path you will notice that his only decent that way would have taken him through some really nasty rocks and trees. Not saying he did the right thing by going the way he did but his sled would not have survived the slide path and not sure he would have either.

I was not a member of this riding group just a bystander that came along after they were already in this situation. I do know that the one rider with the group still at the bottom said he had the money for a chopper and wanted to airlift it out.

It is always good to get the full picture from someone that was there. As stated b4, Not trying to armchair quarterback here. Situations like this can create tough decisions to be made.

Interesting that the one dude wanted to use a heli for retrieval. They were obviously going over their options.

Great that you guys hung around as a secondary rescue team. However, this raises a great point. A lot of great mountaineers have died in rescue efforts involving those outside their party. The point being, that you guys were put into a certain level of danger. Everything went fine so your danger level stayed very low to non-existent. Now had things not gone as smooth and you were put into an active rescue situation your exposure level just skyrocketed.

My point here that the discussion of "can we do better" not only helps us when we are in a similar situation, but it may also help onlookers who happen upon the incident and suddenly beome involved. Perhaps at a low level of danger as you were or a more involved situation.

Kudos to you guys for sticking around. Also, thanks for the visual documentation and this beneficial conversation.

 

[sled_guy]

X2, back in my younger, dumber days this hill almost took out my buddy. I remember the cloud of snow being higher then the trees.

Several years ago 4 guys were buried on that hill, no beacons, 2 partial buries, 2 full buries... all survived.

That's a nasty hill.

sled_guy

 

[CSUpowder]

That same hill slide in December down to the dirt. She isn't a stable slope. And like you said it's pretty gnarly with rocks and stumps especially if there isn't any snow left on it. I wouldn't have wanted to come straight down either. But then again going across that slab is asking for some hang fire to break loose and then you're really not choosing which way you go down. There's a gully to the lookers left that still would've been rocky but probably doable. I would've put my spare belt around a ski for a brake and gone for that gully. This all being said from the comfort of my home and not just setting off a slide, so either way I'm glad no one got hurt and I hope everyone plays safe.