To All Backcountry Skiers:

telewoman · Joined: 13 Dec 2004 Posts: 457 Location: Mt. Shasta

Very sobering story...Condolences to all involved. May we all learn from it.
http://www.summitpost.org/phpBB3/backcountry-skiing-t57823.html
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lochsa · Joined: 09 Dec 2004 Posts: 2002 Location: aqui y alli

yep, a good narrative. Lots of lessons in there; it expresses well the narrowing of vision, the failure of one's own mind and body to cooperate under stress,how 'having skied the backcountry for thirty years' can mean very little at times.

tOMfLOUNDER · Posted: Sun Mar 06, 2011 2:18 am Post subject:

Thanks for posting, thoughts & prayers to friends & family.

All the best, tOM

stevesliva · Joined: 11 Dec 2004 Posts: 10285 Location: SEA

Crap.

But we need to know what beacon he had. Or maybe it was just the batteries. Which you can warm up.

lochsa · Joined: 09 Dec 2004 Posts: 2002 Location: aqui y alli

Shan · Joined: 06 Dec 2004 Posts: 2194 Location: right behind you!

yikes

seki · Joined: 06 Dec 2004 Posts: 6386 Location: Gone

Sobering.

Thanks for posting, telewoman.

fogey · Posted: Sun Mar 06, 2011 3:29 pm Post subject:

Hey Telewoman--you might want to edit the title to give a more specific idea what this thread's about--this is one of the most interesting and useful first-hand avalanche accounts I've seen. Thanks for the link.

Matt J · Joined: 09 Dec 2009 Posts: 2640

truly a tragedy

having heard first hand accounts of someone who has experienced a full burial I think these narratives are sobering and informative

I think of my buddy's story whenever we're deciding whether a slope is safe or not

it's important to know that no matter which side of a burial you're on it's truly harrowing

darkstar · Joined: 26 Jan 2011 Posts: 27 Location: central ny

i shuddered reading that account
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scaramouch · Posted: Sun Mar 06, 2011 4:55 pm Post subject:

Scary. It strikes me that there should be some kind of standard for transceivers, so that anybody can use anybody else's beacon.
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Nick (AT) · Posted: Sun Mar 06, 2011 10:30 pm Post subject:

risk.reduction · Joined: 22 Apr 2008 Posts: 3062 Location: Wasilla, Alaska

Or, how about not triggering avalanches in the first place? Terrain suitable for the conditions....
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weakknees · Posted: Mon Mar 07, 2011 12:23 am Post subject:

Thanks for the post!

I was thirsty for some more details:

CAA report: (narrow results to 2011 and find by the date 2/26/11)
http://www.avalanche.ca/cac/library/incident-report-database/view

Avy forecast for that day:
http://www.avalanche.ca/cac/bulletins/archive/northwest-bc/28081

Stay safe out there.

hutguy · Joined: 06 Dec 2004 Posts: 7138 Location: Breckenridge CO

As heart wrenching as first hand narratives like this are, IMO they are some of the best teaching tools available. You can go back over them and point out the mistakes made in real world situations and show how easy it is to find yourself in a dicey situation.

As RR pointed out, , best is not getting yourself in a situation like this i the first place, no doubt that's the best option, but as we all know, getting yourself into a bad spot can happen to anyone, especially if you let your guard down or don't listen to your inner alarm.
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