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Another Avalanche 3/3/18

Speaking of radio. I was able to hear the talk as well and surprised as I was in the clearcut areas near Beverley. I just couldn’t make out the situation, I only could hear something was going on. But on a clear day and in the right areas, the radio will travel. (I was stopped for a moment shedding some clothes as it started to warm up, which is also something to point out about it, the conditions started to change around 11:30.)


Sent from my iPad using Tapatalk
 
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Chadly said:
I suggest you newer riders look long and hard at that terrain feature and never ride anything that resembles that regardless of snow conditions...
Click to expand...

Any idea on how far up they are in reference to the pic with no snow? Looks like the slide occurred up high and filled the valley in???

Exposed rocks are a real bad sign.
 
Wow just heartbreaking. My father knew Larsen very well as he works for the City of Bonney Lake and also worked with Zach, he's pretty upset by this news. Hope the others recover OK.
 
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Thanks for the info.

I'm pretty sure that is the gully on the right as you ride the trail up from the Esmeralda trail parking lot. About a 1/4 mile up. It's a funnel for a huge fan of terrain above, immediately adjacent to Long's Pass on the same ridge. In past years, there's been massive debris piles right there, like 30' tall, sometimes totally blocking the trail. It got really warm on Sat, for the first time since the massive dump that happened the week before, and that side of the valley gets intense S facing sun. And nothing was sliding, which lulled everybody into a sense of safety, myself included.
 
Chadly said:
I suggest you newer riders look long and hard at that terrain feature and never ride anything that resembles that regardless of snow conditions...
Click to expand...

It sounds like there was a lot of experience, knowledge, and appropriate gear with the unfortunate group that got caught.

Maybe this advice is good for everyone and not just the newbies.
 
I have never met James or have ridden with him so I can't speak for him. Ryan who dug Kyle out was on his 6th ride ever. This was Zach's second season snowmobiling. I just rode with him at Cooke. He was a beginner rider. Kyle was the only intermediate rider with a lot of experience. I have only rode snowmobiles for five years so my experience in the mountains is minor to some of the guys I ride with. However, I ride around 50 times a year so my actual riding miles and experience sometimes out weighs guys who have been riding for 10 years. When I first got into the sport I went out and bought a beacon, shovel, and Avy pack. My first couple years the mentality I had was I have all the stuff if I am in an Avy I'll pull the cord and I'll be fine. I don't blame shops or other riders for giving me this mentality but this IS the stigma in the sport. I see 50 people leave the Snopark every weekend wearing Avy packs that don't even have the riding ability where they should even be in an area where they would ever need an Avy pack. I mean are you even serious throwing a Avy pack on your wife? Is it so she can pull the cord when she is in a run out watching you sidehill above her? Yet the shops continue to sell them to anyone who walks in the door. When my buddy Josh Roth was killed last year my outlook on avalanches completely changed. I no longer was thinking about how I would survive an avalanche. I was thinking about how I can I completely avoid one altogether. A lot of people criticize me now because I rarely ride with an air bag but I don't give a **** what anyone says those things give you false confidence. It may be 100% subliminal but they DO. If you were dropped in the backcountry in your T shirt with none of your supplier or Avy gear you would 100% change what you would hit and what you wouldn't hit. There are plenty of people on this forum that have seen me ride and I am sure would criticize choices they have seen me make. I am no saint nor can I say I am the safest person on the mountain. I do assess each situation though and make my choices based on my assessment. I however never put anyone in my group in a situation where I am telling them they have to do something. If one single person in a group feels uncomfortable then the whole group should be uncomfortable and go another route. I love Kyle to death and this absolutely tears me apart that this happened. I wish I hadn't been in McCall and I was with him that day. Once again this is a huge game changer for me moving forward and riding after this accident. I can't stress enough though about the decisions we make in the backcountry. Because I can 100% guarantee the day there is some random avalanche that kills anyone I know that nobody could have done anything about I will give away my sleds and never ride again...
 
Chadly said:
My first couple years the mentality I had was I have all the stuff if I am in an Avy I'll pull the cord and I'll be fine. ... When my buddy Josh Roth was killed last year my outlook on avalanches completely changed. I no longer was thinking about how I would survive an avalanche. I was thinking about how I can I completely avoid one altogether.
Click to expand...

I know this was already quoted but I can't stress this enough. Having a transceiver/shovel/probe and knowing how to use them is really the last chance to stay alive. The first chance is making the decision of where to be and when.

Take an avalanche class and then take another. Learn to look at terrain and avoid getting caught in the first place, even if you're just a spectator for people highmarking.
 
This year and this last week is the fear I have been thinking of since the stock sleds became as good as mods used to be. I grew up in McCall and have been riding since 1976. Rode Frankinsled mods all through the 80's and 90's and then super-mods until my 2011 Stock M8 snopro.
I have had the unfortunate experience of digging for friends as well as strangers several times and then worked through the weeks of bad dreams and reflections on the long list of my own poor decisions. All comes down to your brain being your most valuable tool. You will never see me ride a chute anymore no matter what the conditions. (Helped airlift a rider off Lincoln one year after he rolled the length of the chute and broke 18 bones). you will never see me stop at the bottom of any kind of a run out. (Lost a friend at the Big Iron Shootout years ago) you will never see me on camera again (helped airlift a compound fractured leg as a result of a big, bigger biggest drop contest on film)
Conclusion: sleds will now get unqualified riders to places they have no comprehension of the danger, air bags and locators give false confidence that you will survive if the worst happens and cameras are worse than beer for coning otherwise smart people into leaving their brain at the truck.
I feel so sad for the families and friends of these guys and hope this changes the attitudes of at least a few who are following this thread.
I still "Send It" every time I go out but never before I consider the conditions, terrain and the group i'm with prior to every squeeze of the throttle.
 
There has been a 6th avalanche victim. from the news paper

Rogers said that around 1:40 p.m. on Sunday, Okanogan County Search and Rescue personnel were dispatched. The incident occurred out of Winthrop on the Goat Creek Road and Forest Service 52 Road, approximately 12 miles up from the Sno-Park, the sheriff said.

“It appears that … the four skiers were caught in an avalanche and one of the skiers was killed,” Rogers reported. “The other three skiers were able to locate him with his beacon but were not able to bring him down off the mountain. Rescue workers attempted to get into the area yesterday [Sunday] but because of the dangerous conditions and extreme avalanche dangers, they were unable to get to the victim. Attempts today will be made to recover the victim with the use of a helicopter, weather permitting, but at this time we are not sending anyone into the area on foot because of the dangerous conditions.”
 
Avy danger might have been low to Mod in the morning but that changed Significantly when the full sun hit that southern exposure and the temps hit 40 degs. There is normally Avalanche debris covering the access to that chute and box canyon, but even if there wasn't it's a terrain trap that rarely takes prisoners... The avalanche forecast is just that, if you live by it you'll probably die by it....
 
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The avy forecast takes into account the temps and snowfall... It doesn't take into account that we got freezing rain that created a 4" slab of ice and since then several feet of snow fell on top with several feet under it as well.
Nothing is going to bond to that ice layer until maybe late spring when it melts a few feet and all turns to slush.
This is not a safe year at all. More deaths than last year already.
 
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