Another avy video for everyone to learn something from

[RidewithChrisBrown]

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=h7QFRXc0R8M

LEEWARD (wind loaded) slope + SHALLOW snowpack = EASY TRIGGER

I'm assuming the avy danger rating was at considerable or high on this day...this IS NOT a slope you want to be on. Snow transport occured and loaded that slope on a very shallow snowpack. It looks like it released at a rock (the most shallow point) which I'm sure was surrounded by facets (very weak non binding crystals). Please stay off slopes like this right now...luckily he was able to pull his airbag. It probably kept him afloat.

Great video to learn from.

 

[skibreeze]

So the chick is avy prepared with a bag, yet she forgot the most important part of being prepared.....

The Avy Forcast!

People gotta use their fawking head!

http://avalanche.state.co.us/pub_bc_avo.php?zone_id=5&display=printerfriendly


Here's a question for you, how stupid is this chick? Look at the right side of the video, you can see the fresh release from a prior slide.

 

[up-high]

He's lucky the avy packs work. Doesn't look like his brain does!

 

[badapple]

"The BCA Float 30: Doing its part to reverse the affects of natural selection and keep people who make really poor choices alive since 2009"

The quote of the century

 

[NytroNorm]

HER brain does not work would be more accurate.

The pros are gonna ride dangerous terrain everyday, nothing anybody says is gonna change that.

Do I condone it? hell no but they know the dangers, gives us good vids to scare the **** out of the rest of us at least.

 

[ewsummit]

AIR BAG

Air Bag for AIR HEAD

 

[EagleRiverDee]

That's extremely unusual- women are a super minority for being involved in avy's because typically they show more caution than men do about avy risk. I'm glad to see the bag worked, but must admit that I do think this snowboarder placed too much confidence in her gear and not enough emphasis on checking the avy forecast and using her avalanche eyeballs. What if her cannister had failed to pop? That could have been a really serious tragedy.

 

[up-high]

Just goes to show that some women are as dumb as men!

 

[akstormin]

That is an amazing video. Its like the perfect example of what not to do. To ride a slope adjacent and identical to one that recently slid is about as close to a death wish as you can get. Stunningly stupid decision making, but hey at least they got it on film for us to learn from and I'm glad the airbag worked.

 

[Scott]

I like how borders and skiers categorically point to sledders as the dumb ones.

So the chick is avy prepared with a bag, yet she forgot the most important part of being prepared.....

The Avy Forcast!

People gotta use their fawking head!

http://avalanche.state.co.us/pub_bc_avo.php?zone_id=5&display=printerfriendly


Here's a question for you, how stupid is this chick? Look at the right side of the video, you can see the fresh release from a prior slide.

 

[EagleRiverDee]

I like how borders and skiers categorically point to sledders as the dumb ones.

Well, sledders overtook all other back country travelers in avy fatalities in about 1990 and have been the #1 avy fatality group since then. I don't think it's so much that sledders are dumb but that as a group they don't yet fully understand how potentially dangerous their sport is now that sleds have become so much more capable. It's also easier to misjudge a slope angle on a sled and things like pit tests that are beneficial to other groups aren't as beneficial to sledders because they can be off that aspect and onto another aspect in minutes and the entire game changes. You also cannot genearlly hear the snowpack underneath you so hollow sounds and whumphing are masked by the noise of the engine. Sledders have to look at other clues to snowpack stability such as slope aspect and angle, snow loading, and be particularly aware of weather in the previous few days in the area they are riding and also what kind of layers are in the snow pack. Additionally, sledders have a tendency to group up at the bottom of a slope and observe other sledders high marking and so when a sledder does trigger an avy there have often been multiple victims as opposed to just one. Skiiers seem to do a bit better at the one-at-a-time philosophy and of stopping in safe places to observe their partners.

 

[Scott]

Well, sledders overtook all other back country travelers in avy fatalities in about 1990 and have been the #1 avy fatality group since then. I don't think it's so much that sledders are dumb but that as a group they don't yet fully understand how potentially dangerous their sport is now that sleds have become so much more capable. It's also easier to misjudge a slope angle on a sled and things like pit tests that are beneficial to other groups aren't as beneficial to sledders because they can be off that aspect and onto another aspect in minutes and the entire game changes. You also cannot genearlly hear the snowpack underneath you so hollow sounds and whumphing are masked by the noise of the engine. Sledders have to look at other clues to snowpack stability such as slope aspect and angle, snow loading, and be particularly aware of weather in the previous few days in the area they are riding and also what kind of layers are in the snow pack. Additionally, sledders have a tendency to group up at the bottom of a slope and observe other sledders high marking and so when a sledder does trigger an avy there have often been multiple victims as opposed to just one. Skiiers seem to do a bit better at the one-at-a-time philosophy and of stopping in safe places to observe their partners.

I understand all that.


My point was that it's NOT ALWAYS the sledders that are the dumb ones

The plankers want everyone to believe that they are NOT at all dumb.

 

[EagleRiverDee]

I understand all that.


My point was that it's NOT ALWAYS the sledders that are the dumb ones

The plankers want everyone to believe that they are NOT at all dumb.

Honestly I think it's as unfair to pigeon hole all skiiers and snow boarders into the same category as it is when some of them pigeon hole all sledders into the same category.

There are avy-savvy sledders, and avy-savvy "plankers" (like that term, btw- never heard that one before). There are dumb sledders, and dumb plankers. In this video particularly, that chick is begging to be a statistic. I hope that she learned a lesson from this, but I'm afraid she probably did not. If anything, I suspect she got a confidence boost from the fact that the ABS bag worked as well as it did. In fact, I would not be surprised if people that watch the video don't get a confidence boost about avy bags. I love the idea of an avy bag, but hate the thought of anyone taking add'l risk because they have one on.

 

[Scott]

Again, I agree.

My point all along is that no group should be labeled because of the actions of a specific individuals.