AVALANCHE IN NORTHERN ONTARIO!!!!

[triple650]

Hey everyone i never post in this part of the forum but this video is my moms friends son, and his friends riding at an old waste pile mountain called johnsmanville about 10 miles east of matheson, i didnt even here of this until just now it happened january 14th and just this past weekend a group of 40 snowmobilers went on a charity ride to this mountain. 3rd annual i didnt attend because of a broken helix lol

but anyway i couldnt beleive it when i saw this, we dont ever ever see this happen here! crazy!

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=FR-GH9_hS98&feature=share

 

[aebsledder]

Holy Cow!!!! Thank you very much for posting this. Phenomenal footage, and a perfect example of how a "small" slide can have terrible consequences. So is that just basically a tailings pile? That was just crazy.

 

[skibreeze]

Good thing they were prepared.......

 

[Goose Man]

Incredible video! It is just amazing how dangerous a slide on a small hill can be. The audio really makes an impact. And multiple angles of the same event. Thanks for posting.

 

[akstormin]

Really well done video, thanks for posting. I bet those guys would've paid a pretty penny for a shovel to dig there friend and his sled out!

 

[snokaw]

Wow! Thanks for posting.

Great response from his buddies.

 

[excav8ter]

I couldn't even finish watching the whole video. I was stating to panic just watching it.

 

[SledsWest]

One of the best avalanche videos I've seen. This is a perfect example of what its like to be in stuck and buried. The panic in his voice as he screams for help is chilling. I don't understand how people can say "well at least he died doing what he loved" when you hear the panic and helplessness in that guys voice. Get the gear and get educated!! Good post, thank you.

 

[Chief]

This is posted elsewhere on SnoWest

and I'll repeat my comments here:

No shovels, no probes, no beacons, no training…

Doesn’t even begin to understand how lucky he is to be alive.

No idea that the CREATED that avalanche in a place he should never have been in the first place… (Windloaded terrain trap).

Without acquiring first a CLUE and then equipment and training we will soon be reading about his, and his buddies, deaths.

 

[triple650]

Thanks every one for the positive replys, yes it is a tailings waste pile. For the others saying they were unprepared saying they had no beacons, you have to understand we don't have mountains here, or even hills. This is the only climb able hill in hundreds of miles. This has NEVER happened here, the most snow we get is about 4 feet and that's a really good winter! They should have shovels yes, but they didn't there just lucky he wasn't far down.

I hope this video shows up on our news, national would be pretty cool, I had a hard time watching when he is screaming its bone chilling. I hope he realizes just how lucky he is, if he would have fallen off his machine he may not have survived. I figured I'd post it here to show you all, we never see this and still lots of people take the thought of avalanches very lightly. I for one, am not one of those people. Please share with your friends!! Thanks!

 

[Sxrlar]

Thank you for posting this. Avy's can happen anywhere!

For the guys who are ripping on these guys because they had no training, no shovels, no probes, no beacons, remember where they are. 99 percent of the time this will never happen in this area. I know you guys out west deal with this all the time, but here in the flatlands, it is never even a thought. But, I am sure it will be now for the people that ride on this particular hill.

 

[EagleRiverDee]

Thank you for posting this. Avy's can happen anywhere!

For the guys who are ripping on these guys because they had no training, no shovels, no probes, no beacons, remember where they are. 99 percent of the time this will never happen in this area. I know you guys out west deal with this all the time, but here in the flatlands, it is never even a thought. But, I am sure it will be now for the people that ride on this particular hill.

Eh hem. That wasn't FLAT terrain they were riding on.

There's a vid from a few weeks ago, a guy was fully buried by riding his sled up a cut bank no higher than 10' tall. A skiier got killed a few weeks ago from a slide on a 30' slope. The terrain these guys were riding was mountain terrain (it doesn't matter that it was a tailings waste pile- what matters is the slope angle, loading and aspect...) considerably higher than those examples, and they weren't prepared. The outcome was lucky. They did some things right. They kept their eyes on the rider, they responded quickly. (I probably would have opted to ride in rather than scramble through the snow though.) The guy that was buried did a good job of waving his hand and calling out.

The issue is, however, that they had none of the appropriate gear for the terrain they were riding. Most riders will never be caught in an avy, that is a statistical fact. The fact that your friends tend to ride terrain that never slides is a statistical fact. It sucks when you're in the 1%. It would suck worse if you knew no one was going to find you because none of you had the gear. Everyone should have a beacon, shovel, and probe. Period. If that guy had been buried completely, they would not have heard his cries for help. He may not have been found in time. Hopefully they and anyone else who rides without the proper gear will learn a lesson from this.

 

[psychosledder73]

Try havin this happen with sled somehow ending up on you. Priceless

 

[Matte Murder]

Great rescue. I love it that the guys don't want to risk their sleds in the terrain trap but sprint right in to save their buddy. That rescue just goes to show you that the most important avy gear is your brain. He must have been crushed pretty good if he thought he couldn't breath. Had to be getting some air if he could yell. Really well done video. I am not going to bag on them for no avy gear but without it they prolly shouldn't have ridden in that exact spot on that day. So lucky his friends saw it happen.

 

[hivoltagesledhead]

I am sure from now on they will at least be packin shovels. Definately a bone chilling vid....my heart was thunping for him as i watched it.....dont ever ever ever want to be in that situation.

 

[skibreeze]

Great rescue. I love it that the guys don't want to risk their sleds in the terrain trap but sprint right in to save their buddy. That rescue just goes to show you that the most important avy gear is your brain. He must have been crushed pretty good if he thought he couldn't breath. Had to be getting some air if he could yell. Really well done video. I am not going to bag on them for no avy gear but without it they prolly shouldn't have ridden in that exact spot on that day. So lucky his friends saw it happen.

Avy debris sets up very hard within a couple seconds after it stops moving. It is gonna push on you pretty good and then set up around you very tight. It will make it so you can't inhale deeply since you can't expand your lung cage. I had a friend that was buried under only a foot of snow and he was panicked by the lack of breathing freely, even though his head ws fully exposed.

 

[m8magicandmystery]

good vid...a few smarter snowmobilers im sure...those that were involved and those that watch the vid from what could have been a deadly day...glad all is safe ..kudo's to the buddies in the rescue..

 

[allied1]

It sure does not take much to become immobilized and suffocate. Good video. Thanks for posting. Here's an example of a burial without any hills.

A Minnesota man died after he jumped off a roof that began caving in and was buried by snow that fell on top of him, police and a co-worker said. Rescue workers dug frantically through the snow for Christopher Volk, 19, of Glyndon, Minn., after a co-worker reported the incident about 2:15 p.m., Thursday. Firefighters found Volk and took him to Fargo's MeritCare hospital, where he was pronounced dead. It took the rescue workers about 30 minutes to dig Volk out of the snow, Police Sgt. Julie Hinkel said. Police said Volk was buried by "several cubic yards of snow" that slid off the roof. Hinkel said officers reported the snow on top of Volk was "about the height of a standard doorway." Police said Volk worked for Command Center, a temporary job agency, and was clearing snow at the Reiles Transfer building near the Fargo airport. Volk's co-worker, who did not give his name, told Fargo's KFGO-AM that the two were knocking snow off the roof when it start caving in and Volk jumped off. "I was yelling. It was caving in, it was caving in, coming down, and it all avalanched on top of him. I saw my best friend get buried," he said. Police said the incident remains under investigation. An autopsy was planned for Friday in Bismarck. Video story courtesy KVLY-TV, Fargo, ND

 

[vdo1948]

Some years ago somebody posted like five or ten years of avy stats from US & Canada. As I sorted thru it, it appeared that about one person per year dies from a roof avalanche in North America. Some were done in as they were knocking snow off their roof, but I remember that one or more of them just walked out the door, closed the door and the roof slid and killed them.

 

[The Fourth Wolf]

Everytime someone posts a vid like this they get hammered for being "stupid" (youtube comments). I think that these vids add to our body of knowledge.

Case in point: It's one thing to talk about conditions and another to see them. In this case it was wind-slab. When the surface looks like frozen waves it's ready to let let go.

Now that's something that the Ontario locals might not think to look for but to experienced/trained mountain riders it was fairly obvious---windloaded slope. For a sec I thought the avy was going to break on the initial run up the hill.

Excellent "anatomy of an avalanche scenario" video. Thanks for posting it.

Remember campers, it doesn't take mountains to make an avalanche. Any old slope will do. And just because you're a "flatlander" doesn't mean you don't have pockets of avy terrain where you ride.