AVALANCHE REPORT: A Major Slide & partial burial DEEP IN THE TREES

[christopher]

Exactly.. I was up by Jefferson a couple of weeks ago, and people were going Gonzo on the hills... guess it never crossed there minds why they were untracked... They take an hour long class back east, and show up here, and as soon as they see those deep slopes they lose their minds, forget everything they learned and hit em hard

Nope
They just saw FRESH UNTRACKED POW and went for it.

 

[Backcountry_Rider]

Glad everyone made it out safe.

I like that he shared their lessons learned and hope that everyone puts these to practice in the future. He touched on some very important things that should always be used.

Accountability of personnel is key. Use the buddy system, everyone should have a partner they are accountable for.

Use scouts when in unfamiliar country, simple two-man team with sufficient training and experience should recon the entire area before the fun starts.

Use your equipment properly and don’t go unprepared. Train with your equipment. Muscle memory can save your life. They did equipment checks before heading up and it showed great judgement that he kept his avy pack on while getting his sled out.

The one thing I would question from their lessons learned is immediately switching beacons to search mode after the dust settles. While response time is critical, you should always take caution in being too reactive. If it slid once, it can slide again. Make sure the scene has been thoroughly sized up for safety of the responders.

I always run through a quick 5 point checklist when responding to an incident.
1. I’m #1 (the safety of you and your fellow responders are the #1 priority)
2. What happened to you (the individual(s) affected by the incident)
3. Not on me (use your protective equipment)
4. Are there any more (how many are involved, accountability check)
5. Are they alive (you may not know this in an avalanche situation, but other incidents it can be more obvious)

Great job guys and thanks for sharing. Your post will surely help others.

 

[christopher]

Glad everyone made it out safe.

I like that he shared their lessons learned and hope that everyone puts these to practice in the future. He touched on some very important things that should always be used.

Accountability of personnel is key. Use the buddy system, everyone should have a partner they are accountable for.

Use scouts when in unfamiliar country, simple two-man team with sufficient training and experience should recon the entire area before the fun starts.

Use your equipment properly and don’t go unprepared. Train with your equipment. Muscle memory can save your life. They did equipment checks before heading up and it showed great judgement that he kept his avy pack on while getting his sled out.

The one this I would question from their lessons learned is immediately switching beacons to search mode after the dust settles. While response time is critical, you should always take caution in being too reactive. If it slid once, it can slide again. Make sure the scene has been thoroughly sized up for safety of the responders.

I always run through a quick 5 point checklist when responding to an incident.

1. I’m #1 (the safety of you and your fellow responders are the #1 priority)

2. What happened to you (the individual(s) affected by the incident)

3. Not on me (use your protective equipment)

4. Are there any more (how many are involved, accountability check)

5. Are they alive (you may not know this in an avalanche situation, but other incidents it can be more obvious)

Great job guys and thanks for sharing. Your post will surely help others.

Good List.

 

[Wapow]

Thanks for reposting the story. Sketchy year for sure.

At the last Mike Duffy seminar I attended, I recall him stating that riding in the "trees" was not any safer than an exposed slope unless the trees were very tight and had branches that were buried in the snow pack (pines) and acted as anchors.

Don't shoot the messenger.

There's a saying in skiing "wide enough to ride, wide enough to slide", but I'd say that's bit of an exaggeration, at least for our local snowpack in WA. The truth is old growth trees below big open slopes can be subject to avys (as happened in this case) and they will generally have signs of those avys (avy pros call this a "flag"), such as no branches on the uphill side, but branches on the downhill side. Where there is no slide zone above the relatively tightly spaced trees, the danger is generally very low, and the risk is that a localized slide in those trees could result in a terrain trap burial or cause a "strainer", i.e., were the victim is carried at high speed into an object, which actually kills a lot of avy victims (as opposed to suffocation).

 

[frntflp]

Thank you for sharing ! Very happy that all came out OK. A few short thoughts -

1. Like you, I found that trees don't stop a slide. I was tumbled down through trees, came out at the bottom and 98% buried. Very thankful I didn't hit any of them on the way. My buddy hit either his sled as he was tumbling or a tree (or two) on his way down. Broken collar bone and a cut on his head was all. Again, trees don't stop a slide - they might help slow it down, or at least slow down the impact....

2. Ours was 8 years ago, we both still drive west from MN and ride 2 or more times every year. We ride very differently. Different approach to our awareness, and decisions on where we ride. Better command of our gear (how and where packed). Even carry extra probes and shovels. Multiple Mike Duffy classes (learn something different each time) and, in my case two on the hill field rescue exercises. And practice my skills !!!!

3. Finally, I don't like to tell my story because of the choices I made that day. But in the right situation, and especially if it will help others to make a wiser choice, I will tell - just as you did. I wish everyone that rides in these conditions could hear a story like that - again, in the hopes that they would use it to learn about making wiser choices.

THANK YOU !