Buried Snowmobiler

[Dartos]

My condolences to the Sizemore family.

 

[SSWIM]

Unless you can see a before and after pic. It is very hard to determine how big or deep the debris field is. Also it looks like the slide area might funnel the snow to one spot. Did I read that S&R had to blast for safety before doing the search? If so that might of added to the final depth. Sad day for the sledding folk! My thoughts go out to his family.

Al, this is a deep draw. There is a BUNCH of snow piled up in it. He did not have a chance. No ABS pack would have saved him. From what I understood they blasted the snowline above.

Sam

 

[Dartos]

I am interested in your knowledge or experience with the ABS airbags and why you are so sure no airbag would have saved him.

I have been putting money aside to buy one.

 

[stepup]

Dartos, don't let sswim's comment stop you from getting an avy pack. Get one. I agree with sswim, I ride with beacon,probe,good shovel and an abs pack and am not sure it would have mattered in this spot on this day. I have never been in an avy so this is just what I think. In a drainage like this, once you are in the bottom of the drainage, you may still be going down hill but now you have snow pilling up on you from two sides. I think this would bury you even with the avy pack. maybe not as deep. Before I got my pack I looked at all the abs test videos I could find. they put packs on test dummies and triggered an avy. I noticed a few would get at least partially buried when they came to a stop at the bottom and then as the snow was stopping it would slowly roll up over the test dummy. A pack may not save you in every case but if you have one AND all the other avy gear your chances of survival are way way better.

 

[Adobe-Al]

I am interested in your knowledge or experience with the ABS airbags and why you are so sure no airbag would have saved him.

I have been putting money aside to buy one.

Dartos-I don't think SSwim has anything against a airbag- I think he is just saying that this young man was caught in a place that had little or no chance for survival. I remember from a couple of Avi classes the instructors talking about the odds of survival be very low, if the run out is in a valley or drainage. I think anything that ups your chances of reducing injury or death in are sport is money well spent.

 

[SSWIM]

I am interested in your knowledge or experience with the ABS airbags and why you are so sure no airbag would have saved him.

I have been putting money aside to buy one.

I am in no way saying an ABS bag is not a life saver. I WEAR one ALL of the time. And I probably should have prefaced my post a little different. Where the slide occured, with the rider in the bottom, an ABS bag would not likely have saved him. The classes I have attended, as Adobe Al posted, show similar findings. Sorry for any misinformation.

As stated by Al and Stepup, get the pack. One can not have too much protection. One other thing, Mike Duffys Avy course is paramount in educating oneself in the nature, danger and survival tactics pertaining to avalanches.

Sam

 

[BOHICA]

Hey Mark. How goes it? Brian, Jeffros son helped with the recovery. It was North-west of Sand Peak. In a draw as the avy repo shows. Jeff was in AZ with His Mom when it happened. Jeff says the young man was a really good kid, and very competent rider. Like you said, very sad indeed. We have ridden that area quite a bit. Makes one look at it in a very different light.


Sam

Couple of guys I know from Meeker rode with him the weekend before. They said the same things about him as Jeffro did. Stay safe!

 

[flattop600]

Very sad. Really cool to arrive get there and see all the people there to help. Meeker is a very close knit community. We were using a 20 foot stick of pvc as a probe and still not hitting bottom in some places. EVERYONE who snowmobiles Needs to wear and know how to use a beacon. We were suprised at the amount of people who showed up to help that did not have a beacon. The slide was short and deep because of the ravine.


He was not riding in the wilderness.
40.1161N 107.3792W