This is long, but I didn't want to leave anything out.
A group of five (4 snowboarders and a skier) went out to ride Mt. Baldy north of Crested Butte, CO on Sunday. I was one of the snowboarders. We drove in a ways in a chained up truck, but some idiot parked in the road where we could not pass safely. So we pulled the sled out of the back of the truck, two on the sled while pulling 2 others and putted the last 2 miles or so while the skier skinned. I dropped off the 3 other boarders at the top of Paradise Divide, then went back and picked up the skier, brought him to the rest of the group. The other 4 began hiking toward the summit.
Since this was the first outing on my sled, I played in the field below and on some of the smaller hills with my new to me toy. I then rode up a little ways, parked and began hiking to catch the rest of the crew, about 20-25 minutes behind. When I caught up to them, we were at about 12500' on a NNE facing slope. They had already gone down from the ridge towards a chute that was about 35-40 degrees. I walked to the end of the exposed rock and began trying to figure out what they were planning to do. Two were in the shoot (one strapped in of the far right side of the chute, the other dead center just holding his board), one traversing from skier's left into the chute, the 4th waiting to enter the shoot from the left just below me.
They started telling me about cracks and sure as **** I look to my left and theres a wind lip/slab with a 1" wide crack (they were all below this point, all on the same slab except the one in the chute to the far right). As the one was traversing left to right to enter the chute, his weight on the snowpack triggered a dry slab avalanche, fracturing just below the crack on my left. The one that triggered it was on the edge of the slab, he just continued right and escaped without issue. The one waiting to enter the chute moved further left away from the chute and was fine. The one on the far right of the chute was out of the way and was fine. The one standing dead center was swept away. I stood watching him best I could, he went about 30 feet, dissappeared below the snowpack, then popped back up after another 40 ft, only to dissappear again. He was carried roughly 200 feet (an estimate from him, he was down the chute out of site) to where the hill flatened out somewhat. He swam hard and was fortunate to be laying on top of the runout. The slab that released had a crown of around 3', maybe a little less. It was approximately 15' wide, and had released well above the load that was on it. The terrain it continued down was about 20' wide with larger rock outcroppings on the side.
Once the slide was out of sight and I had no chance to see him if he popped back up, I took off my pack and reached for my probe, quickly remembering no one in the group had any avy gear, including myself. At this point I thought my friend was a gone because of our collective stupidity.
As soon as he yelled he was ok, some group members began talking about continuing down from that point. There was no snow left, and I said no way (even if there was snow, it was wind loaded, no good), we had to go back up what we had just come down, then follow the ridge back to where the slope was not so wind loaded. We did just that, with the person who was caught in the slide hiking back up the steep shale rock filled chute, hugging the bigger rock outcroppings on skier's left.
He was unharmed (extremely lucky), but had lost his snowboard (no big deal compared to what could have happened, so he was unphased about that). While hiking downward on the ridge (nice and safe with the exposed rock the entire way), it became evident each group member had been freaked out while hiking up, but no one had been talking about it. They acknowledged the cracking snowpack, but did not act on the observation. It was blowing hard on that ridge (50-60mph) and they just seemed to want to get down as fast as possible.
Our Mistakes:
As a whole, we underestimated the possibility of a dangerous snowpack this early in the season, worse yet, none of us had our avy gear that day. With the exception of one group member, I know I was the one with the most experience/education about avy's (I don't know the level of knowledge/experience of one group member) and I was not there to help make decisions until after the fact. The cracks were written off as no big deal; it was too early in the season. We attempted to snowboard way above treeline on a nasty day, high wind and low visibility. Three people were about to be in the chute at the same time, with the fourth exposed as well.
What should have been done:
Stayed at treeline where the slopes were not windloaded.
Brought all avy gear and left anyone without it at home.
I should have stayed with the group.
Have open conversation about group member's concerns, no matter how petty those concerns may seem at the time. (I like to think if this sort of dialogue doesn't sound a little corny, you're not saying enough)
Not been deadset on riding big mountain, should have had alternate (safer) plans in case conditions were sketchy.
There are other things that should have been done, but had we stayed down low on safer slopes, those different decisions would not have been available to make (like not having 80% of the group on the same slab/ 60% of the group in a chute at the same time). The wind was transporting snow very quickly up high, and clouds had engulfed the summit, reducing visibility to maybe 80 feet at times, for this reason alone we had no business going up so high.
The group member that was swept away said he swam as hard as he could the whole time, but was pulled under, had his mouth completely filled with snow, then popped up again. He said he couldn't believe this was happening to him while he was in the slide and thought he was going to die. He said a strange calm came over him at one point as he felt there was nothing he could do. He said he could feel the snow hardening as it slowed at the end, but that he just had a little bit on him when it all settled and he simply stood up, estatic to be alive.
In summary, early season is no joke, DO NOT underestimate it. Several have died on that same mountain at the same time of year, we were extremely lucky. It is embarassing to think how stupid we were, but I'm a strong believer that these sort of events can be live saving for others to read about.
Stay safe out there. Feel free to comment on any aspect, positive or not.
A group of five (4 snowboarders and a skier) went out to ride Mt. Baldy north of Crested Butte, CO on Sunday. I was one of the snowboarders. We drove in a ways in a chained up truck, but some idiot parked in the road where we could not pass safely. So we pulled the sled out of the back of the truck, two on the sled while pulling 2 others and putted the last 2 miles or so while the skier skinned. I dropped off the 3 other boarders at the top of Paradise Divide, then went back and picked up the skier, brought him to the rest of the group. The other 4 began hiking toward the summit.
Since this was the first outing on my sled, I played in the field below and on some of the smaller hills with my new to me toy. I then rode up a little ways, parked and began hiking to catch the rest of the crew, about 20-25 minutes behind. When I caught up to them, we were at about 12500' on a NNE facing slope. They had already gone down from the ridge towards a chute that was about 35-40 degrees. I walked to the end of the exposed rock and began trying to figure out what they were planning to do. Two were in the shoot (one strapped in of the far right side of the chute, the other dead center just holding his board), one traversing from skier's left into the chute, the 4th waiting to enter the shoot from the left just below me.
They started telling me about cracks and sure as **** I look to my left and theres a wind lip/slab with a 1" wide crack (they were all below this point, all on the same slab except the one in the chute to the far right). As the one was traversing left to right to enter the chute, his weight on the snowpack triggered a dry slab avalanche, fracturing just below the crack on my left. The one that triggered it was on the edge of the slab, he just continued right and escaped without issue. The one waiting to enter the chute moved further left away from the chute and was fine. The one on the far right of the chute was out of the way and was fine. The one standing dead center was swept away. I stood watching him best I could, he went about 30 feet, dissappeared below the snowpack, then popped back up after another 40 ft, only to dissappear again. He was carried roughly 200 feet (an estimate from him, he was down the chute out of site) to where the hill flatened out somewhat. He swam hard and was fortunate to be laying on top of the runout. The slab that released had a crown of around 3', maybe a little less. It was approximately 15' wide, and had released well above the load that was on it. The terrain it continued down was about 20' wide with larger rock outcroppings on the side.
Once the slide was out of sight and I had no chance to see him if he popped back up, I took off my pack and reached for my probe, quickly remembering no one in the group had any avy gear, including myself. At this point I thought my friend was a gone because of our collective stupidity.
As soon as he yelled he was ok, some group members began talking about continuing down from that point. There was no snow left, and I said no way (even if there was snow, it was wind loaded, no good), we had to go back up what we had just come down, then follow the ridge back to where the slope was not so wind loaded. We did just that, with the person who was caught in the slide hiking back up the steep shale rock filled chute, hugging the bigger rock outcroppings on skier's left.
He was unharmed (extremely lucky), but had lost his snowboard (no big deal compared to what could have happened, so he was unphased about that). While hiking downward on the ridge (nice and safe with the exposed rock the entire way), it became evident each group member had been freaked out while hiking up, but no one had been talking about it. They acknowledged the cracking snowpack, but did not act on the observation. It was blowing hard on that ridge (50-60mph) and they just seemed to want to get down as fast as possible.
Our Mistakes:
As a whole, we underestimated the possibility of a dangerous snowpack this early in the season, worse yet, none of us had our avy gear that day. With the exception of one group member, I know I was the one with the most experience/education about avy's (I don't know the level of knowledge/experience of one group member) and I was not there to help make decisions until after the fact. The cracks were written off as no big deal; it was too early in the season. We attempted to snowboard way above treeline on a nasty day, high wind and low visibility. Three people were about to be in the chute at the same time, with the fourth exposed as well.
What should have been done:
Stayed at treeline where the slopes were not windloaded.
Brought all avy gear and left anyone without it at home.
I should have stayed with the group.
Have open conversation about group member's concerns, no matter how petty those concerns may seem at the time. (I like to think if this sort of dialogue doesn't sound a little corny, you're not saying enough)
Not been deadset on riding big mountain, should have had alternate (safer) plans in case conditions were sketchy.
There are other things that should have been done, but had we stayed down low on safer slopes, those different decisions would not have been available to make (like not having 80% of the group on the same slab/ 60% of the group in a chute at the same time). The wind was transporting snow very quickly up high, and clouds had engulfed the summit, reducing visibility to maybe 80 feet at times, for this reason alone we had no business going up so high.
The group member that was swept away said he swam as hard as he could the whole time, but was pulled under, had his mouth completely filled with snow, then popped up again. He said he couldn't believe this was happening to him while he was in the slide and thought he was going to die. He said a strange calm came over him at one point as he felt there was nothing he could do. He said he could feel the snow hardening as it slowed at the end, but that he just had a little bit on him when it all settled and he simply stood up, estatic to be alive.
In summary, early season is no joke, DO NOT underestimate it. Several have died on that same mountain at the same time of year, we were extremely lucky. It is embarassing to think how stupid we were, but I'm a strong believer that these sort of events can be live saving for others to read about.
Stay safe out there. Feel free to comment on any aspect, positive or not.
