I am now going to get a avalanche back pack for myself. It sucks that I had to loose a friend in an avalanche this last week to make us learn we are not doing enough to protect our selves . I soon learned that we are not as well prepared as we could be or thought we were. Make sure you have all the right gear, make sure everyone in your group has all the right gear, know how to use it and be educated about avoiding the risks. He had an ABS pack pack on when he got hit by the slid. It was deployed but still wasn't enough to keep him up on top of the snow. I have been looking at the Snow pulse pro rider 15l back pack. It looks like it has the biggest air bags and provides the most protection. I am sure it will take a while to get used to wearing it but it is worth it. Ride hard, but be safe. Our families would like us to come home and live to play another day.
Getting an Avy backpack ~ Loss of a life
- Thread starter ridgeclimber
- Start date
I'm VERY sorry to hear of your loss!!
What ABS pack did your friend have? Just curious on my end. Did he also have a beacon? I'm sure this is all tough to think about, yet it's probably always on your mind. It's nice for a learning experience to all to know more of the details, if you are up to that. My thoughts and prayers are with you, your friends, and the family & friends of the man whom lost his life.
ABS pack
I am not sure what model of ABS back pack he had but it was a low profile back pack, that had two pillows inflated out from the sides of the pack. We found him face down under about 6 feet of snow. That's why I am looking at the snow pulse pack. It has alot bigger pillows up high behind and in front of your of your body. They claim it will keep your head and body upright hopefully above the snow. Then if you are berried it slowly deflates after time and will hopefully leave you a pocket of breathable air around your head and body.Yes we had beacons, probes and shovels. I usually carried my shovel and probe on a pack on the back of my sled. I soon learned you loose valuable time going back to your sled to get your gear. Another valuable item everyone should have is a SPOT, a personal satellite tracker that you send messages with. I have one and use it all the time. You can check in with your family when ever you want to tell them every thing is good, when you get back to the truck and off the mountain. You can send a message for help or a message for 911 like I had to. It can also track you all day. So anyone of you contacts can log in and see were you are within about 10 minutes. It is kind of neat coming home and looking where you were all day. I just thought I would pass on my thoughts about this. I have thought hard about this all week about how I can be more prepared and educated. Hopefully it will remind everyone to be careful out there and do the same.
I am not sure what model of ABS back pack he had but it was a low profile back pack, that had two pillows inflated out from the sides of the pack. We found him face down under about 6 feet of snow. That's why I am looking at the snow pulse pack. It has alot bigger pillows up high behind and in front of your of your body. They claim it will keep your head and body upright hopefully above the snow. Then if you are berried it slowly deflates after time and will hopefully leave you a pocket of breathable air around your head and body.Yes we had beacons, probes and shovels. I usually carried my shovel and probe on a pack on the back of my sled. I soon learned you loose valuable time going back to your sled to get your gear. Another valuable item everyone should have is a SPOT, a personal satellite tracker that you send messages with. I have one and use it all the time. You can check in with your family when ever you want to tell them every thing is good, when you get back to the truck and off the mountain. You can send a message for help or a message for 911 like I had to. It can also track you all day. So anyone of you contacts can log in and see were you are within about 10 minutes. It is kind of neat coming home and looking where you were all day. I just thought I would pass on my thoughts about this. I have thought hard about this all week about how I can be more prepared and educated. Hopefully it will remind everyone to be careful out there and do the same.
I'm pruning some posts off into this thread of it's own as this way it can get more exposure and help others to be prepared.
PLEASE be respectful...these are some fresh wounds, and it is requested to keep that in mind and don't ask a bunch of questions as people are still trying to get their heads around what happened.
Thank you!
PLEASE be respectful...these are some fresh wounds, and it is requested to keep that in mind and don't ask a bunch of questions as people are still trying to get their heads around what happened.
Thank you!
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Thank you for sharing this with us. It truly helps to educate others.
I agree on the SPOT. I carry one, which gives peace of mind to our families while we are out riding...plus it is nice to be able to come back and take a look at the route for the day.
I agree on the SPOT. I carry one, which gives peace of mind to our families while we are out riding...plus it is nice to be able to come back and take a look at the route for the day.
S
SledsWest
Well-known member
First off, I'm sorry for your loss, thats a tough one. It sounds like you were all equipped with a lot more gear than most people wear. Just goes to show that we can reduce the risk but never completely eliminate it. My sincere condolences to you and to his family.
What do you mean don't ask questions?
1. You asked questions, so why can't we?
2. How are we going to understand what happened if we don't get a little more detail? I have an ABS bag and I am VERY interested in hearing why he was 6' below the snow with a deployed bag. Its concerning.
What do you mean don't ask questions?
1. You asked questions, so why can't we?
2. How are we going to understand what happened if we don't get a little more detail? I have an ABS bag and I am VERY interested in hearing why he was 6' below the snow with a deployed bag. Its concerning.
This is at the request of ridgeclimber. Maybe as things calm down, and the pain eases a bit, he may be willing to take questions. Right now, understandably, there is a LOT of hurt and things spinning in his head.
I too have more questions. I am respecting his wishes though, and just trying to help out.
I too have more questions. I am respecting his wishes though, and just trying to help out.
S
SledsWest
Well-known member
Gotcha. That would have been good to post originally as it sounded like you were the requester. Thanks for clarifying though.
Gotcha. That would have been good to post originally as it sounded like you were the requester. Thanks for clarifying though.
Sorry about that.
B
BarkBustnOutlaw
Member
Im sorry to hear of your loss. I also lost a best friend last year over new years. Sense then I as well as all my friends bought ABS packs. We are trying to put ABS packs on as many riders as we can. We are raffling off ABS packs and giving away every third pack to one lucky rider. As well as educate people as much as we can. Everything we can do to make our sport safe.
abs
rather scary to here he was buried 6ft down with an avalanche pack, i think the abs pack is the largest displacement at 170lt i think the others are 150. i could see this happening on a secondary slide but, if this is just one slide, what is the differance of an avalanche pack or not, if u are 6ft down, chances are not good. even with a quick beacon search and lots of buddys shoveling,
Very sorry for your loss, sounds like you guys were prepared,
giddyup
rather scary to here he was buried 6ft down with an avalanche pack, i think the abs pack is the largest displacement at 170lt i think the others are 150. i could see this happening on a secondary slide but, if this is just one slide, what is the differance of an avalanche pack or not, if u are 6ft down, chances are not good. even with a quick beacon search and lots of buddys shoveling,
Very sorry for your loss, sounds like you guys were prepared,
giddyup
I would like to hear the story as well, but it is entirely possible to be buried. The theory is that as the snow moves, the bag will rise. However, this requires some time for this to happen. If the avy buries the rider and doesn't have enough runout, the process won't work. I can also see it if the avy is a hard slab type that also won't let the bags rise. I'm sure there are some other considerations, but these are my thoughts on it.
I am so sorry for your loss.
Also a terrain trap (bottom of creek or similar) will negate the effects of the pack. If you were 1/2way down the slide, ended up on top of the snow in a terrain trap, the snow that comes down on top of you will stay there, as mentioned, it won't help without movement.
Sucks to hear about people who were prepared & I would hope, well educated, getting into this situation.
Just to up date you abit. No one in our group of 12 actually seen the slide happen. The weather was foggy and socked in and blowing pretty good. Our friend climbed this hill to get up and out of this meadow we were in. It was not a big and nasty hill by any means. After what we thought was just the wind settled down we then seen what had happened. A slab slid down and got him. So we don't know where on the hill he was when he got hit by the slid. It kind of makes sense from one of the previous post that if he got hit low on the hill that there wasn't enough run out of the slide to bring him up to the surface. I would just like to remind everyone not to have absolute faith in any of the avi back packs. I was thinking the snow pulse pack has the inflatable bags up high and in front of you body to help hold your head up. Similar to the old style life jacket that we use to use as a kid. It slides over your head and ties around your body. But I think any of the back packs are better then nothing and another tool to help find the people involved in a slid.
Thanks for the clarification, it's hard not to ask a million questions... as all of us want to find the "how to keep this from happening to me" thing in this story.
This is very true. Avalanche airbags, Beacons, and Probes are all items to increase your chances, but none of the items are a guarantee for you to survive an avalanche.
Just another thought about this. The farther you go into the back country or the more extreme the country is there is more safety in numbers. I am so thankful that we were in a larger group to help with the search and recovery. On the other hand I guess it could of been alot worse if more of our group was caught in the slide as well.
How to keep this from happening to you:
1. read the avy report, in this case it was available at www.avalanche.ca. If I recall correctly it was rated at HIGH (it was bouncing between considerable and extreme during that cycle) in the alpine (this happened at 1820m elevation which is right at or slightly above treeline according to the write-up on avalanche.ca). When it is rated at HIGH, and especially when combined with poor visibility, stay in the flat trees or find something else to do until things settle.
2. If you must go out, dont climb an open hill without someone (or more then one) watching from a safe zone. If a portion of the 12 people on this trip had been in a safe zone watching and been able to spot the point he was last seen so they could have mounted a fast beacon search he might have had a chance, especially based on the fact that it doesnt sound like he traveled too far with the slide.
3. Take a real avalanche course so you can learn to identify terrain with the potential to slide. Ridgeclimber, how many of the 12 people out there had taken at least an AST 1?
4. Read the signs Mother nature is putting in front of you. Here on the South Coast we had a cold dry windless spell in late Nov/early Dec. Perfect conditions for the formation of surface hoar. Then right around the holidays we got a whack of snow. Right around this time we had a crazy avy cycle with many runout zones being redefined.
5. Be willing to wait a couple days for things to settle. The mountains arent going anywhere.
6. Read Snow Sense by Jill Fredston and Doug Fesler. then read it again.
I know I may sound like an insensative jerk but I have sat right where Rideclimber is right now. See the Oct 2010 issue of Powder Magazine for a writeup on the avy death of my best friend.
Everyone is so eager to drop $1000 on a new airbag but it drives me nuts how few are willing to spend $350 and 3 days on a real avy course that is far and away more effective then any airbag.
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sorry for your loss
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