Lessons I have learned from Avy in GL

[backcountryislife]

Kaleb,
A little harsh but I agree with you.

Sorry, maybe a little harshness, rudeness could keep more people alive.

On here I like to be sarcastic & come off like a prik, just f'in around, but on the hill I really do try to help people. Sometimes it still comes off a bit rough, but every now & then folks stop & listen.

get out there & GIVE YOUR BUDDIES CRAP if they're not doing what they should!!! FCR112 & I had a kinda close call this early season because of a lack of communication (I didn't wait to see him before I rode up the hill he had just topped, it had cracked on the way up & I didn't notice it) We recognized our (my) mistake & worked on what we need to do differently to avoid that situation in the future. That communication could save a life, especcially when you ride where we ride.


We need to take responsibility for our whole community if we're gonna feel sorry for any one of them in it. An ounce of prevention is worth ten tons of "thoughts & prayers"

 

[densnwbdr]

Well said Kaleb, thanks!

 

[skibreeze]

Kaleb is right, rep to you.

It is very sad to see the senseless loss of life when people are just having fun. A tiny bit of education and these guys would be alive. We need to educate riders. It would be great if there was more avy info given with the sled registration, newbies just don't know any better. I remember when I first started sledding, we didn't have beacons, didn't check forecasts, didn't have a clue and I'm lucky to still be here.

 

[NoCoastNesse]

<raises shovel & salutes>

This past weekends avalanche danger was just plain scary. I drove an extra 5 miles to go to an area that I beleived to be more safe. This past weekends windloading was perfect for a slab'r. It's really sad.

The Mountains Win Again.

 

[dashzoo]

Once again a Big Thanks to Mrs Snowrider for taking action on a bad day.

We as a family spend a lot of time in GL and was there the day before. Backcountry hits the nail right on the head. I have made sure both of my little tax deductions can find me with a purpose. If my 12 year old can find me, everyone we ride with should be able to do the same. There is no excuse for not being prepared.

 

[dragon12]

Kaleb

The people you encounter might think you are being a jerk by educating them on what to do and not to do. Continue to be a jerk. By doing so you might have saved the life of some child's father or mother. In our eyes they are just another rider on the hill doing stupid things. In their children's eyes they are everything. Snowmobiles don't come with a handbook explaining avalanches and dangerous conditions in the back country. They do come with a handy warning sticker that most of us remove anyways. It is the riders responsibility to educate themselves on the conditions and terrain. If guys like you, that have the knowledge and experience in the back country, don't speak up and say something then new riders have no one to learn from. If you think you are being a jerk, you are not. Being a jerk would be to say nothing at all and let someone possibly die.

 

[CuzzinOlaf]

What is even more scary is exactly what happened to those guys in BC. Their friends were in an Avy and they did what anyone of us would probably do and became victims themselves. Everyone really needs to think that it might not be just their life that they are risking.

 

[Mrs Snowrider]

Hey guys, I can't take credit for any of this, other than sending my back up the mountain and helping at basecamp with unloading sleds for the rescue teams. It was all Mr Snowrider and Mr Ski-Doo who was there, found both victimes, and provided CPR.

Kaleb, who I enjoy riding with is right. Probably should have been a new thread though.

 

[backcountryislife]

I completely disagree about the different thread.

When everyone is saying thoughts & prayers & sorry & wish we coulda, that's exactly when people are a little more vulnerable to possibly changing their behavior & that's when it needs to be said. It's the same discussion, just with more -we're gonna- than -wish we had-

I'm really not trying to be disagreeable, I just think it's so important to change people's perceptions of what their responsibility is.


I don't want to see people die, period. I don't want to have to look for someone I will never find, period. SO I decided I was going to stop being complacent about the people I see at Jones mid season with no avy experience or gear & start saying things that needed to be said, even if it wasn't at a convenient time or it interrupted a conversation.

IMO, that's the real lesson to be learned from people dying, keep it from happening in the future.

 

[mtncrusher]

Recommended Gear

This has been an eye opener! So what brand names of gear do people recommend? There seems a wide range in prices and types, especially for beacons. Who has the best prices?

 

[CuzzinOlaf]

This has been an eye opener! So what brand names of gear do people recommend? There seems a wide range in prices and types, especially for beacons. Who has the best prices?

All my research led me to buy a BCA Tracker. They were on sale for $229 recently.... dunno about now.

 

[Mrs Snowrider]

We use BCA trackers. I got mine from WyomingTA, or something like that and we also got shovels and probes. So now I carry 2 shovels 2 probes and wear my beacon. The beacon is NOT in my backpack. He treated me really good and gave me a great deal!

 

[densnwbdr]

mtncrusher,
Almost any beacon is going to serve the purpose. They all are required to be on the same frequency. I use all BCA equipment (tracker, shovel and probe). The key in knowing how to use it as well. Just make sure that you wear them. I am not sure if Brian and his friend even owned beacons but they werent wearing them and that is what matters.

 

[dragon12]

Avy gear

SnowBigDeal is a member on here and sells everything. He might even be local.

http://www.snowbigdeal.com/

I think Gyp-M80 is also local and offering package deals as well as a member.

 

[Leardriver]

I was up there today and yesterday, saw the site, and it's a place many people climb when the conditions are better. My heart goes out to their families. Mother nature can be so cruel.

I have a different take on the avy equipment. After coming up on 2 avies that claimed lives over the year, and recovering people who had the gear, I prefer to not ride with anybody who has beacons. It gives a false and often fatal sense of security and triggers a risk-taking impluse that I'm not willing to watch anyone self-destruct as a result with.

I know, sort of contrary and silly. I ride on the flat land far away from steep stuff until late January, and since I'm just with my wife, who couldn't do anything for me if I got caught in a slide, I take it easy and live to goof off another day. I LOVE to hill climb, but can't let my selfish indulgence make my family fatherless.

So, when someone new wants to go riding, and they have all of the avy gear, I think long and hard about what type of risk they are going to put my group in.

 

[dragon12]

Not everyone who wears a beacon is a risk taker. Some of us wear them just in case. You could be caught in an avalance in late January also. The safest way is abstinence. The next safest is education.

 

[Leardriver]

I COMPLETELY agree that not everyone with a beacon is a risk-taker. Otherwise, avy deaths would number in the hundreds each year in CO. I have seen just enough people who feel a little too empowered and bulletproof, though. I know it sounds silly.

 

[dragon12]

Different strokes for different folks I guess.

 

[Ex-Member]

Not everyone who wears a beacon is a risk taker. Some of us wear them just in case. You could be caught in an avalance in late January also. The safest way is abstinence. The next safest is education.

Yep, something about riding smart, having the right equipment, etc. I wear a tekvest, I must ride like a maniac.

This has been an eye opener! So what brand names of gear do people recommend? There seems a wide range in prices and types, especially for beacons. Who has the best prices?

SnowBigDeal. BCA Tracker's best bang-for-buck, others have a lot more fluff but still do the same thing. Easiest to learn too.

 

[Boondock]

Yep, something about riding smart, having the right equipment, etc. I wear a tekvest, I must ride like a maniac.

Ya no doubt!!! Never heard of it the other way! You have avy equipment I can't ride with you