Snowies Avalanche

[chads]

Back on the 13th of Dec we were riding on the West side South of the warming hut.
We were all taking turns climbing a rather small but steep hill. After 8-10 climbs it broke free, my buddy was side hilling and hit a rock and that started it. HE got bucked off his sled after hitting the rock so he had now idea he was seconds away from being buried. When the slide started it looked as if it was going to be a small one until the northern slope broke that was much larger. It buried my buddy and his sled. 6 of us shot up the hill to start the search. we all had beacons, as we were switching from send to recieve we spotted a foot sticking out of the snow. We started digging him out, by the time we got to his head which was much deeper he was out and blue.
Long story short, he recovered after an hours rest and rode out on his sled.
That was quite a learning expierence!!
You can see the pics if you face book chad strutzel, click on the photos and look for Avalanche.

http://www.facebook.com then s...w, if you can find it, ur not looking;) Chad

 

[M.M. 700]

link doesn't work

Glad to hear he made it out OK. Great job to who got him out!!

 

[chads]

link doesn't work

Glad to hear he made it out OK. Great job to who got him out!!

Go to Face book and just punch in my name that will take to you there

chad strutzel

 

[snowww1]

Great rescue! Being prepared pays off. Mike Duffy

 

[M6johnny]

Damn, Glad to here you guys were alright. Sounds like it coulda been waaaay worse. Nice pics by the way.

 

[snofoshow]

Glad it turned out ok. That is a big fear of mine. Not sure which would be worse, being the guy buried or the friend searching for him.

 

[newmy1]

Go to Face book and just punch in my name that will take to you there

chad strutzel

Lucky man! Glad you are ok.

 

[Hawkeye]

Post some pics, can't get on your facebook. Was this between the warming hut and the Widowmaker? Thanks

 

[Ryan-41]

Glad to hear he is ok..Awesome rescue!!

 

[lookin4snow]

So I was the one that got dug out. All of our group had taken Mike Duffy's level 1 avalanche safety course and some of us had taken it several weeks prior to this for the second time, myself included. We were all amazed at the fact that it does not take a real large slope or area to give way. We looked at this slope and rode it 6 or 7 times until it finally gave when I hit the rock that seemed to hold everything up. We will all look at hills differently going forward, being a bit more cautious. We are all glad that it had a good ending. The only damage was to my helmet cam, which was on during the whole event, but as chads mentioned, I never really saw what was going on, I just got engulfed in it. Boy it takes a long time to catch your breath after something like this.

 

[MNpowderfiend]

good you're hear

Yeah, we took Mike's class too at Bristow's in St. Cloud last year - great info - priceless.

I think I know the hill you're talking about. I always seem to have to dodge rocks there. That hill has made me feel uncomfortable before, I don't need to go there anymore.

Eric

 

[bohn644]

Broke one loose on Dec 27th

This was a steep but small hill about 1 mile from the warming hut. My son was making a sidehill attempt and started back down and about 1/2 way a 2ft slab broke off and followed him down the hill. He didn't get buried but it made a nice video. I talked with search and rescue that day and they said most slides happen over behind the Quealy hut. Although thats where the deepest snow is so it shouldn't surprise anyone.

 

[snowww1]

Glad you made it out ok. Where did you take the class? Sidehilling puts more stress on the snowpack and rocks can serve as the trigger point. Real hard to determine where the trigger point is when the rocks are buried. Hope the class helped in getting you prepared. Thanks for sharing your story. The group did a great job in getting you out. Mike Duffy

 

[lookin4snow]

We took the class at Engelhart’s in Madison, WI. Our group discussed this at length the days after it happened, and we all agreed that the class prepared us for an orderly response. One person took the lead and everyone followed directions. Everyone who rides in the mountains should take your class, period. I’d like to get additional education, now having been both a rescuer and being rescued.

 

[snowww1]

Thanks for the endorsement of the class. Class information is available on the schedule page at www.avalanche1.com. Looking at doing an on the snow rescue and beacon class in WI sometime. Mike Duffy

p.s. On the snow rescue class in Brainerd, MN January 14th.

 

[Himark]

where was this? I have heard behind warming hut but am assuming you were between warming hut and the back side of mtn?? Lots of short steep climbs there, and if that is where you were 5-6 years back there was a avy death there.

 

[Himark]

After looking at the pics it looks like the climbs west of warming hut???

 

[lookin4snow]

The avy was due west of the Quealy Warming hut. GPS coordinates were N 41_23.419 W 106_23.365. There are some steep short areas to climb there. We usually just trek around the mountain and get to the larger slopes, but the hillside looked good and we cut it about 8 times and were going to leave when it let loose.