I was reflecting on the spring Mt. Baker waterfall incident a few days ago (see: http://www.sledspace.com/showthread.php?2928-Baker-getting-hammered-this-week&p=19046#post19046) and how everything seemed to go right, leading to a good outcome. It was a clear spring day, there were a bunch of people around, an EMT was there, a heli evac was successful, the injured person was able to assist with their own rescue a little, etc. If just one of these factors had been different, things could have been much bleaker. It kind of made me feel good that while you ultimately have no control over Murphy, you can stack the deck in your favor a little.
Fast forward a few days to the recent Revy area heli skier fatality. By every account, this slide was completely unexpected - but we all know that things happen. However, it is sobering that this incident didn't turn out much better than it did. Based on what I have read (so take it with a grain of salt):
There was only one full burial, some in the party were able to immediately search.
The party was fully equipped
They had 5 helicopters searching, bringing in what was needed and ready to evac
There were 10 professional guides on scene to assist with the search/recovery
They got to him in 10 minutes (pretty dang fast in an avy recovery situation). I think our fastest recovery time during a controlled simulation of a shallow burial during avy classes last year was something like 8 minutes.
There were TWO doctors on scene, one of them a heart surgeon
They had a defibrillator AND bottled oxygen on scene, which were administered
While we do not know the details at this point, whether there was major trauma or some other factor, it goes to show that sometimes you can have the best of circumstances and still have the worst of outcomes. However, I would still rather stack the deck in my favor and have that going for me.
Get some comprehensive avy education, make good decisions, be prepared, know how to use your tools and make sure others in your party are educated and prepared as well.
Fast forward a few days to the recent Revy area heli skier fatality. By every account, this slide was completely unexpected - but we all know that things happen. However, it is sobering that this incident didn't turn out much better than it did. Based on what I have read (so take it with a grain of salt):
There was only one full burial, some in the party were able to immediately search.
The party was fully equipped
They had 5 helicopters searching, bringing in what was needed and ready to evac
There were 10 professional guides on scene to assist with the search/recovery
They got to him in 10 minutes (pretty dang fast in an avy recovery situation). I think our fastest recovery time during a controlled simulation of a shallow burial during avy classes last year was something like 8 minutes.
There were TWO doctors on scene, one of them a heart surgeon
They had a defibrillator AND bottled oxygen on scene, which were administered
While we do not know the details at this point, whether there was major trauma or some other factor, it goes to show that sometimes you can have the best of circumstances and still have the worst of outcomes. However, I would still rather stack the deck in my favor and have that going for me.
Get some comprehensive avy education, make good decisions, be prepared, know how to use your tools and make sure others in your party are educated and prepared as well.
