Worst Riding Situation

[mtnpull]

Side hilling on a 60 degree slope that is windswept (also known as wind loaded) you will be setting off a big slide. Numerous sledders have tried and died on slopes with less steepness then the one you are talking about. As you side hill along you are cutting a fault line in the slope that has removed any tensil strength the snow on that hill had, The cornice and everything else above you will be letting go. I don't want to throw the cold water on your senario, but it is a killer.

Spud

Not to get all dictionary on you, but........

sweep definition
sweep (swēp)
transitive verb swept, sweeping sweep′·ing

1. to clear or clean (a surface, room, etc.) as by brushing with a broom
2. to remove or clear away (dirt, debris, etc.) as with a broom or brushing movement

Windswept means the wind has scoured most of the snow away, the wind loaded side is the opposite side of the ridge where all the snow deposits.

As for "choosing" this situation, I'm not that brave, stupid, or thrill seeking, yet circumstances have choosen it for me a few times.

Yep, windswept is not the same as wind loaded. And if you read through the posts you would have seen that slopes between 45 and 60 degrees slide infrequently because the slope is steep enough the new snow continually sluffs off. Consequently, slopes that steep tend to have a more shallow, dense snow. And in his example the snow is hard pack (maybe from a melt/freeze cycle?) and cutting a "fault" would not be possible. Turning on a slope that steep and hard pack would be near impossible.

In this situation I personally would turn around and ride out the way I came in.

If you ever do have to go down an extremely steep hard pack slope and don't have a great run out and need to control your speed you can always take your spare belt out and throw it around a ski. It will create drag and slow you down. When I worked ski patrol and we had to ski someone off some extremely steep slopes the toboggans had a chain you could slip under the belly to create drag.

 

[poorider]

push button reverse is your friend

 

[RATED-X]

X2 on the push button reverse

 

[wheresthesnow]

When I was in McCall last winter I looked at the avy zone where the guy climbed out of in the 509 movie, he might have dropped in there also. Anyway, I looked at the hill and it looks vertical, I later looked at the hill on my topo map and figured it to be a hair steeper than 60 degrees but my math could be wrong. Based on that, im guessing with windswept snow, rocks and trees theres no way to sidehill down it without carnage and injury.

 

[KFD070]

One question..."Why would you try to do that?" I'll attempt to guess your answer. You have no kids or Wife at home.
I guess every one wants something different from the sport but wrecking my sleds or getting hurt does nothing for me except cost me money.