Avalanche on Mount Washington Buries Skier

[2Planker]

That one was a bitch.....
Not their fault IMHO

 

[deadheadskier]

That one was a bitch.....
Not their fault IMHO

No?

This was the avalanche forecast from that day

"New rain, snow and wind will create dangerous avalanche conditions where snow exists in steep terrain. Watch out for isolated pockets of unstable snow at middle and upper elevations that could avalanche spontaneously or from the weight of a person."

 

[machski]

That one was a bitch.....
Not their fault IMHO

Perhaps, but the way the surface was skiing, looked like windblown slab. If you are going to ski that in the gully, you are taking your chances. Especially if you don't evaluate previous weather/conditions a day or 2 prior to the slab blowing in. No escape routes available there once you are committed.

 

[BodeMiller1]

It's going to take a lot of titanium plates, screws and physical therapy to get that leg back on skis. I broke just the small outer bone in a winter hiking fall. Very painful butt only needed one operation.
This one looks like a compound fracture.Again wish him the best.

How did they think it was safe to ski that line? If there.was another foot of snow this could be a different kind of thread.

Guy had a guardian angel. They come in handy.

 

[AdironRider]

No?

This was the avalanche forecast from that day

"New rain, snow and wind will create dangerous avalanche conditions where snow exists in steep terrain. Watch out for isolated pockets of unstable snow at middle and upper elevations that could avalanche spontaneously or from the weight of a person."

Avalanches are always a possibility in avalanche terrain. You are basically advocating for eliminating all access on all but lowest of danger days otherwise.

I know the majority of this board has basically zero experience in avi terrain, but you aren't going to eliminate the risk. Mt Washington isn't a ski area and the inherent risk level is much higher.

 

[urungus]

Avalanches are always a possibility in avalanche terrain. You are basically advocating for eliminating all access on all but lowest of danger days otherwise.

I know the majority of this board has basically zero experience in avi terrain, but you aren't going to eliminate the risk. Mt Washington isn't a ski area and the inherent risk level is much higher.

Zero experience in avi terrain … what percent of days does the report warn of “dangerous avalanche conditions”

 

[deadheadskier]

Avalanches are always a possibility in avalanche terrain. You are basically advocating for eliminating all access on all but lowest of danger days otherwise.

I know the majority of this board has basically zero experience in avi terrain, but you aren't going to eliminate the risk. Mt Washington isn't a ski area and the inherent risk level is much higher.

No I am not advocating for anything.

Mt Washington has a forecast for a reason. To discourage people from going when the potential for avalanches is high. That is exactly what that forecast was for.

Are they advocating for eliminating access? They're the ones giving the warnings, not me.

The forecast was ignored by the victim, a slide occurred and because of that a helicopter and probably dozens of people had to divert their attention to help this guy on what was probably a really bad day to be up there. Note: I'm also not advocating for not helping people who screw up.

I swear, sometimes I think the only reason you are on this forum is to argue with me or some lame ass attempts at trying to insult me. It's like 50% of your posts over the years. Pathetic.

 

[AdironRider]

Nah you just post stupid blowhard takes. Go back to Vail thread and bitch about Mt Snow not closing a trail just for you for free.

You have zero experience in avi terrain. Even on low avi danger days avalanche danger still exists champ.

 

[2Planker]

It's going to take a lot of titanium plates, screws and physical therapy to get that leg back on skis. I broke just the small outer bone in a winter hiking fall. Very painful butt only needed one operation.
This one looks like a compound fracture.Again wish him the best.

How did they think it was safe to ski that line? If there.was another foot of snow this could be a different kind of thread.

Guy had a guardian angel. They come in handy.

We splinted & stabilized it BUT called for a chopper to fly him out.
Time was the main factor.
Would have taken 12 people 3 hours to get him out.
Chopper had him @ DHMC ER in 25 mins.

 

[deadheadskier]

Nah you just post stupid blowhard takes. Go back to Vail thread and bitch about Mt Snow not closing a trail just for you for free.

You have zero experience in avi terrain. Even on low avi danger days avalanche danger still exists champ.

Lol, 20 years later and still the same punk ass you were when you signed up as some Kyle the college freshman know it all from SLU twenty years ago.

No fucking shit avalanches can happen up there at any time. Thank you Captain obvious. Do they not have varying degrees of warning? Yes they do. Why? To help people make a calculated decision and to discourage people from going when things look potentially dangerous.

Did these skiers even dig a pit to test the snow to check the snow conditions before skiing it? Maybe they did. I know I would if I read that forecast.

What are YOU advocating for? Sending it on the rock pile no matter their forecast?

 

[raisingarizona]

I posted this on TGR.
I actually have 30 years of experience skiing in the back country.

A strong low pressure system enters the forecast area over the next 48 hours, bringing above freezing temperatures and the possibility for 1.5 to 3 inches of rain. Winds will be strong out of the southwest with gusts of 100 mph possible on the summit of Mount Washington.

The storm will then transition to colder temperatures and 5 - 12 inches of snow are possible with 60-70 mph northwest winds. This system will exit the area by late Monday night and temperatures will remain cold through mid-week.

And....

THE BOTTOM LINE
New rain, snow and wind will create dangerous avalanche conditions where snow exists in steep terrain. Watch out for isolated pockets of unstable snow at middle and upper elevations that could avalanche spontaneously or from the weight of a person. Avalanches and long sliding falls can be highly consequential due to exposed hazards like rocks and trees in the early season snowpack.

An experienced back country skier would have naturally observed these conditions and should expect these dangers to exist. The report though, doubles down on what you would think the conditions would be like.

they f-d up. That's ok, everyone f-s up but let's not act surprised and say that they did everything they could to stay safe that day. The report was there, the flags were there, they decide not to read them appropriately.

Some of the comments on his IG post suggest that even though they did everything they could to mitigate risks avalanches can still occur. that's the wrong message people should be getting from this incident.

 

[djd66]

We Nearly Died. - Gus S's 19.2 mi backcountry ski

Check out the previous days activity for more context. Realistically like 11 miles The cold morning air kept all 4 of us in bed longer than we hoped. Spencer and I didn’t leave till 10am or so. (Mistake 1) Given the slow pace the day previous, we adjusted our plan and decided that rather than...

www.strava.com

This was my son and his friend, yesterday. Very scary evening for us.

As a parent, I can't imagine how worried and upset you were when you found out your son was injured and had to be Heli Vac'd out of Tuckerman. That video is scarry as can be! All the best to you and your family - I hope he has a speedy recovery.

 

[AdironRider]

Lol, 20 years later and still the same punk ass you were when you signed up as some Kyle the college freshman know it all from SLU twenty years ago.

No fucking shit avalanches can happen up there at any time. Thank you Captain obvious. Do they not have varying degrees of warning? Yes they do. Why? To help people make a calculated decision and to discourage people from going when things look potentially dangerous.

Did these skiers even dig a pit to test the snow to check the snow conditions before skiing it? Maybe they did. I know I would if I read that forecast.

What are YOU advocating for? Sending it on the rock pile no matter their forecast?

Supposedly they did champ, try and keep up. To be clear, I wouldn't have made that decision personally, but I think going full retard and claiming others should never have been up there is only going to lead to less accessibility overall in the mountains.

What I am also saying is claiming people should pay for their rescue is ignorant thinking that will only lead to more fatalities and increased risk for those that do need to go help people, because those in need are going to wait longer before making that call. Your implying they shouldn't have been up there is armchair QB at best, ignorance at worst. Given your blowhard nature, I'm going with the latter.

 

[deadheadskier]

Supposedly they did champ, try and keep up. To be clear, I wouldn't have made that decision personally, but I think going full retard and claiming others should never have been up there is only going to lead to less accessibility overall in the mountains.

What I am also saying is claiming people should pay for their rescue is ignorant thinking that will only lead to more fatalities and increased risk for those that do need to go help people, because those in need are going to wait longer before making that call. Your implying they shouldn't have been up there is armchair QB at best, ignorance at worst. Given your blowhard nature, I'm going with the latter.

Lol. Okay Einstein of the Backcountry

You can go ahead and tell RaisongArizona he's apparently wrong for assigning some blame to the skiers too

Point out where I said these skiers should be responsible for the SAR costs? In fact, I specifically said that I wasn't advocating for that. I have no idea where you came up with me implying something different.

I only shared the forecast because I do feel the skiers have at least some blame for attempting that line given the forecast. That's all. If you can't say that it was bad idea to attempt that line given the forecast, then why bother even having a forecast at all?

My lord you are projecting all over the place. Typical loser behavior from you though. I'm not surprised

 

[raisingarizona]

Lol. Okay Einstein of the Backcountry

You can go ahead and tell RaisongArizona he's apparently wrong for assigning some blame to the skiers too

Point out where I said these skiers should be responsible for the SAR costs? In fact, I specifically said that I wasn't advocating for that. I have no idea where you came up with me implying something different.

I only shared the forecast because I do feel the skiers have at least some blame for attempting that line given the forecast. That's all. If you can't say that it was bad idea to attempt that line given the forecast, then why bother even having a forecast at all?

My lord you are projecting all over the place. Typical loser behavior from you though. I'm not surprised

I wouldn't need the forecast to see the potential dangers but having that available and I'd bet ya they read it, they definitely f-d up. Again, that's human so lets not beat them up for it, everyone of us makes mistakes and thankfully the skiers involved weren't killed and they as well as everyone else watching can learn from this.

 

[BodeMiller1]

Perhaps, but the way the surface was skiing, looked like windblown slab. If you are going to ski that in the gully, you are taking your chances. Especially if you don't evaluate previous weather/conditions a day or 2 prior to the slab blowing in. No escape routes available there once you are committed.

We splinted & stabilized it BUT called for a chopper to fly him out.
Would have taken 12 people 3 hours to get him do

We splinted & stabilized it BUT called for a chopper to fly him out.
Would have taken 12 people 3 hours to get him down

Nice, yea carrying him would have been torture going down the hill. Not to mention the people carrying him.

I agree everyone should carry avi gear in terrain like left gully, but demanding they pay for rescue is just internet blowhard talk that does more harm than good.

Even in the fall when there is almost no snow. It's like keeping your snow shovels out all summer in case you get a hail storm.

How many deaths have there been in the east from avalanches.

The injury discussed here is the worst I've heard of.

You're arguing over your head.

Sufficiently Motivated
Meow

 

[BodeMiller1]

I do not believe manmade snow sliding down a hill is technically an avalanche. I believe Humpty would back me up here.
Should we put a couple of cannons on Shockwave and Oz at SR? NO

Please don't bring western ski theory to the east. I don't care how you do it out there. It does not apply.

 

[Smellytele]

Albert Dow trying to rescue others who shouldn’t have been out

 

[BodeMiller1]

Albert Dow trying to rescue others who shouldn’t have been out

Looked.it up, good point. He shouldn't of had to risk his life.
15 years ago there was a fire. I think it was a communication building on top of Washington. It was like 50 below. Three of the men who went up to fight the fire had really bad frost bite in their lungs. This would be hard to recover from. When it gets that cold weird stuff happens.

 

[raisingarizona]

I do not believe manmade snow sliding down a hill is technically an avalanche. I believe Humpty would back me up here.
Should we put a couple of cannons on Shockwave and Oz at SR? NO

Please don't bring western ski theory to the east. I don't care how you do it out there. It does not apply.

Any sliding snow is technically an avalanche. It doesn’t matter how it got there.