Avalanche at Palisades - KT22

[raisingarizona]

Terrible day. An awful way to go. Prayers for the family. I hope the resort workers who were in that probe line are also doing as OK as they can.

First 30 minutes of the terrain being opened for the season, four people caught/carried, and a reported debris field of 150ft wide and 450 feet long. This was a large, destructive avalanche. This was not a freak accident thing. Someone seriously screwed up. That terrain never should've been open. I would definitely expect something to change in the industry once the cause of this is found. And lawsuits... I can't imagine a scenario where someone isn't criminally negligent.

There's never total safety in serious avalanche terrain, especially when it's storming hard and there's wind. Mountains aren't theme parks.

 

[crank]

You staying on the mountain? The Canyon is gonna be fucked the traffic as already terrible today. 40+ mins to get from Alta to Snowbird at the moment

Yes. Inn at Snowbird. Cheapest rooms we could find and still $500 per day. Actually flying in Sunday night and staying near airport. Booking an early morning shuttle or Uber for Monday.

 

[kingslug]

I always brought my avi stuff for alta bird..

 

[raisingarizona]

 

[drjeff]

You staying on the mountain? The Canyon is gonna be fucked the traffic as already terrible today. 40+ mins to get from Alta to Snowbird at the moment

Yup, my son said that the Canyon was sketchy during his and his friends ride down from Alta this afternoon.. Midsized SUV with snow tires, going at most 15mph and they had a couple (that he told me about) slip and slides...

The skiing he said was AWESOME!

 

[ThatGuy]

Yup, my son said that the Canyon was sketchy during his and his friends ride down from Alta this afternoon.. Midsized SUV with snow tires, going at most 15mph and they had a couple (that he told me about) slip and slides...

The skiing he said was AWESOME!

The skiing was amazing. Got to Catherines right when it opened and did alot of High Traverse laps as well. 16 runs total and deeep powder the whole time

 

[ghughes20]

I’m sure this has been suggested before, but the Netflix Documentary “Buried” is excellent. It covers a deaday avalanche at Alpine Meadows in the 80s. Alpine Meadows is now owned by Palisades and is notorious for avalanches. The doc talks about avalanche mitigation, which I found fascinating, as well the rescue efforts after the disaster. It also explains the wind’s impact on avalanche risk. Very sobering and highly recommended.

 

[Edd]

I’m sure this has been suggested before, but the Netflix Documentary “Buried” is excellent. It covers a deaday avalanche at Alpine Meadows in the 80s. Alpine Meadows is now owned by Palisades and is notorious for avalanches. The doc talks about avalanche mitigation, which I found fascinating, as well the rescue efforts after the disaster. It also explains the wind’s impact on avalanche risk. Very sobering and highly recommended.

Agreed, good film.

 

[raisingarizona]

Terrible day. An awful way to go. Prayers for the family. I hope the resort workers who were in that probe line are also doing as OK as they can.

First 30 minutes of the terrain being opened for the season, four people caught/carried, and a reported debris field of 150ft wide and 450 feet long. This was a large, destructive avalanche. This was not a freak accident thing. Someone seriously screwed up. That terrain never should've been open. I would definitely expect something to change in the industry once the cause of this is found. And lawsuits... I can't imagine a scenario where someone isn't criminally negligent.

How many years did you do avalanche mitigation on patrol again?

 

[kbroderick]

I always brought my avi stuff for alta bird..

If you have it, why not bring it? I get not wanting to haul around a shovel and probe, but a beacon is easy to carry, and most of us don't normally get our money out of them given how little time we get in back country avy terrain. When I was out West, I tried to make a habit of wearing my beacon anytime I was skiing inbound avy terrain if there was fresh snow.

 

[kingslug]

I didn't bring it to PC ...but with this insane storm hitting tonight into sunday...
I might avoid jupiter and some parts of 9990.
I don't care how much they bomb them..we are getting a lot of snow at 1 time..and there's some steep shit up there. Very easy to just get buried if you fall into a chute.
I'm having fun just on the lower angle trees..

 

[kingslug]

All I need to read..

 

[drjeff]

I didn't bring it to PC ...but with this insane storm hitting tonight into sunday...
I might avoid jupiter and some parts of 9990.
I don't care how much they bomb them..we are getting a lot of snow at 1 time..and there's some steep shit up there. Very easy to just get buried if you fall into a chute.
I'm having fun just on the lower angle trees..

Trees on the North side of Saddleback on the Canyons side of PC Resort are without a doubt some of my favorite low/moderate trees I have ever skied.

There's about a 300 or so yard long area along that Ridge as you head down under the lift where you can drop in anywhere to your left and find so many fun lines!

 

[ThatGuy]

Trees on the North side of Saddleback on the Canyons side of PC Resort are without a doubt some of my favorite low/moderate trees I have ever skied.

There's about a 300 or so yard long area along that Ridge as you head down under the lift where you can drop in anywhere to your left and find so many fun lines!

I love Ecstasy and The Pines. Good pitch and great spacing between the trees. My favorite way to go is hug the right side down Ecstasy then hop into Hurricane Alley.
The Aspens are fun as well.
View attachment 1.mov

 

[BenedictGomez]

I think we're gonna bring our beacons and wear them inbounds when we go to Alta/Bird on Sunday.

Smart. Frankly I'm not going anywhere near high terrain for a bit though, even inbounds given how pronounced this situation is. Going to be skiing Sunday and Monday, and will likely stick to lower terrain and relatively tame stuff.

 

[BenedictGomez]

Trees on the North side of Saddleback on the Canyons side of PC Resort are without a doubt some of my favorite low/moderate trees I have ever skied.

The Pines?

 

[ThatGuy]

The Pines?

 

[kingslug]

Watching the news now about the avi...
Wonder if they bombed the area...it's so steep there I would think it would have let go.

 

[kbroderick]

The Pines?

That's avy terrain (yellow is 27-29 degrees, the more red it gets, the steeper it is). Not what I'd call bullseye terrain overall, but widespread 27-29 with steeper pockets would make me very nervous in a back country situation as it's mellow enough to feel safe but it's really plenty steep enough to warrant evaluation.

One of the lessons I recall from Avy 1 (which was a long time ago) was that if it's steep enough to ski with fresh snow, it's steep enough to slide.

Obviously, things are different when you've got patrol doing mitigation and evaluation, but you are still in avy terrain.

 

[kingslug]

The only avalanches I can find a record of in PC where on Dutch draw. That gate off 9990 is now closed. I've been coming here a loooong time and never seen one.Except last season when they bombed murdoch peak for days..with not much effect..
Now at Alta bird it was easy to watch them bomb and create slides...