Connecticut Man and 11 Year Old Son Lost at Pico for 8 hours

[Nick]

http://www.firsttracksonline.com/20...ine/pDno+(First+Tracks!!+Online+Ski+Magazine)

A Connecticut man and his 11-year-old son spent hours huddled in a snow cave waiting for rescue after skiing off trail at Pico Mountain ski area in Vermont on Saturday.

More at the link.

Kinda scary that the guy called 911 at 2pm, was on with the operator for over an hour, and then the phone died and they didn't find them until almost 10PM that night.

 

[ScottySkis]

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That is horrifying, I have been lost at K and had to walk for hours with a friend to the main road. It was in 2000 lots of snow that year. We had called on our cell phone the local ski patrol and they told us to do this. We were following others that were also lost and they also spoke to K. They were half mile a head of us. Then when we got to the road the people a head of us had and us shared an expensive cab ride 10 miles back up to the parking lot. See this why even if I know a place has glades it is very hard for me to go in. Sorry for thread hijack and it was scary.

 

[gmcunni]

Not a story I'd expect to hear about Pico. Glad they were found and safe.

 

[bdfreetuna]

Wonder why they didn't descend the mountain since it was 2:00PM when they called there was still a couple hours of decent light to work with.

If I'm going to end up lost I'm at least going to try really hard to get unlost before dark.

Perhaps there is more to this story.

 

[Smellytele]

If I skied off the trail to the left I think I would walk back to the right and visa versa.

 

[BenedictGomez]

If I'm going to end up lost I'm at least going to try really hard to get unlost before dark.

Perhaps there is more to this story.

That's the first thing I thought as well.

And given the growing popularity of tree skiing, I think we're going to hear about more and more of such "lost" and/or "injured" stories. There are people skiing and boarding in the woods these days who have absolutely no business being in there from a skill level perspective. Years ago, those people generally didnt venture into the woods.

 

[Smellytele]

That's the first thing I thought as well.

And given the growing popularity of tree skiing, I think we're going to hear about more and more of such "lost" and/or "injured" stories. There are people skiing and boarding in the woods these days who have absolutely no business being in there from a skill level perspective. Years ago, those people generally didnt venture into the woods.

Not even skiing skill level but general outdoor and directional skills.

 

[SnowRock]

Sounds like there was a lot of this:http://rutlandherald.com/article/20121231/NEWS01/712319946

 

[bdfreetuna]

The line between inbounds sidecountry and "out of bounds" is often impossible to determine when you are actually skiing the woods. Northeast ski resorts do not in fact rope off or mark the boundaries of their property.

That said, it's just common sense if you are skiing unmarked terrain to always maintain a clear idea of where the nearest trail is relative to your position. Whether that be down the mountain or sideways.

If you are unfamiliar with the terrain you should also follow the path of hopefully multiple previous skiers, which you can usually assume do know the terrain and had been skiing that line for a good reason. If you are not familiar with the terrain, those "fresh tracks" may not be the best route for you.

I hope this does not become more common for 2 reasons. 1, people could get hurt or die in the cold. But also, 2, I don't want to see ski areas cracking down on people skiing in unmarked woods (like I remember was more common 10-20 years ago).

 

[marcski]

Will Mr. Barbarossa have to pay for his rescue?

 

[mriceyman]

That had to be freaky

 

[MadMadWorld]

Really a snow cave? Seems a bit excessive. I would think that someone that was smart enough to build a snow cave would be able to plan a little bit better. How do you get lost in the woods at Pico? Just keep skiing down the mountain and you will get to the access road no?

 

[Smellytele]

Really a snow cave? Seems a bit excessive. I would think that someone that was smart enough to build a snow cave would be able to plan a little bit better. How do you get lost in the woods at Pico? Just keep skiing down the mountain and you will get to the access road no?

They may have ended up behind outpost.

 

[Kristen]

So glad they were ok, my worst nightmare.

 

[skiNEwhere]

That's what I was wondering. According to that article from snow rock, state authorities used to bill skiers for their rescue, but stopped early last decade because of skiers not calling for help even if they are in grave danger because of not wanting to be charged

 

[bvibert]

The line between inbounds sidecountry and "out of bounds" is often impossible to determine when you are actually skiing the woods. Northeast ski resorts do not in fact rope off or mark the boundaries of their property.

I know for sure that Pico does indeed mark at least some of their boundaries. I was there Sunday and came across ropes and signs marking the ski area boundary to the far skier's left. I think we were on a marked glade though, so they may have only marked the boundary where it bordered the glade? I was surprised to see the ropes and wondered how much of the boundary they covered??

 

[bdfreetuna]

^^
Yeah I should not have generalized.. I guess some might, others do in certain places, and many don't mark their outer boundaries at all.

I would kind of expect a place like Sugarloaf to mark the boundary of the backside snowfield.. because people might just keep skiing down without knowing better. A lot of smaller mountains or mountains with less obvious/tempting ways to ski way out of bounds will basically consider the edge of the outermost trial to be there out of bounds warning.

 

[ScottySkis]

That's what I was wondering. According to that article from snow rock, state authorities used to bill skiers for their rescue, but stopped early last decade because of skiers not calling for help even if they are in grave danger because of not wanting to be charged

That is what happened to me at K.
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