Zermatt
Active member
Anybody up there see this happen? Looks horrifying but he came out alive on his own.
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Tucks Accident
- Thread starter Zermatt
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Kingslug20
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Not the best line to take
eatskisleep
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Insanely scary. That one should have been avoidable though. He is blessed to be alive.
Zermatt
Active member
KustyTheKlown
Well-known member
glad he is not dead. but obv a snowboarder.
KustyTheKlown
Well-known member
climb out footage
Good for him to have unbelievable luck and make it out without major injury.
But what a dumbass. It's not unheard of for people to die falling in those water holes. So dumb to try and ride a line near them. If S&R needed to extract him, he should be responsible for the whole bill.
But what a dumbass. It's not unheard of for people to die falling in those water holes. So dumb to try and ride a line near them. If S&R needed to extract him, he should be responsible for the whole bill.
Kingslug20
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Climbing up near some rocks I punched through...looked down 20 feet into a river...
Thankfully only 1 leg...
It killed a guy a few weeks later...I don't think they found him.
Scariest shit I ever dealt with...
Thankfully only 1 leg...
It killed a guy a few weeks later...I don't think they found him.
Scariest shit I ever dealt with...
Hiker Presumed Dead After Fall at Mt. Washington’s Tuckerman Ravine | Rescue Efforts On Hold
Mt. Washington, NH - Tuckerman Ravine, a very popular destination for self-served East Coast spring skiing, was the site of yet another snow travel
unofficialnetworks.com
Conrad
Member
I was there at the time. I originally posted this on SnowJournal, but figured it might be of interest here.
...When I got the bottom, another person was right above the Headwall cliff a few people had jumped. He was a snowboarder and seemed unconfident. It looked like he wanted to get out. He then slipped down further right to the rocky lip at the edge of the cliff. He took a long time to assess and he really seemed to wish he could climb out, but it would have been extremely difficult with the snowboard and not falling off the cliff anyways. Everyone shouted "noooo" to try to disuade him. The scene played out for at least 10-15 minutes. I hoped he would wait for someone to come rope him out. My heart lurched when instead of dropping to viewer's left where the other people had jumped, he continued to viewer's right where he could get a little lower, but was right over one of the two waterfalls. He was out of room to maneuver and to everyone's horror, he was soon in the air with very little speed where he fell 20 feet, starting a little bit to the side of the waterfall, but essentially falling straight down, swallowed right into the hole/crevasse the waterfall was going into at a high speed. Everyone became hushed. I was in a bit of a shock. I thought he most likely would be suffering an agonizing death in cold water perhaps 50 feet below the surface. After a very two or three minutes, incredibly the tip of his snowboard emerged from the hole! What a huge relief! There was still uncertainty as to whether or not he was stuck, but after about 5 minutes he managed to pull himself out. Fortunately he had an ice ax. It was hard to avert my eyes, but it is something I never hope to see again and it definitely affected me for a while afterwards...
...All in all I was really glad to come back to Tuckermans after a while, but witnessing the near death experience definitely changed the tone of the rest of the day. Right after the incident, another guy on skis came down to the same place, but the crowd tried hard to convince him to not do it and he finally backed out.
...When I got the bottom, another person was right above the Headwall cliff a few people had jumped. He was a snowboarder and seemed unconfident. It looked like he wanted to get out. He then slipped down further right to the rocky lip at the edge of the cliff. He took a long time to assess and he really seemed to wish he could climb out, but it would have been extremely difficult with the snowboard and not falling off the cliff anyways. Everyone shouted "noooo" to try to disuade him. The scene played out for at least 10-15 minutes. I hoped he would wait for someone to come rope him out. My heart lurched when instead of dropping to viewer's left where the other people had jumped, he continued to viewer's right where he could get a little lower, but was right over one of the two waterfalls. He was out of room to maneuver and to everyone's horror, he was soon in the air with very little speed where he fell 20 feet, starting a little bit to the side of the waterfall, but essentially falling straight down, swallowed right into the hole/crevasse the waterfall was going into at a high speed. Everyone became hushed. I was in a bit of a shock. I thought he most likely would be suffering an agonizing death in cold water perhaps 50 feet below the surface. After a very two or three minutes, incredibly the tip of his snowboard emerged from the hole! What a huge relief! There was still uncertainty as to whether or not he was stuck, but after about 5 minutes he managed to pull himself out. Fortunately he had an ice ax. It was hard to avert my eyes, but it is something I never hope to see again and it definitely affected me for a while afterwards...
...All in all I was really glad to come back to Tuckermans after a while, but witnessing the near death experience definitely changed the tone of the rest of the day. Right after the incident, another guy on skis came down to the same place, but the crowd tried hard to convince him to not do it and he finally backed out.
I was thinking the same. But perhaps social media just amplifies idiot behavior that always has happened there? I wouldn't know if it's gotten worse. Only been in the bowl once, 25 years ago
I think that social media brings things that are usually harder to find out about to a more general population. 20 years ago if you wanted to do something like Tucks it required specific knowledge and information. Now you see a video of someone, say oh that looks cool and google it. This leads to people who have none of the prerequisite knowledge or business being there saying f-it and going for it.
Also the widespread camera phones and gopros have led to a more “look at me” approach to things. Where all some people care about is that others are seeing the “cool” shit they’re doing so they’re more likely to push their limits and get into dangerous situations.
I know in the past few years I’ve seen more and more videos of people way over their heads coming close to death or serious injury in many outdoor activities…
Also the widespread camera phones and gopros have led to a more “look at me” approach to things. Where all some people care about is that others are seeing the “cool” shit they’re doing so they’re more likely to push their limits and get into dangerous situations.
I know in the past few years I’ve seen more and more videos of people way over their heads coming close to death or serious injury in many outdoor activities…
Smellytele
Well-known member
The first time I did tucks it was 30 years ago and I had no right being there either nor did a lot of others there. It was really no different. There has been idiots doing it for a long time.
That's what I figured. Always been some morons up there. We just are more aware of it now because of all the video.
Social media can drive more of the idiot activity though. Maybe jumping waterfalls at Tucks is the new Tide Pod challenge
Social media can drive more of the idiot activity though. Maybe jumping waterfalls at Tucks is the new Tide Pod challenge
Hawk
Well-known member
There are a couple of standng rules that anyone knows when skiing Tucks in the spring.
- NEVER ski near or below the water fall. The snow is undermined and there is real danger. Even that guy who looks like he is coming to the snow boarders rescue is risking his life. There could have been a collape and he would be gone.
- If you are going to hang at Lunch Rocks, pick a big enough boulder to stay behind to protect you from any falling ice.
- Stay away from the big line of people going up. Some moron is going to slip and fall and take you out.
By the way I think there are probably slighly more morons now. But not much more. Having to hike up to the base and then up the headwall weeds out the lazy morons.
- NEVER ski near or below the water fall. The snow is undermined and there is real danger. Even that guy who looks like he is coming to the snow boarders rescue is risking his life. There could have been a collape and he would be gone.
- If you are going to hang at Lunch Rocks, pick a big enough boulder to stay behind to protect you from any falling ice.
- Stay away from the big line of people going up. Some moron is going to slip and fall and take you out.
By the way I think there are probably slighly more morons now. But not much more. Having to hike up to the base and then up the headwall weeds out the lazy morons.
Hawk
Well-known member
Nope. Not going to happen. That is National Forest. They can and will not restrict access. I have had this converstaion with the rangers several times. Thier respose is, "this is your national forest, we can only give you guidence". The last time was a coule of years ago. They had High avalance danger posted on the the sigen board and tons of people were in the parking lot headed up. And still they said, they can only advise.
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