Picture this

[Guest]

Picture this: there's been 50cm of precipitation over the last few days at XXXX resort in Nagano. Yesterday it warmed up, rained, then the mercury dropped again and another 50 or 60cm of snow overnight. You've just finished a gruelling Sunday patching up, splinting up, and bandaging up the 40 or so cases that came into the patrol clinic all day.

Your legs are jello from braking the toboggan with that 90kg skier with the broken leg all the way down the mountain.

You sit back with your mates, light up a mild seven and crack open a can of super dry- ...but wait, a call comes over the base radio that a guest has gone missing.

Friends confirm that that Taro-kun had been ducking ropes all day and was supposed to meet up hours ago. Management decides to mount a search despite the dangerous and stormy conditions so you suit up and climb onto the back of a diesel belching grooming machine for a ride up to the summit. You and the rest of the search party switch on your headlamps and drop into the steep bowl behind the summit lift. You know where to look because this area has a long history of unstable snow packs and slides, hence the warning signs. A hasty search reveals nothing but after probing for an hour or 2 you strike something. A frozen body is revealed after minutes of digging in the heavy snow. Though the face is blue and icy, CPR is initiated because only the doctor can pronounce death.

After it's all over you'll be dog tired and have to do it again several times during the season.

 

Story? Sure, but do you really think

that even though we "take resposibilty" for our actions in the back country that someone will not risk their life to come and find us?

 

Oh, that's quite all right dear fellow, I'm managing just fine with my board cemented in below 6 feet of slop totally immobile with an average life expectancy of 5-10 minutes. Absolute shite.

 

Just remember that it's not just your own sorry keester on the line out there.

 

 

All this crap about slagging the very patrollers that will drag you back out from a horrible death of asphyxiation in a snowy grave is just WRONG.

 

Try a little respect for the ways of Japanese, It's worked well for them for hundreds of years.

[mogski 0]

Does in skifield area "out of bounds" feature in this story too?

 

You see it is this in are "out of bounds" that I find frustrating and annoying. If it is in the ski area is it not the duty of the patrollers to control the snow in this area nad help us skiers to enjoy our day and make the most of the ski area. I think it is these areas and this frustration that leads many people to jump the ropes in search of that whatever.

 

If partollers don't wanna go searching for people then perhps giving us what wer want within the boudaries of the ski area could be one way to resolve the apparent problem you raise.

[Ocean11 0]

The ways of the Japanese have been totally f:::ed for most of their history, and they still are. I'll give respect where respect is due.

 

Case in point - drinking Asahi Supaa Dorai.

[gti 0]

Ian, you graphically bring up good points about the realities of major incidents and what patrols and resorts have to deal w/...but so does mogski, and so does Ocean 11...my thoughts on the subject: if people would just stick to the basic tenets of the Skiers Responsibility Code ie ski defensively, w/ common sense and logical assessment of risk - both of the terrain and your own abilities - for any given descent one might be contemplating, there would be less incidents of all types, both for the snow riding public and patrolling/ski area management to have to deal w/...if only we lived in a perfect world eh?!

 

we should all 'try our best' to ride responsibly, but this I think includes assessing potential risk of certain areas even w/in resort boundaries, eg, if not blatantly marked off, of areas one might consider a place one should perhaps not go, so that if you do go, do so responsibly, as YOU ARE AT YOUR OWN RISK..this is inherent, and most skiers/boarders I assume realize this. There's only so much we can do, to alert one another/look out for each other. Resort management also needs to take responsibility for keeping customers well informed and alerted, of conditions on site. Skiing and riding by their very nature have risks involved as activities and this is all theoretical, i know, and may be heavy-handed, but things we should all keep in mind when out there on the slopes, for the safety of everyone, yourselves included...sorry, I sort of rambled on but these are my thoughts...and i'm spent!

 

Cheers and happy trails to all