Fattwins 0 Posted April 4, 2006 Share Posted April 4, 2006 ill write more about this later but toque and i...well mostly toque were in about a class 3 avalanche on friday. scary crap here is the aftermath. toque luckly self arrested but lost a ski but found it at the bottom. the slide went for well over 500 meters and even had enough power to make a turn and run down a 25 to 30 degree slope afterward. we called it a day early. looking up still lokking up. looking down from the turn Link to post Share on other sites
me jane 0 Posted April 4, 2006 Share Posted April 4, 2006 Glad you're both okay. Link to post Share on other sites
dizzy 0 Posted April 5, 2006 Share Posted April 5, 2006 toque, was that spot in the pics where you had stopped? if so, good thinking getting up on a ridge and out of the avie path. dido to what mejane said!! Link to post Share on other sites
mattlucas 0 Posted April 5, 2006 Share Posted April 5, 2006 I'll add my thoughts Weather has been sketchy all season at the resorts altitudes. This has left many layers of rain and sun crusts. March 19 it rained up to about 2000 metres. This is the crust that the snow slid on I think. March 29 it started snowing heavily and didn't stop till March 31. There was heavy winds as well blowing snow onto northern slopes. On other aspects on March 31 there was about 30-40cms of powder in the trees. We went over to a north face run after patrol finally opened up the proper chair. I went onto the slope to break trail with FT behind followed by CB. Maybe 2 or 3 metres onto the slope it all cracked and started travelling very fast. It was a large slab avalanche. The crown was about 100-150cm and about 20-30m long. The slide easily travelled to the valley bottom where it turned a corner and kept on going. Looking at a contour map it dropped about 350metres vertical and travelled about 500 metres I was able to self arrest fairly quickly. I think I only went about 10-15 metres down the slope. When the slide started we were at the top of it. The block that I was on was pretty big and I was able to roll over the top of it onto the slick surface below. I then tried to grab a tree as I was sliding on the slick layer. Just missed the first tree. Somewhere around there my left pole and left ski came off. DIN on my bindings is 11. I self arrested soon after on only my up-hill ski. CB was on the top of the slope not in the slide. We told him to go down the mountain and wait. FT had fallen into the slide as well but not as far in as I went. So as we were commited we decided the safest thing to do was to descend the slope and look for my ski. As everything had slid and there was no risk from above this was a safe option. I made it about half way down the slope going back and forth on one ski and then spotted my ski on top of the debris where the slide took a corner. FT went down there and confirmed. I slowly made my way down and we rested in a safe area. We also called CB to tell him the good news. We then made deeeeeeeeep powder turns out of the valley 1 at a time. Got to an onsen at 1pm and started drinking Very sad to have missed out on a day where I could have hucked myself off of anything and not touched the bottom. But very happy to be alive and in one piece. Link to post Share on other sites
Fattwins 0 Posted April 5, 2006 Author Share Posted April 5, 2006 cb more than likely had the best damn view of the thing and he was a bit shocked right away. I was right on the crack line so I fell onto the icy layer and slid about 3 to 5 meters on the ice but never fell over. During this time I was focused on Toque and ill tell yeah his face had some strange looks. Sking a slide path is usally a good safe option people remember that. avie forcasters ski alot of slide paths as they are by themselves and it is safer. In these situations it is best to stop and think, after you know that you are safe. Make a good choice that keeps everyone safe. One of the reasons I like sking with certain people is becasue we think the same. We stopped briefly and thought are way through the accident. The beers went down cold and smooth. Link to post Share on other sites
Ocean11 0 Posted April 5, 2006 Share Posted April 5, 2006 Quote: Originally posted by Fattwins: Sking a slide path is usally a good safe option people remember that. I wonder who would give any credence to that particular bit of advice... Link to post Share on other sites
Fattwins 0 Posted April 5, 2006 Author Share Posted April 5, 2006 After a slide has happened and it has gone the full distance it is a good option to get out of danger. remember that there is no more snow that can slide. Link to post Share on other sites
Fattwins 0 Posted April 5, 2006 Author Share Posted April 5, 2006 this is a comment from an avie forcast worker in utah. he or she spends days at a time in the backcountry keeping certain areas safe such as roads etc. quote Tracks were made on the bed surface of the old slide and next to the massive cornice drop. Some people like to ski steep, and when the hazard is high a good way of doing so is to ski slide paths which have already avalanched. Link to post Share on other sites
Yuki's Passion 1 Posted April 6, 2006 Share Posted April 6, 2006 Im sure glad that it slid there where it did. Had we all traversed around to the open face/chute and then slid, that woulda been nasty...could you guys imagine had we turned right and got over that hump...then slid...? Glad you got your ski back Toque - though it woulda made a good ornament hanging in the lodge Headed straight to an onsen after and Toque got a few beers from FT and I. Link to post Share on other sites
Fattwins 0 Posted April 6, 2006 Author Share Posted April 6, 2006 we should have been fine really as we were very high on the traverse. if we would have lauched into the chute though it would have been bad. Link to post Share on other sites
SerreChe 2 Posted April 9, 2006 Share Posted April 9, 2006 Glad you both were ok. I think you guys are probably some of the most avie-aware people on this forum and still got a close call. A good reminder for all of us hitting the BC. Link to post Share on other sites
Fattwins 0 Posted April 10, 2006 Author Share Posted April 10, 2006 this layer was the one causing alot of the problems this weekend. Link to post Share on other sites
Kumapix 0 Posted April 10, 2006 Share Posted April 10, 2006 that area was closed off on sunday. the sign said 終了 so it may be done for the season Link to post Share on other sites
ibk6020 0 Posted September 2, 2006 Share Posted September 2, 2006 wow de ja veu!! looks just like a spot in the austrian alps where a group of us had a big scare last season!! 1st boarder in fine! 2nd boarder in (me) fine so far! 3rd skier in and the whole thing goes tits up!! me halfway down and avo coming down behind me... 1st guy at the bottom watching me in the middle loving the ride but not knowing what is behind me !!!! i lose it half way down in a scorpion type show piece land on my feet and look behind! wholly f*@K! luckily landed on my feet and not to compressed in the 1.5m fresh but heavy snow! i manage to scoot over and out of the way amongst some small trees that i cling on to for dear life not knowing that our mate is under this huge killer!! holding on and watching the power of nature at it's worst when a head appears from under the snow and just as quickly disappears!! 5 seconds later he is coughed out of it and rides on top for a second or to before spiting out a deadly white deep throat !! now he is minus skis poles beanie goggles gloves! later on we find the goggles spat out at the bottom of the run where there is a stream but the goggles are 10 meters up on the other bankside clear from any avo debris!!! well he came out of it with no gear a black eye and a good story! me? well a good story and even more respect for the mountains!! p.s you should of seen how many small branches this "thing" broke on its rampage! Link to post Share on other sites
SerreChe 2 Posted September 5, 2006 Share Posted September 5, 2006 wow, indeed. There is sometimes a thin line between a good story and a very sad ending. did you snap a pic of the slide configuration ibk? always interesting. Link to post Share on other sites
ibk6020 0 Posted September 5, 2006 Share Posted September 5, 2006 one of the guys has pics i'll try to get them and post at some time soon. Link to post Share on other sites
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