montoya 0 Posted February 14, 2007 Share Posted February 14, 2007 2 dead, 1 missing, from guided group of 24: http://dailynews.yahoo.co.jp/fc/domestic/mountain_accidents/ Link to post Share on other sites
big-will 7 Posted February 14, 2007 Share Posted February 14, 2007 It's on the national news this one - looks like it was blizzard up there. Link to post Share on other sites
samurai 0 Posted February 14, 2007 Share Posted February 14, 2007 24 in a group? that should be warning sign number one. Link to post Share on other sites
SerreChe 2 Posted February 14, 2007 Share Posted February 14, 2007 In english http://mdn.mainichi-msn.co.jp/national/news/20070214p2a00m0na009000c.html Link to post Share on other sites
tsondaboy 0 Posted February 14, 2007 Share Posted February 14, 2007 Quote: Originally posted by samurai: 24 in a group? that should be warning sign number one. That, or taking them up amidst a snowstorm? Link to post Share on other sites
YellowSnow 0 Posted February 14, 2007 Share Posted February 14, 2007 Hell, just some forum members was up there last weekend, when I was planing to go. I really want to know what tour they were with. Link to post Share on other sites
fukdane 2 Posted February 14, 2007 Share Posted February 14, 2007 Sad to hear of fatalities but - do people really want to go out to a place like that in blizzard conditions? Apart from the wiseness of doing that, it just doesn't sound like any fun. Link to post Share on other sites
YellowSnow 0 Posted February 14, 2007 Share Posted February 14, 2007 Unfortunately fukdane, some people I would say myself included, have to save up for such holidays, you don't have many days off work and you want to make the most of a ski trip. Its easy if you live near to a mountain, but if you are there for just 2 days and its a blizzard or the lifts are closed you will often trek up to the top regardless. If the conditions really were so bad, I wonder if they took the ropeway up, on Japan Today it said the avalanche happened beside the ropeway, so I wonder if it was running in the first place. Link to post Share on other sites
montoya 0 Posted February 14, 2007 Author Share Posted February 14, 2007 24 people total: 18 paying customers 5 guides 1 onsen employee Link to post Share on other sites
tsondaboy 0 Posted February 14, 2007 Share Posted February 14, 2007 The ropeway stoped sometime after 10:00. Link to post Share on other sites
Fattwins 0 Posted February 14, 2007 Share Posted February 14, 2007 YellowSnow unfortunately most of the people that die are people that do the go go trips and stop thinking. Link to post Share on other sites
fukdane 2 Posted February 15, 2007 Share Posted February 15, 2007 Quote: and its a blizzard or the lifts are closed you will often trek up to the top regardless Well, I certainly wouldn't but I suppose I can see some people doing that. Link to post Share on other sites
Mudguts 0 Posted February 15, 2007 Share Posted February 15, 2007 Really tragic news that. I was at Hakkoda last weekend and it snowed 40cms on Sunday so Monday was truly epic conditions but there was a really unstable layer of snow up top. I was caught in a small avy that day that buried me up to my knees after I cut underneath one of my mates further up the mountain. Hakkoda is not a mountain to be taken lightly at all and what happened today has made me feel real humble and has highlighted what a mountain can do to people. As far as conditions go. The Hakkoda gondola stops at winds of 25m/s and we experienced 22m/s on Sunday. It was a complete whiteout up top. The 1-2 meter visibility combined with that horrendous wind, 2-3 meter deep tree wells that you just couldn't see made the first 100 meter drop of the peak quite uncomfortable and disorientating. We rode with a mate who has lived and ridden the mountain for 5 years so I felt very confident as my mate knew the mountain and routes extremely well. Today's nasty event will have at least one positive outcome as I now fully want to learn everything there is to know about about avies and safe riding. Link to post Share on other sites
SnowConnection 0 Posted February 15, 2007 Share Posted February 15, 2007 Add'l Info by Yomiuri Online NP, - The avy happened apx 11:00 am on Feb 14, on the north face of Maetake peak (1,252m) . - The route name is Douzou (bronze statue) course. - The avy size was 200-300m long with 25m wide. - The victims are two men (44 & 39) living in Tokyo. - The customers stay at Sukayu Onsen Ryokan. - Seven members of an Ausie mt rescue team happened to be passing by and gave them hands. Add'l Info by NHK TV news, - The avy size was 100m long with 5-10m wide. - The new snow fall was estimated to be 40cm. The snow pile is 3 meters depth. - They saw blue sky when starting from the mt top sation of the ropeway. Soon, the weather was getting worse. Snowstorm came. A gust of 30 meter per sec was recorded at the mt top station. - The avy attacked behind them when they were skiing down. Yahoo! Map - Maetake peak http://map.yahoo.co.jp/pl?lat=40%2F40%2F...map&size=s&sc=5 Link to post Share on other sites
samurai 0 Posted February 15, 2007 Share Posted February 15, 2007 Why is this not a strange thread? Link to post Share on other sites
SerreChe 2 Posted February 15, 2007 Share Posted February 15, 2007 If my memory serves me right: Maedake with hiking trail on right side Other face where peeps ride Same shot, further away One of (if not the most) popular route at Hakkoda. Sad news. Link to post Share on other sites
montoya 0 Posted February 15, 2007 Author Share Posted February 15, 2007 some of the more detailed articles: http://www.asahi.com/national/update/0214/TKY200702140301.html http://headlines.yahoo.co.jp/hl?a=20070214-00000151-mai-soci Link to post Share on other sites
tsondaboy 0 Posted February 15, 2007 Share Posted February 15, 2007 I hope this event finally wake up some officials and put an order to the guided tour farce... Link to post Share on other sites
HeatherLocklearRocks 1 Posted February 15, 2007 Share Posted February 15, 2007 What exactly is the farce, tsondaboy? (honest q!) Link to post Share on other sites
tsondaboy 0 Posted February 15, 2007 Share Posted February 15, 2007 There are some people that do responsible professional guiding in Japan, and have taken CAA Level 2. 2 of them are also advertised through this site. When I am talking about a farce I mean this: http://www.snowjapanforums.com/ubb/ultimatebb.php/topic/5/130.html Link to post Share on other sites
Kumapix 0 Posted February 15, 2007 Share Posted February 15, 2007 i read in the paper that one guy was buried for an hour and lived! doesn't sound like they had beacons though (just conjecture though) Link to post Share on other sites
dizzy 0 Posted February 16, 2007 Share Posted February 16, 2007 sad. it sounds like avalanches are rare in that area... mentioning the last time there was an avalanche victim (1990), and being that the guides all thought the area was safe that morning. --rapidly changing conditions --what the faithful daily reports (for hakuba, at least) say about always watching out for "the threat from above" (thanks, SJ and DR people) --traveling in HUGE groups (18 or something like that in one group?!) --the victims were the last/some of the last skiers to go down the slope (more people who have skied on a slope = more wiegh loading on the snowpack, easier for avlanches to occur) Link to post Share on other sites
montoya 0 Posted February 16, 2007 Author Share Posted February 16, 2007 From this article it seems like there was a depth hoar layer down at 40cm: http://www.toonippo.co.jp/news_too/nto2007/20070215220951.asp this article has the head guide mentioning the slope that slid was around 20 degrees. if true, that's pretty freaking scary: http://www.toonippo.co.jp/news_too/nto2007/20070215130421.asp Link to post Share on other sites
samurai 0 Posted February 16, 2007 Share Posted February 16, 2007 last year there was a huge avi at Mammoth, in bounds, late in the day, after skiers had lapped it up all day. dumb guides or not, snow is freaky. Link to post Share on other sites
hachibuse 0 Posted February 16, 2007 Share Posted February 16, 2007 and yet, what was the aussie group doing out in such sh*t conditions. let's not burn the japanese alone. the seppo wannabes shouldn't have been out there either, right. takes all kinds of idiots from all countries and nationalities to make this world FUBAR. being a seppo, i know. best bet is to follow the simplest of all BC rules, if it's puking, don't go. too easy. if you spent a vast sum of money for a dream vacation, control the urge to become a another avy stat and live to play another day. Link to post Share on other sites
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