Independence Lake (Tahoe) observation, 1/17/20, full burial

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Originally Posted by kidwoo

To be fair the first two weren't standing right in the middle of the gully dropping m-80s on the snow, and with their pants down mooning the third guy.


I mean it could have been worse.



In all seriousness though, I'd be curious to ask one of them what they were thinking going down a south aspect. If the fact that it faces south had anything to do with it or just coincidence because that's the longest sustained pitch back there.

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I think I missed the part about where the two were standing relative to the avi path.

The lack of additional info in their SAC reporting makes me think that they did not make any assessments of the risk or hazard prior to dropping in. I would like to be wrong.

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Originally Posted by bodywhomper

I think I missed the part about where the two were standing relative to the avi path.

The lack of additional info in their SAC reporting makes me think that they did not make any assessments of the risk or hazard prior to dropping in. I would like to be wrong.

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Does seem conspicuously absent. They probably are well aware, even if only after the fact that it was a bit of a derp derp (to use a technical term).

I'm just glad they lived to tell the tale.

Quote:

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Originally Posted by kidwoo

To be fair the first two weren't standing right in the middle of the gully dropping m-80s on the snow, and with their pants down mooning the third guy.


I mean it could have been worse.



In all seriousness though, I'd be curious to ask one of them what they were thinking going down a south aspect. If the fact that it faces south had anything to do with it or just coincidence because that's the longest sustained pitch back there.

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While the overall aspect of the area has a southern facing orientation the aspect that slid faces ENE. south was the only aspect that was left out of the avy report for that day related to the jan 4 crust. It's more than likely had they stayed on the more south facing slopes they would have been okay.

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The Jan 4 crust/facet weak layer exists near treeline and below treeline on NW-N-NE-E aspects. In most below treeline locations, it is found 4 to 6 inches below the old/new snow interface. In some near treeline locations, it is found deeper under older wind drifted snow.

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Also, this pic pretty much matches exactly what SAC said above. The storm and wind deposited snow. Then the 4-6" of old snow. Then the rain crust. And a guy standing below hangfire.
https://www.sierraavalanchecenter.or...4-img_0277.jpg

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Originally Posted by wolfy

Have to agree with the above statements- I thought the "missing reel" of drone footage was highly suspect. Then remembered driving through town and hearing a local radio ad for a shop in the area doing a "winter edit" film contest, with a "best of" program and winner announced at a showing in Squaw towards the end of the season. $8k in swag to the winner.
Now if I was gonna bet a parking lot PBR...

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It looked to me like the third skier/victim was the drone pilot. He filmed his friends and then recovered the drone before his descent.

also weird there are no pics from the burial area/depo zone for folks with the technology and the mindset to want to use it to document everything. It does seem like someone is selling something

I really just wanted to know how they got back to the Expensive Snow Bikes? Were there others involved to shuttle them back up the mountain?
They rode to the top using another approach, Then planed to ski down and then skin back up?

I was a bit confused. Am a bit confused.

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Originally Posted by MTT

I really just wanted to know how they got back to the Expensive Snow Bikes? Were there others involved to shuttle them back up the mountain?
They rode to the top using another approach, Then planed to ski down and then skin back up?

I was a bit confused. Am a bit confused.

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they e-skinned up with drone assist. duh.

Probably not the place...But can we talk about the beater ass line skier #2 took?? I thought he was gonna full send then bitched out.

He probably thought, “hell no, I don’t want to trigger an avalanche on impact.”

More benefit of the doubt that doesn’t answer most questions, they may have not seen the SAC forecast because they were already out of range when it was issued. That’s pretty normal for dawn patrols.