http://www.summitdaily.com/news/1015...ch-area-county
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A male skier in his 40s is still missing after an avalanche was reported at around noon Monday, Feb. 10 in the backcountry area south of Keystone Resort in Summit County.
The man was with another skier who was also caught in the slide but able to self-extract, according to the Summit County Sheriff’s Office. This skier then reported the avalanche, saying he was unable to locate his companion.
The avalanche debris field was approximately 2,000 feet in length with depths up to 9 feet. The cause is still under investigation.
On Monday, search teams with dogs were deployed from both the bottom and top of the slide area. Summit County Rescue Group responded with additional personnel, and conducted probe searchers. The search continued until approximately 6 p.m., when visibility and conditions became too dangerous to continue the search, according to the sheriff’s office.
As of Tuesday morning, search teams are set to be re-deployed as soon as avalanche mitigation is complete and the area is deemed safe. Roughly 40 representatives — including four dogs — from Keystone Ski Resort, Arapahoe Basin Ski Area, Breckenridge Ski Resort, Summit County Rescue Group, Vail Mountain Rescue, Alpine Rescue Team and the U.S. Forest Service will be out today to continue the search
I don't have any info but CAIC said the avalanche was south of the Keystone resort boundary.
Yeah, WTF? Heard maybe N fork of the Swan? South of keystone? Did his partner not have gear? Sounds like a massive slide. 2k'Quote:
Originally Posted by COpow
Super vague still.
Independence Mtn is kinda "south of Keystone", some big avy terrain back there, no idea if this is the same area. /end speculation.
Tough conditions to be out there if you don't know what you are doing and aren't prepared.
"South of Keystone Resort" is most likely the N Fork of the Swan.
Some large paths there. The largest is the S bowl of Pt 12,354'. It is S/SE aspect, full track would be @ 1,600' vert. I vaguely remember ski patrol referring to it as "Vega".
I recall the bowl having exceptionally smooth ground cover. Like, literally one rock and one lonely krummholz bush in the entire 60 acre start zone. The rest of which is as smooth as a putting green.
It runs HUDGE. In 92 it left a debris pile that looked like a fucking glacier! Bummer.
will be interested to hear where this occurred. skiing trees at keystone yesterday and we heard a lot of bombing most of the morning. usual stuff from abay, breck, key, and cdot.... figured they were doing control work everywhere. About 10:45-11 am we were stopped in the outback trees and heard a big whomp!!!! no bomb or anything prior to it. buddy and I both heard it, he actually asked if I heard a bomb prior just to check himself.
could have been hearing things but this does not sound good
I've heard Vega as well... After all my time skiing there I have no idea what line that is... I remember a lot of slednecks brapping on a face just past the rope that delineated the end of the hike to terrain past North and South Bowl.
Body recovered a short time ago.
CAIC confirmed fatality, North Fork Swan River.
http://avalanche.state.co.us/caic/ac...=524&accfm=rep
Prelim is up on CAIC now: http://avalanche.state.co.us/caic/ac...=524&accfm=rep
Plenty of folks will be playing Russian Roulette in the next day or 2...hope it works out for them.
Looks like they went out the gate off of Outback/South Bowl and dropped into the Avy chute off of the east ridge. *Huge* Avy chute can be seen via Google Earth.
39.5391 N, -105.9091 E
+++Vibes+++ to family, friends and responders.
So somewhere along this ridge they dropped in: http://binged.it/1iZd2GaQuote:
Originally Posted by newbreak
I have scoped this before and have seen it from a distance on sleds but if you are on skis what is the plan to get back to civilization? Cross-country to breckenridge?
Rest in peace Kevin.
I think most people have no clue where they actually are, or what it will take to get back. I ski Wise mtn on occasion and have left Keystone the way that was done, but in the spring and with a car waiting for me...Quote:
Originally Posted by Vandeezy
Bummer they learned this one the hard way
name release.....
"The skier found dead Tuesday was identified by the Summit County Coroner as 46-year-old Kevin Kuybus, a resident of Highlands Ranch. He was wearing a helmet at the time of the avalanche, but the cause of death was blunt force trauma to the chest."
http://www.thedenverchannel.com/news...one-ski-resort
sad to hear.... RIP
Vega is the place. The area is very clearly marked as out of bounds/closed but can be accessed pretty easily via the $5 cat. It is not as easy to get out of the place. These two likely had no idea what they were doing. Very sad
With all of the coverage they have given to the HIGH avi danger there is no way he could have missed it - it's been on every newscast and weather forecast for days.
Sad lesson to learn.
whoever laid down those steezey tracks along the margin did, although I hope they had a sled to extractQuote:
Originally Posted by miker27
Such a shame. Likely left a family behind.
No beacon? Dropping an obvious avalanche chute during high alerts into no mans land? Did these guys have any clue what they were getting into ?
Quote:
Originally Posted by simplypow
That would, presumably, be patrol. Careful romping about on any cornice up there, one could start a fatal avalanche...
No.Quote:
Originally Posted by Cold_Smokin'
45678
Would suck to have to walk away from a debris pile that you're pretty sure your buddy's buried under.
WELL said miker27 -..-Although I wouldn't rule out the alopecic Yeti (hybrid clan). You know HOW they gits jiggy when the pow's asunder \ Crap THEN :) eg. youtube I'm reposting from a parallel threadQuote:
Originally Posted by miker27
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Y1WYcQf7yyM
I think I might have to change my sig sinceCrap THEN:) is about as good
I do believe she may have climaxed...
you mean the chick or the avalanche..
or perhaps the grizzles alter ego is referring to the pacific jets gracing us with all this nice pow-since these recently elevated temps are beginning to cause problems? We need charts that are more specific to freeze elevations like the canadians use. I know we have them, but they're just not as user friendly. Something that is very quick and easy like. minimum freeze boundary of 11,000. As soon as we start getting melting along the lower margins of these huge slabs there are going to be some unexpectedly large releases.Quote:
Originally Posted by totaliboard
CAIC updated the accident details yesterday.
http://avalanche.state.co.us/caic/ac...=524&accfm=inv
Two parties, 2 skiers in each, were involved. Party 1 fell through a cornice (twice!) And triggered 2 avalanches on party 2 below.
Yikes, that could have been avoidable.
Jeez. Fucking shitshow.
Civil suit will be forthcoming unless the cornice flippers are essentially judgement proof.
That's what homeowners/renters insurance is for.Quote:
Originally Posted by Grizzled
But really, assumption of the risk, comparative negligence is in play...
This dentist was thinking negligent homicide actually.
Group A on group B avy incident? Surprised we haven't seen more of these in recent years.
Junkshow at 12,000ft, skiers dropping in on other skiers in Summit county?
Yeah right, SUE, SUE, SUE!!!
I still wonder if either/both parties knew at all where they were at and what they were getting into. As previously mentioned, not the easiest area to get out of once you drop down into that drainage. Report doesn't state if Group 2 had any avy gear, but Group 1 did not. Doesn't sound like either group had much avalanche awareness, based on their behavior. Even though Group 1 skirted the top of the slide path through the trees, they still went back into the path, just further down. When skier C spoke with A & B about plans, did this come up so C&D would know not to drop in on top of them? Do we even know if C & D intended to drop into Vega, or simply ended up there because they fell through the cornice peeking over the edge? Obviously, I'm not expecting any concrete answers unless someone knows any of the surviving skiers.
everyone mentions what do we take away from an accident in these forums as some sort of constructive thought
here is my take away, usually there is a WHY? why were people there, why did they do what they did, and why did it happen, the accident report leaves the why out of the equation, mostly because it's a report and it is not designed to offer opinion or point fingers, it's just a boring report on what happened
after reading the report I was pretty much left with a wow. missing was the typical chain of events that led to the accident, although you can easily point out the many errors, thats the cheap shot that anyone can do
here are some thoughts and observations
on any ridge line in summit and surround areas through the past 4 week storm cycle it was almost impossible to see on most days, wind, heavy snow, and major flat light made (especially for me) depth perception, slope angle, and judging distance difficult. I had my share of am I standing still, on flat ground or at an angle over those past couple weeks. In bounds and in the backcountry.
the photos show a nice day, with sun, I'm assuming that the day before was one of those crappy light lots of snow days
the last 1-2 ft of any cornice was very soft snow at the time and actually being able to see the edge was probably difficult
The slope angle was listed 35, right below the cornice was probably closer to 40, that's really not that steep.
The haul out from the location is around 2-3 miles to "good times" and the end of tiger rd, it's another 1/2 mile plus to the nearest parking area. The run out would have been pretty fast and fun in places on a groomed snowmobile track, but then your a 20 min car ride back to keystone on a good day.
stopping and waiting always freaks me out, one at a time, where do you stop that is safe and wait for the next skier
communication between different groups in the same area, my best feeling is, if you talk to another group and they make you uneasy, maybe YOU need to be the one to get out of there
Exactly... Read the report this morning and that about sums it up. Both skiers in the second group stepping through the cornice at different times, no avy gear etc etc.Quote:
Originally Posted by adrenalated
I feel for the families loss, but as others have said it sounds totally avoidable.
Be safe out there.
Thoughtfully constructed synopsis, thanks!Quote:
Originally Posted by fastfred