Can’t see if it was posted already. Terrifying but ends well.
https://youtu.be/wQ8Kgb_XUkk
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Can’t see if it was posted already. Terrifying but ends well.
https://youtu.be/wQ8Kgb_XUkk
Literally just came here to post that video. So crazy. That skier makes one different turn and it’s all over for the boarder.
The skiers buddy must also have been panicking when he doesn’t show up down slope
Holeeeeeee crap!!!
So freaking scary
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Yup. Good job, rando!
*Carry your shit*
Holy Fuckin shit is right
Jeez, good work skier dude. A wreck like that and a whistle ain't doin shit. Avalung pack!
Just saw that vid elsewhere and yea, holy shit. Border lucked out skier dude blew his turn and actually saw him. Scary shit. Hope he bought skier lifetime beers
Dooood! Wow, right place right time. Hope he bought him a beer after that.
excellent ad for the Kinko Coop gloves
Kinco makes goop gloves??
Watched the video a while ago. It is scary. But also it’s terrain choice. The rescuer pops through a very tight tree gap. The victim must have done the same.
Give trees a wide berth in pow country.
Damn…2 secs further down slope and the skier would have never noticed the board
Dam. Just saw this on the local news.
Terrifying
So many little moving parts that avoided a tragedy.
Well fucking done
The backpack and shovel look dialed in too. Anyone knows what they are?Quote:
Originally Posted by whipski
Fuckin hell, that's nightmare fuel.
Also fortunate for us and the hero that he was filming so all can see how fucked up any of us can get too close to the trees in conditions like that. Millions more people now (or should) know why to stay away from the trees. I had never heard of tree well danger until venturing out west the first time. Someone on a chairlift warned me about it on my first powder day in CO. I was like GTFO!!!!
TNF pack, newer I thinkQuote:
Originally Posted by Lvovsky
BCA shovel is over 10 years old
This incident brought back one from last year.Quote:
Originally Posted by SumJongGuy
After digging a buddy out of a tree well (not as severe as this one), I sent him down 'the game trail/outlet track' which went around a slight bend telling him to carry speed. After he was out of sight, I took off and was moving fast when I just happened to notice something 'odd' out of the corner of my eye and slammed on the brakes. He had somehow fallen down, off the side and was buried, upside down hanging from a small tree by the gap between his tele boot heel and binding. He was barely visible.
This was on a traverse and nothing really 'serious' in terms of terrain. It could have had a much worse outcome if I had kept ripping the 1/2 mile out the traverse thinking he was still in front of me.:eek:
I was also sold on getting radios and dialing it back on sweep after that.
.
^
that's why i don't wear camo when i ride around tree wells ....
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Rescuer’s Insta
https://www.instagram.com/p/CqRYdNyg...3yhQcuhAOsUM2c
Boarder was with another group - all with Avy gear and walkie talkies.
We get some hella tree wells in the PNW - we’ve lost several at Mt Brokenchair the last five or so years.
I was taught to always keep partners in sight when in the trees, mostly by leap frogging at short intervals - like no farther than you can climb up and dig them out in 10 min.
Happy that everything turned out for the best
awesome luck And thanks for being in good shape. Obviously, that could have ended really badly.
I curious how far that would be between partners and leap frogging for the short intervals? At the ski hill, I find partner skiing in deep snow in denser conifers and complex terrain to be challenging in the sense of maintaining visuals on friends; somebody goes left, you go right, and then you’re in different small sub drains and meeting each other at the bottom of the drainages. The tail gunner of the group is at the biggest disadvantage. It’s a wallow fest if stopped and trying to climb uphill with skis on or bootpacking. In the backcountry, I find that it’s different.Quote:
Originally Posted by TBS
There was a tree well rescue under the Disney chair at sugarbowl earlier to is winter. Awkward branches, vegetation, and body positioning. Several shovels in use. Was like 20 minutes to fully excavate the person.
I rescued my 10-ish year old son from a tree well many years ago. He was standing on the branches. It took a long time, was super awkward, and challenging to do (by myself w/o shovel). It happened right in front of me.
Another reason to have you and your folks wear the beacons.
That dude was soooooo lucky.
Walkie talkies are revelry for that kind of terrain. I wish there was a hands-free chips version for communication. Aside from the moto helmet versions with separate mics.
What happened to the odt chips version that was around in the form of an app years ago?
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I’m curious to hear more about where the snowboarder’s partners were as well as what the rescuer’s partner was starting to think after his buddy didn’t show.
rescuer appeared to have skins in his pack but victim wasn’t on a split board so I’m guessing his partners weren’t equipped to go uphill after him in deep snow.
Hard to do a beacon search up hill.
Rescuer's partners were riding ahead of him you can see in the vid. Snowboarder's partners I understand were also downhill.
You can't save shit from way down there. Lot's of people think they are riding with a partner when it is really just a collection of solo travelers. Mutually supporting travel/positions are key.
When in the trees, best to stick close. Whoop/Heyo/Yodle whatever.
Uphill searches are a thing. You gotta be fit and fast on the transition (looking at you, splitters). Uphill is when it is really nice to have the 100m range+
option on my Barryvox S (over the standard 70m) and not to be stuck with an old <50m range beacon.
Where was this at Baker? Snowboarder on a solid board so close sidecountry?
JFC somebody’s always last.
Would a split have kept him out of the tree well?
Judgement free, but wonder if a skier would have gotten so inextricably stuck in the same situation? Snowboarders just seem so locked in it's scary to me. At least on skis there's the chance to dig hands up and punch a heel piece free?
Either way, sobering video and one I'm glad was captured and shared.
Sidecountry. Oy valley trees between the arm and chair 8.Quote:
Originally Posted by altasnob
Thanks. So not true backcountry. I don't even consider this area sidecountry since you can ski in, and ski out, without hiking at all. Any shmuck can ski this run, and they do. You can throw a baseball from a groomed run to the area of this incident.Quote:
Originally Posted by Ted Striker
.Quote:
Originally Posted by altasnob
i'm sure the victim will be relieved to hear this
.
I'm just pointing this out to all the people scrutinizing whether all the parties involved were following proper backcountry protocol. This wasn't backcountry. It's essentially in bounds terrain and the only reason it is not included in Baker's patrolled in bounds is it would require patrol to deem the Shuksan arm avy safe in order to open. The real danger of this area is the Arm coming down on you from above and you being at the bottom in a valley terrain trap.
Side country is backcountry. Access methods are not relevant to risks, so they shouldn't change mitigations.
Tree skiing / treewell protocol is indicated inbounds if conditions warrant
Is where this happened even relevant?
Don’t more people die in inbounds tree wells anyway?
Isn’t it something like 1 out of 5 deaths from skiing and snowboarding are tree well related.
Tree wells in the north cascades are no joke. There's already been an inbounds death at Baker this year. Guy was alone near chair 1.
Years ago, I pulled a (not submerged) snowboarder out of a tree well between 1 and 6. He wasn't in any real danger of suffocating because the snow was mostly consolidated with a few inches of heavy pow on top - but he was stuck because he couldn't move or reach his feet. Had he been submerged, I wouldn't have seen him. I only knew he was there because he started yelling to me as I was approaching.
During one of the avy refreshers I've taken, they presented some pretty fucking scary tree well facts. Like during simulations, something like 90% are unable to extract themselves. And snowboarder deaths are more than double skiers'.
IMO, the rear skier is fucked if they go in a treewell, even if you are fairly close to your front partner it would take 30+mins for a partner to climb back up 30 yards in steep bottomless snow and then dig you out. Its just not realistic to be so close to an uphill partner and be so hyper aware that you can stop within a second or two of them taking a digger.Quote:
Originally Posted by bodywhomper
When my wife and i ski trees together she loses sight of me in 2 turns and so she just follows my tracks to ensure we go the same direction but also to find me if they end at the bottom of a tree. Vice-versa, when i follow her, i follow her... no veering off to random fun terrain i see.
An oldschool avalung is what i pull out of the closet on deep days. Gives me a little peace of mind that i can almost certainly get the mouthpiece into my mouth and breathe for an extended period until someone hopefully find me.