Sounds of music slide path near the Opus hut
Found this video interesting.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=MaxShyCAq18
Friends who were up on battleship took a photo of the aftermath.
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Sounds of music slide path near the Opus hut
Found this video interesting.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=MaxShyCAq18
Friends who were up on battleship took a photo of the aftermath.
Attachment 489572
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Thanks for posting that. Until you see that kind of POV most folks don't understand how weird it is when you are caught on a slab.
that's nuts
Thanks for posting. Lots of carnage and death in that couple/few square miles in the past decade and beyond. If it's the path, I'm thinking that is, in 2019 after the big winter the slide went across the valley below and swirled up the other side and took out thousands of trees. (Battleship is behind the ridge).Quote:
Originally Posted by durangobrad
Attachment 489575
It took 15 seconds for him to pull the airbag for anyone who is counting.
paraphase, "is your trigger out? We are gonna space 200 ft."Quote:
Originally Posted by Dromond
Thanks for posting that video. There was a CAIC ob but it got pulled because guided outfits and ski areas don't report publicly.
He appeared to be in over his head before the avalanche happened.Quote:
Originally Posted by Dromond
Is CAIC not allowed by law to report on guided outfits/ski areas? Sure seems like this accident deserves a report considering it was in an area heavily traveled by human-powered bc riders prior to the guided slide.Quote:
Originally Posted by Foggy_Goggles
All Forecast centers tread a fine line. They rely on ski areas and guided outfits for observations, often the heli groups will give them a deal on flight time to service or install remote weather stations. Best not to getting in a pissing match.Quote:
Originally Posted by SKIP IN7RO
I have no idea what the law is. The way I understand it, just from having good friends in the game, is that their is gentlemen's agreement that ski areas/heli ops etc. report privately.
I think it is BS for my own personal reasons.
So what you have now is a YouTube video of a customer burial being discussed on a skiing message board with a HeliTrax logo on the guides jacket for which there is no pubic CAIC observation.
I'd think that would be a PR nightmare. You'd think they would want to control the narrative before someone like Unofficial gets a hold of it.
Yes - and Telluride Helitrax specifically (their logo is on the guide's jacket) does often support SAR efforts and CAIC avalanche investigation/hazard mitigation efforts in this area. Of course getting your clients slid is bad for busine$$ so of course they want to keep that shit on the DL.Quote:
Originally Posted by Bunion 2020
IMO, CAIC should still put public observations up on anything that they receive from guided outfits or ski areas though, like they did from this other guided incident that buried two clients less than a week prior. In this case it was posted by a forecaster and doesn't contain any info that could easily identify the guide or outfit which seems like a fair compromise.
https://avalanche.state.co.us/observ...e-822aa4b9f5fc
https://classic.avalanche.state.co.u...=865&accfm=inv
Just found this. Thanks for answers above.
Observation Summary:
17th skier on the slope. Guide traversed as the 16th skier, across the slope and waited for their first guest. The 17th skier triggered and collapsed the slope, triggering the slide propagating above the skier. The skier was never under the snow. The guide traveled along the slide and told the skier to deploy their airbag. They did. The bag was never utilized or needed for flotation. The skier rode nearly 1200 linear feet. No gear was lost. No injuries. No burials. No other involvements.This slide or collapse, either remotely or sympathetically, triggered a second slide. The first triggered slide on a SW aspect at 12,600'. This we classified as R2-D2. 550' wide 900' vert. The second remote slide was east aspect, 800' wide, 900' vert.
Route Description:
Heli-ski operations in the area known locally as The Sound of Music
I guess it was his best day ever. He walked away unscathed.
That was my thought as well just watching his initial turns. Seemed like he had a chance to ski out of it if he hit the gas instead stopping and sitting down. That would have been my plan.Quote:
Originally Posted by PNWbrit
Expert skiers are not the primary clientele of most heli and cat ops. People with $$$ are.
There was a guided close call published today.
I wanted to post this vid earlier. The way the slab moving down looked like a wave coming up was surreal.
That was the slab flowing up and over the stock wall and yes, it was a great demonstration of flowing solids acting as a liquid mass. All in all that was a great video to use to show people what getting caught looks like up close and personal.
I took a short ride like that on a surprisingly low angle slope. It seemed to happen in slow motion. It was a 50cm hard wind slab over large surface hoar. I probably moved 50’ down slope and rode on top like that.
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There have been quite a few guided close calls in the North San Juans this year. More than I can recall in the previous few years combinded.
A year with a touchy snowpack everywhere is compounded down here. Plus the pressure to put clients into terrain that has less tracks will always win out
It really is a scarily fascinating video. I am seeing some comments saying the dude a) should have tried to ski out of it b) should have tried to get his skis off once in it c) should not have even been out there. If put in the same situation, I would hope my flight response would kick in immediately to attempt option a, but I don't know and hope to not find out.
You’d be surprised how quickly you get pulled off your feet before you register what’s happening.
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That was a pretty wild video of the slab starting. I like to think I also would have tried to haul ass out of there and hopefully pulled my trigger immediately.
Regarding the obs being pulled/marked private, I agree that it sucks but understand why. Hopefully the video stays up.
More guide shenanigans.
https://classic.avalanche.state.co.us/caic/acc/acc_report.php?acc_id=865&accfm=inv
Wow.Quote:
Originally Posted by Rudimatt7
That guy did fine. He paid over $1800 for a day of skiing. The guy was not even thinking avalanche. There were 16 tracks on it already and he was following the guides track that was just put down. Yea he probably panicked when he saw it happening and made a mistake of stopping. Once the slab is moving faster than you, you are not skiing off. He got his feet downhill and managed to pull the trigger and the outcome was favorable. They probably handed him the avie pack in the parking lot that morning. Somebody fucked up and it wasn't that guy. Was the person skiing down next to the avalanche the guide? I bet you could of felt the depth hoar under that soft slab without turning over your ski pole.
Just up valley from this slide I was the last of three traversing across the slope (above the one that killed that Opus Hut group below the road a few years ago) after skiing from a climb up to Marge Simpson from Ophir Pass and the whole slope started moving slowly. It was like wet concrete and had unbelievable power and a bit puckering to traverse the couple hundred feet or so, expecting it to really go while it was taking me downward. It was May and we did not quite adhere to the 'off by noon' protocol for spring conditions. We named it after Mudfoot. :wink: And it probably continued 1500 ft or more and got steeper. It would have been very scary slow ride if caught.Quote:
Originally Posted by MagnificentUnicorn
We've skied that Commodore (met ASF on top one time) route many times and that just looks horrible for a typical February. More weird than usual in the San Juans. February was the warmest on record.
What makes a slab flow uphill, even as a wave? Seems like gravity would have something to say about that…Quote:
Originally Posted by Bunion 2020
Wow
The “flow uphill” is the release forces acting progressively uphill as everything below drops away, likely with buckles up and drops down depending on the bed below
The slab is not flowing uphill -- it just appears that way, since the caught skier (and GoPro and frame of reference) is already moving downhill as part of the avalanche when you see the "wave."
As Bunion said, the wave is the avalanche going over the stauchwall, which is the lower boundary of the slab that was triggered.
Thx for that clarification - makes more sense nowQuote:
Originally Posted by andy m
The whole “static” [relative] POV thing is wild to see
That guy clearly does not haul ass anywhere ever. It's physically painful watching him sideslip across the guide's traverse track.Quote:
Originally Posted by snowaddict91
No shit. The pedaling heal turns were bad. Same with the back seat tip pulling traverse. Eek. Glad he was uninjured.Quote:
Originally Posted by Dantheman
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