Slide at alpine today?

[kidwoo]

Caught the tail end of a gathering that a patroller got together, I assume for a probe line. I asked a guy standing there what was up and he said a face over on the buttress slid with a possible burial. You could see the slide from scott. This was right after estelle etc. Was closed off after being open all morning.

Anybody got any info?

[Lonnie]

Fugg. Not again.....

[eric77]

hope noone was hurt. they were bombing like crazy today, but i guess you cant prevent them all.

[The Dad]

Can't tell from the cam. No word from the brass, either, but that would probably be later in the day.

[VC]

no info but wouldn't surprise me. There were more slabs today then I've seen in a long time.

[wolfy]

it was the East end of "Bernies", looked to be about an 12-18" headwall, ran to just above the parking lot. witnesses claimed to have seen 2 skiers "near" the slide when it happened. probing went on quite awhile... Agree w/VC, lots of small sloughs after strong winds yesterday w/deposition. a few clones on the chair bragging about "we just kick 'em loose and ride 'em out". i really wanted to comment about Darwinism in action, but bit my tongue.

[bennerlur]

I heard rumor that something pretty big had slid over by Bernies, this was still pretty early in the morning. That was confirmed when the hike over to beaver/estelle/idiots/bernies was closed. Someone told me it was just some pranksters up an idiots trying to keep it virgin up there, obviously not the case, but I hiked up to Idiots anyway. Luckily nothing bad came of it, good runs were had all day. Around 1;30-2ish I heard that no one was buried in the slide at Alpine, but nothing I would risk a limb, or buried friend on.

[kidwoo]

hey kidwoo... didn't mean to ditch you, McPheet, and Freshies. i was catching up with my other buddy and basically shadowed what you guys were skiing... 3-4 chairs behind.

No sweat. Figured you two needed some man time

what time was your conversation with someone about the slide? i saw you walk into the lot just as i pulled out to leave (11:15?), and i was staring right up there looking at fracture lines up there on the buttress.

We went to get our packs for an adventure (I guess when you saw me) and so this would have been right after that at the bottom of summit.

[StormTrooper]

funny this popped up! True story here:

High Beaver opened up at around 10ish i belive. After skiing dead tree in promised lands we rushed to summit with the news that High Beav was opening which meant one thing, Cathedral in estelle was mine for the grab. After skiing estelle, which of the record was absolutely amazing we caught the traverse from lake estelle to the butress. Started skiing a little left of where I saw a crown from the avy that the guy set off until the slope I was skiing ripped(keep in mind, I didn't know yet that there was someone buried). All of a sudden I look down and the ground is moving with me, all I could think was stay on the skis, go fast and hook a sharp left asap! I managed to do so and looked on as the entire slope ripped. Obviously now it was safe to ski. As I came closer to the parking lot I spotted several ski patrollers and soon heard them yelling at me to ski left. Of course I did, and as a passed them from below I saw one with a probe and a dog going on a search. Later I found out the guy ended up being buried up to his neck. Good thing the ski patrollers yelled as loud as they did for I could have made a turn into this guys head.

It's so fuckin insane, monday was an awesome day with great stability and wed everything slides. And to only think that the breaks were a little over a foot from yesterdays snowfall. As soon as that happened patrol obviously closed high beav for a while to control it more before opening it up again along with high T.

Hope the guy is ok and in one piece!!!

[fluffballs]

Well today was a heck of a 'day off' I came in early for A/C, got Scott Chute to slide out of Big Cirque all the way to tower 3, creating new crowns all the way down. Ski cut some good slabs down low. Thought I was going to change jackets and freeride, but Summit was thin so I went for coverage. On my second lap the report came in. Two Patrollers were still doing A/C on that slope and initiated the slide. The report was not very reliable, there were no tracks in, no tracks out, no skin tracks up, nothing. And Patrol was standing on top of it the whole time, but unable to see the entire slope. Another witness said they saw a tree snap off and go with the slide, but no skiers.

However, anytime someone claims they witnessed a burial we have to search. I ended up Closing High Beaver/Estelle and Low Beaver. I got some confused looks, but most people understood with my brief explanation. The shining moment came from having to close both sign lines, requiring me to drop idiot's. Got a nice fresh line.

I ended up helping with the search, digging where the dogs had an alert and scribing. Finally the search was called off after a pretty good combing. The reporting party became less and less sure as time went on. Got lunch on the mtn for helping out, then went to clock out and meet my friend I was supposed to be skiing with all day. She and I ended up getting some great untracked runs from two o'clock on.

There were a few tense moments, though it was pretty clear from the start that no one had been on the slope. As the initial search had started we heard a radio call something like, "Look out! here comes a slide!" Some of the hang fire had released. There were definitely a lot of slabs today, and a lot of tension in the snow. A lot of the big slides ended up creating foot crowns way down low on 4-6 degree slopes. Interesting day, lots of good skiing too.

[fluffballs]

funny this popped up! True story here:

High Beaver opened up at around 10ish i belive. After skiing dead tree in promised lands we rushed to summit with the news that High Beav was opening which meant one thing, Cathedral in estelle was mine for the grab. After skiing estelle, which of the record was absolutely amazing we caught the traverse from lake estelle to the butress. Started skiing a little left of where I saw a crown from the avy that the guy set off until the slope I was skiing ripped(keep in mind, I didn't know yet that there was someone buried). All of a sudden I look down and the ground is moving with me, all I could think was stay on the skis, go fast and hook a sharp left asap! I managed to do so and looked on as the entire slope ripped. Obviously now it was safe to ski. As I came closer to the parking lot I spotted several ski patrollers and soon heard them yelling at me to ski left. Of course I did, and as a passed them from below I saw one with a probe and a dog going on a search. Later I found out the guy ended up being buried up to his neck. Good thing the ski patrollers yelled as loud as they did for I could have made a turn into this guys head.

It's so fuckin insane, monday was an awesome day with great stability and wed everything slides. And to only think that the breaks were a little over a foot from yesterdays snowfall. As soon as that happened patrol obviously closed high beav for a while to control it more before opening it up again along with high T.

Hope the guy is ok and in one piece!!!

No one was buried today, I'm not sure where you heard that. Beaver/Estelle were closed to keep people out of the search area and from releasing anything else onto the search party, not for additional control. Sounds like you were the one who released the little slide above patrol, no worries, but interesting to hear it was skier triggered and not natural. By the way, how large was your slide?

[StormTrooper]

the slab was probably about 50-75 yards wide. yeah I was the one who triggered it unfortunately, no harm was done but still scary.

I heard that he was buried by word of mouth which explains it i guess. How come then I started hearing blasts again after beaver closed? was that coming from High T?

[stuckathuntermtn]

This is rather scary. There have been way to many inbounds slides. I'm a little nervous. Can anyone speculate. Is it large amounts of snow + wind loading. Is it warmer temps making heavier snow? Is is cutbacks in explosives budget?

[fluffballs]

the slab was probably about 50-75 yards wide. yeah I was the one who triggered it unfortunately, no harm was done but still scary.

I heard that he was buried by word of mouth which explains it i guess. How come then I started hearing blasts again after beaver closed? was that coming from High T?

Don't know about the continued control work, maybe squaw, maybe High T. I was listening to my radio so I didn't notice.

Glad you're ok, nice ski cut

As far as inbounds avys, I don't know about an increase, but perhaps an increase in information. Today's was not post-control, it was a controlled slide in a closed area. Someone just thought they saw something.

Stormtrooper, this is just speculation, but I wonder if your pocket slide because the patorllers hadn't gotten to it yet because they were responding to the reported burial. Interesting none the less.

[kidwoo]

i never asked... but were you, McPheet, or Freshies beeping today? since this last storm cycle, i've been wearing mine.... just curious.

I've had my beeper on all week. I never want to ruin an impending bike season by choking on snow. Don't know about the other two before we headed out but everyone was equipped during for sure.

btw, care to elaborate on your "adventure"?

Nothing you (and most alpine locals) don't already know I'm sure.

But I'm done putting names on the internet Based on some of the retards we saw out there, some people are better left in the dark.

[Ottime]

It's so fuckin insane, monday was an awesome day with great stability and wed everything slides. And to only think that the breaks were a little over a foot from yesterdays snowfall.

Heavy snow falling on a fresh deep low density layer - sure makes sense that everything was sliding today. That is pretty much the definition of instability.

[freshies]

i never asked... but were you, McPheet, or Freshies beeping today? since this last storm cycle, i've been wearing mine.... just curious.

btw, care to elaborate on your "adventure"?

also, that man time is very special to me.... j/k.... he actually had expressed interest in investing in my startup a long time ago, and wanted to hear how business is going.

i was beeping all day, and we all grabbed shovels and probes before we headed out to the goods. of course, after our 2nd lap some young dumb-ass boarder followed us 2 the road with no BC gear at all, and he was solo...smart

[mmcpheet]

i never asked... but were you, McPheet, or Freshies beeping today? since this last storm cycle, i've been wearing mine.... just curious.

I wore my the 3 days I was out, but then I'm not Recco equipped.

But I'm done putting names on the internet

Moving on to radio are you? You rockstar!

[kidwoo]

We're totally taking the airwaves.


Free beer if you can find an mp3 of that broadcast.