Avy Fatality on Vail Pass 4/18/2013

[funkendrenchman]

I just received another from Lauren: "...When drugs are involved in any accident it is always reported and always relevant. I stand by my reporting."

I suggested that "always relevant" was a normative statement, perhaps one best left to trained investigators.

RIP

I have NEVER heard the strain of marijuana mentioned in any accident, ever. Have you ever heard a news report say, " ...and the driver was under the influence of Budweiser"?

[BrianH]

For those experienced with CO's snowpack, short of an isothermic snowpack, do you ever feel safe on a slope with a North aspect there?

This is second hand (and I wouldn't say I was "experienced" with the CO snowpack) but ... on a NE aspect several weeks ago, the guy I was with mentioned that he felt safe on this particular slide path because it had slide down to the ground earlier that season (January) and that had eliminated much of the worry about persistent deep instabilities that were causing concern at the time we were skiing. It's only because he had been closely watching the snowpack all season that this made sense to me, if that makes sense.

[funkendrenchman]

This is second hand (and I wouldn't say I was "experienced" with the CO snowpack) but ... on a NE aspect several weeks ago, the guy I was with mentioned that he felt safe on this particular slide path because it had slide down to the ground earlier that season (January) and that had eliminated much of the worry about persistent deep instabilities that were causing concern at the time we were skiing. It's only because he had been closely watching the snowpack all season that this made sense to me, if that makes sense.

A shallow snowpack can be just as bad as one with deep instabilities. It just depends what the weather did after the snowpack started building up again. There can still be lots of sugar at the snow/ground interface.

[Basehound]

Very sad situation. Rode into the bowl this morning .... hiked down and took some photos from about 250 yard away.... then rode into the bottom to see for myself . It is the largest scariest Avi path I have seen in central Colorado ever.
I would guess that the crown is in the 15-22 ft range at the high point. I would guess that the debris field is at lead 12-15 feet high. The rock that we normally post up at the bottom is completely burried, and the entire pine meadow that you skied out is gone. It almost made it to the pickup rd 12. Pretty catastrophic.
The day of the incident there were two other crew of 5 riders, 3 riders, and Marks crew of 3. All sled-crews had made 3-5 passes down the bowl... with approx 20-40 tracks going thru the terrain that avi-ed. It was their last run of the day.
Very sad couple of days. Many prayers to his wife and daughter.

Live Life like you Stole it!!!.......... But be careful out there


Jay

[leftfield]

Wow, unbelievable.

And that's a hell of a first post. Thanks for the photos.

[lynchdogger]

Wow, unbelievable.

And that's a hell of a first post. Thanks for the photos.

X2 on these sentiments.
RIP. Many vibes to family and friends of deceased.


Sent from my SCH-I535 using TGR Forums

[bean]

crossing tracks=criminal^^^^^^^^^^^

rog

Shut the fuck up rog.

[Basehound]

Seriously...this is how you respond to a fatality report thread. out of respect for those involved.... Grow up !!

[Lindahl]

Had a buddy up there who was trading turns with his friends doing CPR. 30 mins before it slid, he was slashing turns out the bottom. Fucking scary to think about.

RIP to the victim, sad to hear. This is definitely not our regular April snowpack.

I would say pretty typical. N/NE still has deep instabilities. They're just buried deep enough to be really hard to trigger. 40 inches of fresh snow adds a lot of weight, which effectively re-activates them. Lots of big natural slides to the ground this last week.

[Basehound]

This was a photo my friend shot driving up...Loveland Pass. The dirt layer we got last week that 1.5-2 feet of snow is laying on could be playing a role in these large late season avalanches as well. This aspect is very similar to the Avi Bowl .


Jay

[MakersTeleMark]

http://blogs.westword.com/latestword...ad_head_og.php

Read the comments.

[mfkracing]

It so scary how far it ran. You could be almost to the pickup and get blindsided by a crew 5 minutes behind you. I skied that 3 weeks ago. The cornice has tripled in size.

[Micol]

rest in peace++++

[melotime]

wow, crazy shots, thx for posting!!

[wkd-rdr]

condolences to friends and family

wow, thanks for the shots
nature is in control, always

[Basehound]

Transworld Article on Mark : http://business.transworld.net/12766...this-thursday/

[simple]

Final report is up on CAIC website

[MakersTeleMark]

Transworld Article on Mark : http://business.transworld.net/12766...this-thursday/

"Regrettably, much of the media coverage of the slide focused on the fact that the group had been smoking marijuana, with some publications going so far as to give the name of the strain and including this info in their ledes.

Not only did this sensationalistic tact fail to focus on the real backcountry danger that exists right now, it wasn’t even factually correct.

Brown, 36, who lives in Lakewood, confirms that they had marijuana on them, but that they didn’t smoke before the run. “We were just being honest with the sheriff when asked if we had any, and the media just picked that up and ran with it,” he says. “We weren’t back there partying or anything. Mark was about safety, safety, safety, safety. He always preached safety first. He was the guy that rode with his avalung in his mouth and always got on you for making mistakes.”"

[MakersTeleMark]

Final report is up on CAIC website

https://avalanche.state.co.us/acc/ac...04&view=public