Scary avy video

[boarderline]

Amazing that this guy didn't get sucked down with this slide.

http://www.skipass.com/articles/sais...lanche6500.php

EDIT: Fixed link. Sorry 'bout that.

[Crinkle]

wow, scary slab.

fyi, its not a vid, unless you are holding out on us.

[ptavv]

why would you post a screen shot of a movie and not the movie itself?

[bio-smear]

Well, it's a photo of a video player. Almost a vid I guess.

[AltaPowderDaze]

he is holding out on you. try this one:

http://www.skipass.com/articles/sais...lanche6500.php

[bio-smear]

That is fuckin cool footage. What category would you guys call that? 2? Does the rest of the world even use the CAT 1-5 system like this dude Dick Penniman I saw last night at REI? I have yet to take my Avy 1 course, so I'm really curious about this shit now. Glad that guy was ok.

[Toby]

Shallow slab, though. With a hard bed surface by the look of it. No major terrain traps, so it was always unlikely he'd be buried. Scary, though.

[stomp]

cool vid. just as the guy is getting sucked down he says 'oh putain' which is french for 'oh fuck'. the whole thing went down in front of the lift.. which is where frere jaques must have scoped his line from. those french patrollers should throw a few more bombs oui?...

check out the last few seconds of it.. you can see the shape of buried rocks hurtling up his left side.. buddy was luuuuuuuckeeeeeee

[AltaPowderDaze]

Shallow slab, though. With a hard bed surface by the look of it. No major terrain traps, so it was always unlikely he'd be buried. Scary, though.

don't need to be buried. those rocks will ruin more than just your day.

looks like a class I.

A bit more information. The video was shot by Jérôme Buc at Piau on the 28th of November, 2005 with his helmet camera. The slope is about 30-35 degrees (I've skied it), the avalanche occured at around 2200 meters on a wind loaded north facing convex rollover. The slab was undoubtedly sitting on a layer of depth hoar. There were 3 non fatal avalanches in the area that week.

Due to the shallow snowpack Jérôme ended up on his butt being raked over rocks, he ruined his new ski pants and ended up in the resort with a naked butt - someone asked if it was Gay Pride week or something!

Francois Sivardiere of the French Avalanche Research Institute (www.anena.org) has posted a reply here:

http://www.skipass.com/articles/sais...hepiau0002.php - link in French

If anyone requires further details post a follow-up.

[ptavv]

Am I the only one who's surprised that his skis stayed on with that much (ostensibly somewhat weighty) snow pushing against them (at the end when he makes a hard cut to try and arrest himself).

[Toby]

don't need to be buried. those rocks will ruin more than just your day.

Good call. I missed the rocks the first time, but saw them when you guys pointed them out.

[Son1cdeth]

wow. that was nuts. thanks for sharing.

[riderspro]

Am I the only one that thinks his reaction times are a little slow? Yes, you caused a fracture, why don't you point them right about now, but no, let's slide in in for a while instead. And then, yes let's look up the hill to see if any more is coming instead of standing up and pointing them. Duh?

[AltaPowderDaze]

Am I the only one that thinks his reaction times are a little slow? Yes, you caused a fracture, why don't you point them right about now, but no, let's slide in in for a while instead. And then, yes let's look up the hill to see if any more is coming instead of standing up and pointing them. Duh?

you're not serious, are you? take a look at that video again and don't think about the seth morrison segments.


he is reacting a little slow but you'd be suprised how hard it is to ski out of that with so few places to go.

[LeeLau]

Am I the only one that thinks his reaction times are a little slow? Yes, you caused a fracture, why don't you point them right about now, but no, let's slide in in for a while instead. And then, yes let's look up the hill to see if any more is coming instead of standing up and pointing them. Duh?

ever been caught in one. It happens real quick and there's usually a fairly long I can';t believe this is happening to me moment.

[riderspro]

he is reacting a little slow but you'd be suprised how hard it is to ski out of that with so few places to go.

Yup, I'm serious, he has time to look at the fracture, then he turns his head, and then he says oh shit, this is all after the fracture starts. Then he slides for a bit and then stops. I did not see any attempt to swim or stand during the slide. Then after he stops moving he rests, and then turns to look uphill.

I would have pointed downhill as soon as I saw the fracture, tried to ride on top, and if I fell like he did, I would have got up as soon as possible without looking back up the hill and tried to get in motion again in case more was coming down.

Totally not trying to start a war here, but you said it yourself:

http://www.tetongravity.com/forums/s...ad.php?t=29619
SLIDE!!! what to do when the shit hits the fan

--------------------------------------------------------------------------------

prevention is key but doesn't always happen.

i was looking back over some notes from an avy class and thought they might be appreciated here. i've added some text to to them but the overall idea is the same.

not many people truely prepare for a slide. you can practice all you want but there are things that occur that you will not be able to reproduce or simulate.

here are a few things to remember when things go south:

As the Victim:

--Yell. let some one know you are in trouble. this is one of the reasons you do not yell stuff like sick and whoa when you ski the backcountry. your partner can't always safely spot you the whole way down so if he hears something other than your agreed upon "i'm in a safe zone, come on down" term, he knows something is wrong.

--Get OFF the slab. gain speed quickly and take a 45* route off the slab in the direction you are headed or to the island of safety you have already identified. you have about 3 seconds to do this before you will be at the mercy of the moving mountain.

--Dig In. if you are in the center of a large slab and unable to 45 out, you can try to arrest on the bedsurface or grab a tree/rock. obviously this works better if you are at the crown (top of the slide) and if you are moving slowly. a whippet comes in handy for this but you can slide your hands down any ski pole to use the ends as arrest devices. in small soft slabs under a foot in depth you may be able to use your edges to hold onto the bedsurface. same idea as steep skiing here. don't lean your upper body into the slope or you will be taking a ride. instead, lean the knees into the hill and stand tall. again, this works better if you are at the top with less moving snow above you.

-- if you are caught, Swim and ditch your gear. it sounds funny but you aren't freestyling to get ahead of the slab. the idea is to drop your poles (remember this is easy since you aren't wearing pole straps in avy terrain) and get out of your skis if possible. in a violent slide they will drag you down like an anchor. i've heard people talk about rolling to get out of your skis. i have no experience with that but it sounds plausible. if your pack is less dense than you are, it will help you float and you may need your gear to extract yourself/others or treat injuries. keep it on. when it comes to swimming try to keep yourself stomach up and use backstrokes. if there is a prefered direction to head away from obstacles or to get out of the slide, then emphasise that in your strokes. you often don't have much of a choice where you go in a slide but you may just be able to miss a tree/cliff band by doing so. remember to stay on top of the snow any way you can.

--When the snow slows, Get to the surface. jump, stick an arm up or whatever you do to be visible and hopefully unburried.
Clear an airway get a hand in front of your face so you will have an air pocket. survivors buried more than a few minutes almost always have an air pocket that prevents a death mask from forming over their face causing CO2 poisoning.
Expand your lungs. the weight of the snow is enormous. if you have full lungs and are under 3' of snow you will likely only have half capacity. hold the air in your lungs for a few seconds to allow the snow to set and not fill back in the room you have allowed for lung expansion. Don't Panic now. you've done everything you can do for the moment. all that is left is to lower your heartrate, breath calmly and wait for rescue. if you were practicing safe protocol you should have the rest of your party for extrication.

[Cliff Huckable]

Yowsa! Good catch.

[Arno]

Am I the only one that thinks his reaction times are a little slow? Yes, you caused a fracture, why don't you point them right about now, but no, let's slide in in for a while instead. And then, yes let's look up the hill to see if any more is coming instead of standing up and pointing them. Duh?

dude, he was right in the middle of the slab when it went. there is no way that straightlining would have got him out of that

reminds me a bit of the one avy i have got caught in. saw the fracture line coming towards me (i was skinning up the slope at the time) but my brain didn't register what it was until I was being carried down. did try to kick my skis off but they were in uphill mode which made it quite difficult. as it was, it was a very shallow slide, but probably carried me a bit further than the one in the vid.

very scary, but the only damage done was one member of my group losing a pole. i actually learnt a lot from it but wouldn't want to go through anything like it again

[greg]

those french patrollers should throw a few more bombs oui?...

no they should not. they take care of everything that could effect the slopes but nothing next to it. as soon as you leave the slopes it's up to you and your own responsibility.

Yup, I'm serious, he has time to look at the fracture, then he turns his head, and then he says oh shit, this is all after the fracture starts. Then he slides for a bit and then stops. I did not see any attempt to swim or stand during the slide. Then after he stops moving he rests, and then turns to look uphill.

I would have pointed downhill as soon as I saw the fracture, tried to ride on top, and if I fell like he did, I would have got up as soon as possible without looking back up the hill and tried to get in motion again in case more was coming down.

Totally not trying to start a war here, but you said it yourself:

the guy is way to slow and the avy is way to quick. you might be able to gain speed but the avy does the same thing, so you're just basically just floating with the mowing snow. you're already lucky if you're able to do a turn or change a bit the direction and if that's the case than it's only due to the high velocity you had before the slide was set of. it's inertia that carries you out of an avy. trying to gain speed is not the solution because the avy probably has the same idea.

actually if he would have tried to point it, he would have been carried deeper into the avalanche. he did exactly the right thing.

turning your head to see what's going on isn't to stupid either. just because you stoped doesn't mean the whole slide stopped to. you might just be on the side of the slide or maybe landed on a little ridge. heading blindly into any direction might not be the smartest thing.

[AltaPowderDaze]

riderspro,

i can tell from what you say that you've never been in one and that is good. i'm in agreeance w/ greg and lee. the guy did it right. if you are nearly stopped when it breaks and you have a chance to arrest, then that is your way out.

[Xover]

cool vid
thanks for link P

I truly hope no one here on this board has to experience that pant shitting moment

[bbirtle]

WW, scary video. HUGE avalanche... must see, thanks for the link.

I think his reaction time was pretty OK considering you do not expect that big of an avalanche to occur and it probably took a moment of shock before the realisation set in, then after a couple seconds he starts fighting to stay above it.

Seems he did not have time to change his pace (re: "should have straightlined it") as it struck all around him. The minute the ground starts moving, you generally have no control over your speed or direction - at least that's how it was when I got swept away by something a lot smaller than this one.