utah avy forecaster almost wacked

[foothillfreak]

Quoting the utah avalanch report this morning:

"There was a very close call in the backcountry yesterday. Two avalanche workers were examining different crowns in the south facing Monte Cristo slide path in upper Little Cottonwood, when a party above inadvertently released a cornice, hitting the upper worker and triggering a slab avalanche that ran 1500‘. The upper worker was caught and carried, eventually self arresting to avoid a fatal ride, and the slide missed the lower person. In spite of almost killing two people and wasting $1000 worth of gear, the cornice droppers didn’t even offer an apology. Bottom line: Just because you have two strong legs, good lungs and can make turns doesn’t mean you belong in the backcountry. You need good avalanche and backcountry travel skills, and before you drop cornices, jump off cliffs, ski cut slopes or drop steep lines, you must be CERTAIN that no one is below you."

Anybodie know the rest of the story? not looking to create lecturing or fingerpointing, just learning..

[iceman]

Lecturing and fingerpointing actually sound pretty appropriate.

[lemon boy]

yeah but I bet we could do some fine monday morning quaterbacking on both sides.

[Tippster]

Or Wednesday Afternoon Quarterbacking.... as long as it's not Rothlisberger.

Who do we know that skis in the LCC Backcountry and often drops cornices?

[LeeLau]

lemon - itd be much more fun armchair q-backing if the cornice was heli-triggered by WPG bombing who then landed rabid splitboarders who crossed tracks all the way down the slope

[homerjay]

Those UAC guys need to carry portable "Men Working" signs, then this could have been avoided.

[Trackhead]

Or Wednesday Afternoon Quarterbacking.... as long as it's not Rothlisberger.

Who do we know that skis in the LCC Backcountry and often drops cornices?

Wasn't me. Wasn't Gramps. Wasn't APD. So you can start somewhere else.

[Professor]

yeah but I bet we could do some fine monday morning quaterbacking on both sides.

Maybe it was the B-town ski patrol again, LB

[lemon boy]

Maybe it was the B-town ski patrol again, LB

don't even get me started.





tippster, dropping cornices is big bidness there so no telling.

The thing that confuses me about the quoted paragraph is:

was it a drop or inadvertent?

[cj001f]

Those UAC guys need to carry portable "Men Working" signs, then this could have been avoided.

I was thinking shoot off a flare every 15 minutes. Or maybe just get dayglow oakley clothes

given that the party above "inadvertently" dropped it I'm thinking this wasn't intentional...

[bcrider]

Here is a picture of the crown they might have been inspecting. Taken on Saturday 2/4/2006.

[Tippster]

Wasn't me. Wasn't Gramps. Wasn't APD. So you can start somewhere else.

Wasn't accusing - just implying that maybe you guys might know those involved.

[Xover]

damn!!!
seriously hope both forecaster's are ok and that the cornice dropper(s) can be found and had a discussion with.

not cool!!!

[rideit]

I simply can't believe snowboarders haven't been accused yet.

[iceman]

I simply can't believe snowboarders haven't been accused yet.

Everyone just assumed it was snowboarders, duh.

[truth]

I simply can't believe snowboarders haven't been accused yet.

It was implied, duh.

[Buster Highmen]

I simply can't believe snowboarders haven't been accused yet.

Nope, but rideit sure is an idiot.

[cj001f]

Everyone just assumed it was snowboarders, duh.

nah, I thought they were too busy taking a dump in the middle of the skin track they were postholing while throwing away the empty beer cans.

[bcrider]

I simply can't believe snowboarders haven't been accused yet.

high road my man, high road.

[rideit]

Nope, but rideit sure is an idiot.

Lighten up, Francis...

[Trackhead]

This discussion is not worth continuing until the full story has been told by witnesses.

To many armchairs at this point.

[Woodsy]

actually armchair works around the corner from my office and I still haven't seen him.

[rolowe]

this might be long. but oh well. the story is that there were mistakes made by both parties. ultimately what happened is that we were traveling on the ridge between supierior and monte cristo at what seemed to be a safe distance from the edge and unfortunately it wasnt. the cornice broke about six to eight feet from the edge. the slide itself was slow moving and didnt carry much volume. we did not realize the forcaster was there. yes we knew he was planning on going to monte cristo but he was probably a good ten minutes or more ahead of us by the time we got to the top of supierior and hadnt informed us of the fact that he would be on the face working. this doesnt take away from the scare of starting a slide on top of someone wether they are standing on a slope or skiing. its scary. after finding that he was ok we offered any help we could, gave him some food and appologized, as well as discussing what happend and what could have been differently.
1 we were all traveling to close to the edge and any one of us could have remotely triggered a cornice.
2 we should have more thouroghly checked the slope to make sure it was clear
3 when we began to climb the sketchier terrain, maybe we should have changed our plan
4 the forcaster should have let us know his plan espcially when knowing we would be traveling above him.
ultimately it was an in your face learning experience an im glad that no one was hurt.

[gramps]

This discussion is not worth continuing until the full story has been told by witnesses.

To many armchairs at this point.

There was a discussion? I didn't really see one at all in the first page of banter.

we did not realize the forcaster was there. yes we knew he was planning on going to monte cristo but he was probably a good ten minutes or more ahead of us by the time we got to the top of supierior and hadnt informed us of the fact that he would be on the face working.

4 the forcaster should have let us know his plan espcially when knowing we would be traveling above him.

When on top of Superior, and for a lot of the traverse over to Cristo, that headwall is staring you right in the face. How could you have possibly missed two people moving around on it???

[Red Baron]

This afternoon, I talked to one of the forecasters involved, and he said "everything is good now" - they talked to the other party (as stated above) and were able to go back today and find all their gear. It didn't seem like any grudges were being held - which is nice to hear, considering what could have happened.