How many avy related incidents??? Poll

[schindlerpiste]

I wonder how many of the 40+% who have gone w/out incident would continue frequent B/C jaunts if confronted with a situation similar to Steve's?

[phatfreeheeler]

I expected far more % of votes for the last option.

I wager there is some % of error due to overstatement

The one slide I triggered in the last 2 seasons ran fast and pretty far but was shallow, not going into a terrain trap, and I planned a safe zone for my first few turns.

Worst one for me was way small, early season like this, several years ago, in bounds, and my ski got wedged into the rocks underneath. The snow doesn't stop pushing just because one ski is acting like a deadman and ESS-Var bindings don't release that direction

[Arno]

None in the last couple of years. Got myself into a spooky situation last season but got everyone out and there was no slide

I was in quite a big avalanche 3 years ago. A group of us were skinning up a large face to a ridge. We were a few metres from the top and a big crack went across the face and carried 4 of us down. We were lucky. The slide covered a very large area but involved a pretty thin layer of snow. There was a big run-out and no terrain traps so we were all able to dig ourselves out to the extent that we were buried at all. Lessons learnt?

1. Group discipline - we started the climb well spaced but had become bunched up by the time the slide happened

2. Never stop re-evaluating - we dug a pit at the base of the slope and identified a potential sliding surface. however, there was enough new snow on top of it that we thought the new layer would be strong enough to bear our weight without fracturing. As we got further and further up the face, the new layer got thinner until it was thin enough to fracture

3. Looking back, I think there was more I could have done to get out of the slide once it started. The fracture was only slightly above me and the slab was pretty thin. I wonder whether I could have made more of an effort to anchor myself to the snow underneath the slab or to quickly side step off it.

Still, no harm done and a very good learning experience. Did miss out on what might have been a pretty sweet ski after putting all the effort to climb the ridge in!

[leroy jenkins]

I wager there is some % of error due to overstatement

I'm guessing there is also some error just because people who have been in a slide are far more likely to click on a thread about slides, but still.

[Trackhead]

I'm guessing there is also some error just because people who have been in a slide are far more likely to click on a thread about slides, but still.

I never took a class in statistics, so my tactics are crude at best. I was just trying to flush how many people who actively tour were caught off guard by a potentially dangerous situation.

[pnut]

None in the past two years,

but 3 years ago tore my ACL in a small sluff in a tight chute I made the mistake of thinking I would beat down.

[GoldMember]

I only checked the third option but the second one applies too. Same guy, one year after the next. First year, I wasn't there but he went about 700-800 feet in a sluff, kept his head up but ruptured his Achilles and twisted his toepiece up on edge somehow. The next year (last season), same guy triggered a small slab and rode it about 150' onto an open apron, no injury although we had to look for his ski for about 20 minutes. I've had some small sluff rides but stayed on my skis. The other freaky one for me was in the Selkirks where Craig Kelly got caught. We had been skiing in basically the same area the day before. We were on nothing but low-angle for 3 days. I was home when the news came in about their group but there wasn't alot of information and a number of my friends were still up there. My wife was absoutely freaking out, telling me I was never going skiing up there again....I have to admit, it really got me thinking about the chances we take out there.

[Greydon Clark]

I’m very conservative. Thankfully “I have had no incidents in the last two years.”

[Bullet]

I've had no incidents as described.

I have had a few of those "hmmm, that probably wasn't a smart thing to do" momements though.

[greg]

no hazardous situation within the last two years. at least not that I know of. but i guess i was just being lucky.

[shmoesmith]

I've been in 1 incident in the last 2 years, that could have potentially been dangerous. I was in a couloir, climbing up, when stuff from the sides heated up and came down on us...nothing we caused, but could have still washed us down, and beaten us into bloody pulps on the rocks.

[Skid Lux]

I hugged 2 trees last year to avoid beeing washed.

[skiing-in-jackson]

I've started small schuffs inbounds, one even knocked over my son- who was six at the time- but I do not count this as an incident.

[TeleAl]

I did the poll.

I reported none. Knock on wood.

Generally, I ski in controlled areas, but rarely on piste.

[LeeLau]

I've had no incidents as described.

I have had a few of those "hmmm, that probably wasn't a smart thing to do" momements though.

Ditto - same here

[StormRider]

I refuse to answer this poll on the grounds that I may jinx myself.

[rideit]

Wow! That's pretty rough. Have you been a Teton loc the whole time? That's a spooky snowpack sometimes.

I have been a local at Winter Park, Telluride, and here in the Tetons for ten.
Between Berthoud, Red Pass, Ophir Pass, yellow moutain, Glory, Avalanche bowl, Taylor, Beards, La Grave, St. Anton, and others, it has all too sadly added up. Lat year was pretty harsh, With Laurel, Chai, and Chris. I did not have much BC stoke last year needless to say. I personally have gotten pretty paranoid in the last ten years, I generally am not into the risk thing, but situations change on the fly. Be aware, an zip those nuts in tight. They just get cold when they are being displayed outside your bibs...
Hope this year is better. The sheer numbers of new BC enthusiasts and gear to serve them is going to be a driving statistical force, I am afraid. Not to mention the new generation of light, powerful sleds...and movies as well.

[fez]

i kind of have to check all the options. i have done all of the above in the past, but i also havent really toured much in the last couple years.