MT snowmobiler caught, buried and uninjured

[FreakofSnow]

Damn!

http://www.mtavalanche.com/accidents/

ONE SNOWMOBILER CAUGHT, BURIED, UNINJURED

February 15, 2004



On Sunday, February 15th a snowmobiler triggered an avalanche while climbing a slope in the Gravelly Range of southwest Montana. He was completely buried and went unconscious. His partners located him with a beacon, dug him up and gave him mouth-to-mouth resuscitation. He gained consciousness and was uninjured.


Specific details are sketchy. I talked to the victim who could only remember bits and pieces of the event. He went up the slope (aspect and angle unknown), got close to the ridge and spun out on the hardpack. This triggered the slide. Depth is unknown and width is estimated to be a few hundred feet. He tried holding onto the sled, but this proved impossible. He was drug under and became encased in the debris, unable to move. He was wearing a Barryvox, and his partners had transceivers of an unknown brand. They performed a beacon search and pin pointed him. From their conversations, it’s estimated he was buried for 6 minutes. The debris funneled him into a chute. The rescuers had no last seen point since his attempt at climbing the slope was out of view from the bottom. His sled flipped upright and rode out below the debris sans windscreen. He rode it back to the trailhead, both he and the sled undamaged.


A side note:

When he gained consciousness his buddy, Joe, had his lips pressed to him. He says this image still haunts him.


Snowpack speculation:

Although this mountain range is out of our forecast area, reports from other people claim it has a similar snowpack as the nearby Lionhead area outside West Yellowstone. A layer of surface hoar is buried about 2 feet deep and is our biggest concern. Low stability test scores, clean quality 1 shears, and collapsing and cracking on this layer are still widespread. The avalanche danger in the Lionhead area on February 15 was Considerable on all slopes steeper than 35 degrees. This is a likely scenario, but without first hand data, I can only speculate and extrapolate from known conditions about 15-20 miles away.



Compiled by:

Doug Chabot

Gallatin National Forest Avalanche Center

[iceman]

Originally posted by FreakofSnow
He was drug under

Remember, don't drug and drive.

When he gained consciousness his buddy, Joe, had his lips pressed to him. He says this image still haunts him.

As well it should.

Glad he's okay.

[Canuk]

Sounds like this guy got very lucky.....glad to hear that he and his buddies were well prepared.

[FreakofSnow]

Found this crazy footage on avalanche.org of some necks down in Idaho:

http://www.avalanche.org/pictures/av....lg.18.2.9.mov

[G]

He tried holding onto the sled, but this proved impossible.

Hello.....?

[Z]

That footage is sick....Imagine the Adrenaline rush as he outran that thing