Alpine Meadows patrolle buried, critically injured during control work

[summit]

http://www.kcra.com/news/local-news/...y/-/index.html

Charge blew and the safe zone was not safe. Found in one minute, unburied in 8, CPR, in ICU. Hoping for the best.

[ill-advised strategy]

oh man. +++++++++++++++++

[davieboot]

Bad news all around. Sorry to hear this.

[Clownshoe]

Fuck. Keep fighting 'troller

[TBS]

Damn! Tis has not been a good year for the Alpine Meadows family - an instructor there died last month in the backcountry.

Hoping for the best for Teh 'Troller. +++++vibes+++++

[powdork]

she was actually in the resort before it opened.

and the slide zone should prolly just move to the tahoe conditions thread. in the past three days we have had a slide at squaw that flew off the fingers big enough to knock people off the chair. a guy took a ride in scott chute at alpine meadows (he's ok) closing the chair. on the other side of the hill the patroller (keep fighting dude!) was trying to open sherwood bowl when that went huge. the same day we had the sad events at donner pass ski ranch. it's been a busy week and not in a good way

[powdork]

sadly, he passed

[skinnyskier]

+++++++ vibes to those he left behind. Thanks for 28 years keeping us safe on the mountain.

[tillPOWdidwepart]

So sad to hear, and especially tough on the family being Christmas. Thoughts and prayers to all those affected!

[MTT]

sadly, he passed

Yes I just came across the bad news on a National news site, This hits way too close to home for many on this forum.

TRUCKEE, Calif. – A member of a Sierra Nevada ski resort's patrol team who was injured after being caught in an avalanche has died.

Alpine Meadows said in a statement on Tuesday that 53-year-old Bill Foster died at Renown Regional Medical Center in Reno, Nev., where he was taken after the avalanche a day earlier on the resort near Lake Tahoe.

Foster was buried in a slide that had been intentionally set with an explosive device by a senior member of the ski patrol team. The team was doing avalanche control in an area on the back side of resort. The area was closed to the public.

Resort officials say the avalanche broke much higher and wider on the slope than in past snow safety missions.

[powdork]

hoping this is poor reporting here

Foster was skiing in the Sherwood Bowl about 10:45 a.m. Monday when the ski patrollers set off the avalanche. They were performing routine snow safety at the time, in an area closed to the public, the resort said

i'm picturing him as part of the team working the same route, not finishing a route and skiing down.

and i want to punch the first commenter on the kcra site in the nuts

[LightRanger]

I doubt that's correct. Other reports were saying he was part of the AC team, and it sounded like the Squaw incident a couple years back where they tossed a charge and it broke above him--higher than in the past. Pretty darn sure he wasn't skiing below.

I try to ignore online comments like those. The Chronicle comments are the worst. I responded though. Couldn't help it.

[hutash]

Sad news, vibes to family and friends, and to all "trollers out there.

[Bromontana]

Yeah there was a clear description that he was in the AC group, it ran bigger than the well experienced group expected and either caught him up high or below.

Best wishes for his family, friends & coworkers. RIP

[kidwoo]

Any of you guys work patrol at alpine-ish mountains where bombing/cutting is a given for any real storm?

This 'safe zone' thing is really bugging me. It's exactly what killed a patroller at squaw two years ago, one drainage over from alpine meadows. I understand the typical one to three feet overnight kind of deal with a really well understood and good snowpack. But extraordinary circumstances call for not exactly ordinary responses. At a certain point, don't you have to deem the only safe zones as those on ridges? I've watched these guys at alpine bomb this exact zone and I have a pretty good feel for where they hit and in what order. We've got without a doubt one of the most fucked up scenarios in the snow I can remember right now. It just seems to me that when situations build like they have here, there's really no reason to have people on slope anywhere underneath the expected movement.

Alpine meadows has one of the most paranoid (and conversely safe) set of patrol routes and policies of anywhere in tahoe.......by a long shot. But given the likelihood of sympathetics and unholy tracking around knolls with this last cycle, it just seems nuts to me to have people below anything but a ridge.

[skinnyskier]

Not to question patrol's skill and judgement, but it does make me wonder if this would be a time to drop charges from a heli. In the future, maybe more remote avalanche control methods might get used in Tahoe for safety-Daisy Bell, heli routes, avalauncher, Gazex etc.?

[icelanticskier]

^^^^^^^or get on out there with full on hockey gear and abs packs already deployed

or let the shit sit for about 72 hours or so. what's the hurry?

rog

[Bromontana]

I'd like to see a thorough explanation before questioning the veracity with which a 28y patroller approached a situation. Doesn't feel right to question imo. Plenty of time for public 'discovery'

This seems like a situation where it's actually appropriate to throw the hands up and say "fuck. what could we have done"

[Bunion 2020]

I'd like to see a thorough explanation before questioning the veracity with which a 28y patroller approached a situation. Doesn't feel right to question imo. Plenty of time for public 'discovery'

This seems like a situation where it's actually appropriate to throw the hands up and say "fuck. what could we have done"

Take the time for this to sink in.

Q: When did this occur?
A: Christmas Holidays

The operational pressures that are on ski patrols to get terrain open for what can be the make or break portion of their season is immense.

It doesn't always come from above (management) often it comes from within (ourselves).

Yes, plenty of time for public discovery.

Meanwhile, RIP Patroller Foster and thank you for your hard work.

[My Pet Powder Goat]

well said, Bunion.

RIP, and condolences to friends and family.

[TahoeJ]

It just seems to me that when situations build like they have here, there's really no reason to have people on slope anywhere underneath the expected movement.

Expected is the key word. From the description it sounds like it fractured significantly higher and wider than they've ever seen before. When you do control work all the time I imagine it becomes difficult to always get everyone in the absolute safest position humanly possible, due to time and logistical constraints.

[kidwoo]

Expected is the key word. From the description it sounds like it fractured significantly higher and wider than they've ever seen before. When you do control work all the time I imagine it becomes difficult to always get everyone in the absolute safest position humanly possible, due to time and logistical constraints.

And moving someone out of from under it (by elevation, not runout) would move them out of harm's way. That's kind of the point. Everyone paying attention knows what we've got going on right now is nowhere near normal. I haven't seen anywhere near the number of bomb induced slides as someone patrolling for multiple decades, but I have seen things break sympathetically and around knolls...ON sherwood.....which is why I said that. To put it more bluntly, when this kind of snowpack exists, expect everything.

I've watched these guys bomb sherwood before while I was over by twin peaks. It's systematic and like every other mountain, very mapped, planned and procedural. And there ARE people beneath ridges on knolls when bombs go above them. It just seems like there would be a second layout when things are especially sketchy and they haven't opened that terrain at all for the year yet. Hell maybe there is and this was it.

You should see some of the shlt mt rose does when they bomb the chutes. They'll have a guy bombing or ski cutting the top gate, with two or three people in lower gates off to the sides a good 60-100 feet below the ridges. That's insane to me.

[TahoeJ]

I've watched these guys bomb sherwood before while I was over by twin peaks. It's systematic and like every other mountain, very mapped, planned and procedural. And there ARE people beneath ridges on knolls when bombs go above them. It just seems like there would be a second layout when things are especially sketchy and they haven't opened that terrain at all for the year yet. Hell maybe there is and this was it.

You should see some of the shlt mt rose does when they bomb the chutes. They'll have a guy bombing or ski cutting the top gate, with two or three people in lower gates off to the sides a good 60-100 feet below the ridges. That's insane to me.

If AM didn't have a secondary formation before I suspect they will now. Anyway, pure conjecture on my part, but I do suspect time is a major factor that leads to more risks being taken. I always hate it when people start bitching about this chair or that chair opening late - I say let patrol do their job as safely as possible even if it means we all have to wait a little longer.

[ill-advised strategy]

today, in particular, I feel for all the patrollers who have to go out and do difficult, stressful work, in this busy season, with a heavy heart.

I hope the function of community is strong enough there that people are able to pull together and ensure these folks have some love and support during the next week or so of this holiday madness.

[ShadyNasty]

I'd like to see a thorough explanation before questioning the veracity with which a 28y patroller approached a situation. Doesn't feel right to question imo. Plenty of time for public 'discovery'

This seems like a situation where it's actually appropriate to throw the hands up and say "fuck. what could we have done"

ATM we can do this, but for the sake of the next patroller we should absolutely ask questions so that we can find out what could have been done, because I refuse to accept that nothing could have been done

We can always do better

May the victim Rest in Peace