Avalanche Footage - Airbag Save - 3/14/14 - North Coast Heli Skiing BC

[NoBama]

My sister got caught in a massive slide last week. First large avalanche triggered the second, larger avalanche which caught her. She slid 300m and was under for most of the slide. The airbag brought her to the surface as the slide came to a stop.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ZxeE...ature=youtu.be

[Bunion 2020]

Glad your sister is safe.

Another reason why Heliski ops give me the willies.

[SNWGHST]

Tense moments, glad to see she's ok.

[totaliboard]

Good save.. couldnt really see much action from the video though.

[NoBama]

Yeah, I'm hoping I can find a video pro to help me with the contrast. It was pretty flat light (and I was moving around too much). There were basically two giant waves going through that canyon. Lots of snow in the air and a river of debris flowing in front of me.

When I look left, there's a split second where you can see it coming at me. When I point up and start yelling 'avalanche' a second time you can see that hillside come down. Hard to see much though.

[DasBlunt]

Holy fucking junkshow. Flat, no safe zones..

companies making money, no shame? Or is this another ABS/snowpulse "ad".

[WestCoastPDR]

Geoff is a great instructor. I just finished a class with him today. He spoke of this but wouldn't show it in class. Glad she is ok. Dont be a stranger. Hit me up sometime if ur in tahoe and want to get out. Thanks for posting

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[dark_star]

Holy fucking junkshow. Flat, no safe zones..

companies making money, no shame? Or is this another ABS/snowpulse "ad".

...Wha?

Sent from my SM-N900V using TGR Forums

[n0t1ap]

What a harrowing experience dude. Thanks for sharing your experience from a first person point of view.

It really hits the spot being a brother as well; I could only imagine the fear you must have felt at that moment.

Glad sis' made it out ok.

I'm going to give an extra hug to mine this week.

[thepowderhound]

Wow, scary, glad yer sis is ok! Really have to wonder about a Heli operation that doesn't follow one skier skiing at a time protocol with everyone else watching that skier from a safe zone while in Avy terrain. Free-for-all skiing in avy terrain is dangerous!

[Bunion 2020]

Wow, scary, glad yer sis is ok! Really have to wonder about a Heli operation that doesn't follow one skier skiing at a time protocol with everyone else watching that skier from a safe zone while in Avy terrain. Free-for-all skiing in avy terrain is dangerous!

Yes, dangerous no doubt.

The skiing one at a time is established protocol but often goes out the window when a heli is costing $$K an hr to operate.

[NoBama]

I'm a little nervous to call out the guides because I'm still a little fired up and emotional. But the avalanche danger was extreme and that was bad terrain. On our first run, I pointed straight to that face and said it looked dangerous. I asked the guide what made him think it was safe and he basically told me it was perfectly fine and not to worry about it.

It was the last day of the trip and there may have been some incentive to get into some bigger terrain against better judgement. We had been skiing low angle stuff in the trees and guests were complaining. There also may have been something about hitting a guaranteed minimum of vert before partial refunds came into play (or placating guys who had paid extra for extra vertical).

There was some very questionable decision making by the higher-ups that day, both before and after the event. I won't go into the details but I will say that you just can't let guides, no matter how experienced, make your decisions for you. I knew the conditions were bad and the terrain was bad but I followed him anyway because he's the guide.

And the guides went to great lengths to assure the guests that there was nothing to worry about when in fact there was lots to worry about. Don't tell me there's nothing to worry about. I want my guide to be honest with me and tell me the risks we're dealing with and what we're doing to mitigate those risks. If the risks are too high that day, let me decide if I want to go or not. But don't just BS me and tell me I have nothing to worry about.

[totaliboard]

yeah the multiple riders exposed thing kind of made me think, too. not tryin to go heli skiing anytime soon...

[PNWbrit]

Who was the Heli op?

Edit: Must read thread title.

[NoBama]

North Coast Heli Ski is not the name of the operator. I just meant heli skiing in the north coast range of BC.

The operator was Northern Escape

[meter-man]

Glad to see your sis is okay. Shitty work on the guides part that is for sure.

What's with the troll-bait handle?

[funkendrenchman]

Glad she's okay. Sounds like pretty shitty guiding. Headed to AK tomorrow and I'll remember what u wrote.

[flatNshallow]

Glad your sister is safe.

Another reason why Heliski ops give me the willies.

This comment has me rethinking a long standing Jones.

Not so much the do or don't but more the where when and with whom... thanks.

[stalefish3169]

I hate to break it to you guys but lots of Candian heli ops ski everyone all at the same time. Granted it's oftentimes on 15 degree glacier runs, but even small slides in the wrong spot can be game over. Not defending the bum rush technique at all, but do you have any idea how long it would take a ship load of old Euros in a 212 to ski every run 1x1? I'll tell you how long:



Perhaps the Canadian A-star groups have a little more flexibility. Occasionally, I would have to guide people used to the Canadian all at the same time protocol and they frickin' hated it when we told them they had to go one at a time. They hated it so much they would disobey very clear instructions and start dropping in together when I was too far down the slope to do anything about it. Shit still gives me nightmares.

I don't mean to knock Canadian guides either. The vast majority are great dudes and dudettes, but skiing everyone at the same time is redic.


Glad your sister was okay.

[newbreak]

So glad your sis was ok, and lucky no-one else got caught. Might be the fish eye, but were they sending you all down the valley, looks like someone cut out the slope from below and like previous have said...no safe zone. ..just skiing a terrain trap.

For sure there were no other groups above that could have triggered it on you?

[TEXASS]

I was at Shames the week that happened. Really bad avy danger even down low in the trees. never made it out of slack country and even then had a couple of smallreleases on what you would think is pretty low risk terrain.
Glad eveyone wa safe

[DasBlunt]

North Coast Heli Ski is not the name of the operator. I just meant heli skiing in the north coast range of BC.

The operator was Northern Escape

Wow, from the responses about protocol here, I will not be using this company. Complete gong show with a strong junkshow component.

[skifishbum]

Wow, from the responses about protocol here, I will not be using this company. Complete gong show with a strong junkshow component.

you should totally get them all fired
i know a shitload of people whose lives were saved by making good decisions in the backcountry
when the conditions get dicey
make sure the go pros on
glad your siblings alright
some lessons are harder learnt than others

[jono]

I can't get this question out of my head: if the operator offers partial refunds for too little vert, what do they do for customers caught in a slide?

The two things share a lot of similar risk management issues, but since the risk to the aircraft due to storm conditions goes away first it seems like there are a number of days with potential for conflicting interests. And of course having a customer decide it's not worth the risk can easily be used to void a refund. Not that financial impact of a refund is even on the same scale as physical danger, but I'm hating the idea that decisions get made by anyone with beans to count like that; even if they do everything right they'll eventually get bit and when they do it looks really ugly.

[Bunion 2020]

When the rotor is turning the $$$ is burning.

Decisions will be made based on economics 1st and safety 2nd, it is the way of the world.

Got to make a living ya know?