Avalanche Burial

[JRCO]

Interesting article. Guys are lucky to be alive.

 

 

Three Buried

[korup]

Let's see. They didn't dig any pits, they ignored warnings from other parties that had on-the-ground info, ignored many slide paths on similar slopes, and then entered an (obvious?) slide zone bunched up as a group, all after having taken Level I and II classes. They screwed the pooch, and they get a FAIL.

[AlpineK]

Yep they got buried. They did take the time to try and educate themselves. Knowledge only helps some. No matter how much knowledge and tools you have you can still misjudge conditions.

 

Nice that they made it out.

[111]

The pole straps around their wrists handcuffed all three beneath the debris.

I have never thought of pole straps aa hazard in this way. Interesting

[hemp22]

damn. yeah, those guys lucked out, considering some pretty poor decision-making.

Nice commercial for the BD avalung though.

 

And I think it's pretty common practice to never have your hands in the pole straps when in the B/C, for exactly that reason. At least everyone I ski with seems to know this or have been taught this.

[korup]

Another reason to remove the straps in the BC is to avoid getting your shoulder dislocated when skiing trees or in death crust. The old school plastic split-in-the-middle grips are sweet, but getting hard to find.

[DirtyHarry]

Light dry snow must have helped too. Buried four feet down in cascades snow you probably wouldn't be able to self-extricate.

[pindude]

Another reason to remove the straps in the BC is to avoid getting your shoulder dislocated when skiing trees or in death crust.

Agreed. Anybody who is a climber shouldn't have any problems holding onto grips inbounds as well. I use my straps only for hanging my poles up between outings.

 

The old school plastic split-in-the-middle grips are sweet, but getting hard to find.

Hard-to-find is as they should be. The old Scott pole grips you describe were well-known for causing unecessary thumb injuries, maybe something you young 'uns should be informed about without having to experience a bad thumb sprain.

[Mtguide]

Many of my regular BC ski buddies and I have for years practiced removing our ski straps once we enter skiable terrain in the backcountry, even on known slopes, under favorable(safe forecast)conditions. Not only to avoid shoulder injuries, but because you should never take avalanche forecasts, or the slopes, for granted.

[steller]

i like to use the "pole straps" for extra purchase when pole/skating out of a long flat approach. Invaluable for this. never use for decent in the B.C. though. I must be gettin old too! cuz I remember those Ole scott pistol grips and the associated thumb injuries..

[Taluscat]

i recieved info on this less than 24hrs afterward being that my dear freind is the 10t mountain hut system manager(which the eisman hut is part of) he recieved notice through a repo theyd filled out at that hut just prior to his arrival-he made the skin over to the genral location and from his 9 yrs active service and vast knowledge of that area he emphasized the sheer LUCK they had and quietly critisized the obvoius mistakes and sizable crownface! in a recent three week trip there i was lucky to recieve VIP access and experiance three of these beutifull

locations that provide conmfortable living enviom and accessable

backcountry stashes of grat snow-however given the remote nature of most the locations and the huge country there in,formal avy education,proper gear and experiance in lesser terrain prior to a trip like this is a MUST..

[banos]

I just purchased a BD Covert w/ Avalung... feeling good about my decision.. and my wife has suffered torn thumb ligaments twice with her old damn split-plastic pole grips..

[danhelmstadter]

avi lungs are good for soft slab, loose snow, and possibly wet lanches (assumeing you do not hit trees/rocks/cliffs when entrained), but neither it or beacons and experienced partners could save you harm if you were to be caught in a bone crunching hard slab avalanche.

 

 

[Mtguide]

i like to use the "pole straps" for extra purchase when pole/skating out of a long flat approach. Invaluable for this. never use for decent in the B.C. though. I must be gettin old too! cuz I remember those Ole scott pistol grips and the associated thumb injuries..

Absolutely, I use the straps on the flats as well, especially when carrying much of a pack. And hey, we're not gettin' old, just smart, right? Edited February 18, 2009 by Mtguide

[Mtguide]

avi lungs are good for soft slab, loose snow, and possibly wet lanches (assumeing you do not hit trees/rocks/cliffs when entrained), but neither it or beacons and experienced partners could save you harm if you were to be caught in a bone crunching hard slab avalanche.

 

Seeing what a big slab avy can really do was what finally brought home to me the sheer destructive power unleashed. Over 20 years ago, we went to see the debris field of a huge full snowpack slab release in upper Logan Canyon, above Logan, Utah in the Wasatch range. This avalanche had traveled twelve MILES from it's origin near the base of a big peak. The immense mass had literally scoured the canyon walls down to rock and soil, washing up around the bends like water sloshing around in a bathtub, before finally blasting across Logan Canyon Highway and fetching up against the opposite wall of the canyon.

 

The road was buried over 45 feet deep before they cleared it out. The debris field of concrete-like snow was filled with rock the size of everything from pebbles and basketballs, to boulders the size of cars and pickups, there were at least a dozen carcasses of deer that looked like they'd been caught in a mangler, in some cases hide and flesh stripped to the bone,bodies torn completely in half, headless, limbs shattered, and hundreds of trees, some as large as 2 feet in diameter, broken into chunks 3 or 4 feet long, with all the branches and bark completely stripped off. There were some smaller animals as well, squirrels, a skunk, marmots, etc., everything just smashed to pieces. Nothing could have survived such a meatgrinder. A few weeks earlier, the son of my writing professor had been killed by a big avalanche just one canyon over. Ever since then, when the forecasts say to stay out of the back country, I listen and find somewhere else to go. I wish every BC skier could have seen that; I think there'd be at least a few less "accidents".

[moira armen]

Interestingly, it sounds like these guys were going uphill when the avalanche struck them by coming down from above. So, you pole-strap wearing uphill travelers have been warned!

[letsroll]

guess I am double screwed. I like to travel up hill with pole straps on at times and I can't stand to ski with out them on. Oh well

[Hugh Conway]

The life-link detachable pole straps were nice for this reason - a hard jank from a tree or debris and the strap would part from the pole.

 

As for the OP, well, I hope they take this gift and make something of their lives.

[rob]

boy, some of you guys are dicks. If I'm ever burried, I sure hope none of you find out about it

[Hugh Conway]

boy, some of you guys are dicks. If I'm ever burried, I sure hope none of you find out about it

 

you are far from a dumbass rob

[Pete04]

Hopefully someone with more avalanche experience can explain a few things to me.

So - these guys could "communicate through the snow" and it was their straps that kept them "handcuffed." The admittedly little I know about avalanches I've gotten from books and second-hand stories; but, my understanding is that if you're buried you are essentially entombed in ice - due to the burial and the warming (from friction) and subsequent immediate icing of the snow. How can you communicate through snow?

Is there such thing as a gentle burial? It was a 7 foot burial but they only traveled 20 feet? It was always explained to me that it's foolish and ignorant to think you can dig yourself out. I hope this article does not perpetuate myths.

 

Anyway, glad they're OK!