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Avalanche near Revelstoke


chelle

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Regardless, the Selkirks and surrounding mountains are fucking big and dangerous. On both of my ice climbing trips to that area I've been avalanched on. My good friend's dad died skiing there last year in a slide in the Kicking Horse backcountry, right in front of my friend and his sister and brother. It doesn't take much for big shit to cut lose there.

 

I think that spells it out. While all of you are trying to figure out if they were experienced enough to be out there or if they could have avoided it, you haven't stopped to think that being out in the mountains in the winter is dangerous to EVERYBODY. My heart goes to those folks but you play, you pay. I have one close friend in particular that died in an avalanche 5 years ago...he was the safest man I have ever known, in fact I received valuable instruction from him for years leading up to his tragedy. Alex Lowe, an admired climber and excellent mountaineer died in an avalanche skiing.....mother nature doesn't discriminate!

 

That is not to say that safety and education is first and foremost, you can avoid most if you know your shit....but just like any dangerous sport, you run the risk of injury or death.

 

Look how noble they were for living there life to the fullest and leaving this world doing what they loved and enjoyed...

 

BE SAFE OUT THERE!

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Perhaps there's room in this post for a little PSA about the Canadian Avalanche Association, one of the things that helps mitigate risk when in the BC mountains.

 

At the start of this winter the CAA didn't have the funds to put out a regular conditions bulletin for the season. They were actively raising money so the service could continue. (They did manage to raise it through donations --including a big one from MEC.) The shortage is due to the BC provincial government cutting all funding to the CAA. Here's a press release from the CAA website: Canadian Avalanche Association

 

Stan Hagen is the Minister of Sustainable Resource Management in BC. Feel like sending him an email while you're on line? stan.hagen.mla@leg.bc.ca Tell him things like the avi bulletin are important when you're deciding where to spend your tourist dollars.

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Yes, the newshound continues to follow this thread. I read your comments with interest.

 

By the way, we do not put unconfirmed information on the air. We were initially told by officials that the group was heli-skiing. Once they corrected themselves to say that they were high country skiers, we corrected our reports as well.

 

But I'm not trying to get into an argument here...

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Neither of us hike/climb.

 

There shouldn't be a prerequisite for someone in the news to climb before they ask questions here should there be? It's a funny discussion now.

 

This raises other questions though. Should they get their info from other sources? If so does anyone have a great consistant source to point them to and why?

 

My guess is that people reporting news on climbing accidents prefer to report the proper information but often make errors for reasons beyond their comprehension or knowledge. That does not necissarily make them bad.

 

Let it fly now! cool.gif

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I had experience with some friends who were injured by rockfall on N Face Mt. Currie and ended up getting helicopter ride/rescue to Pemberton. Local media showed up. They gave interview and thought they were going to be treated respectfully. Next day's Headline: I THOUGHT I WAS DEAD- "I'm giving up climbing forever, says thrill seeker" none of which the guy said in fact he was out climbing the next weekend.

 

So you see why climbers are reluctant to talk to the media after an accident! Because no matter what the reporter records, the editor sensationalizes it to sell news.... madgo_ron.gif

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Ok, Newstips, the CK eulogy thingy was mostly in poor taste. Watching the poor guy's mom cry on the news and the reporter nodding empathetically....that's the sort of thing I think we all fear will happen if we supply information to the media abut our fallen friends. Time to leave this alone.

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I had the opportunity of meeting Craig a few years ago in Termas de Chillan. Upon meeting Craig, you instantly knew he was genuine. Craig was a great, down-to-earth guy that would go out of his way to help somebody he had just met. Craig was the antithesis of the rock star, attitude, no substance scene. He was about soul and the world needs more people like that. I feel privileged to have met him and taken a few runs.

 

My condolences go out to his family and friends.

 

Losing Marco Siffredi and Craig in one season is horrible.

 

Many times when we lose someone to the mountains it is easy to point and say, "I wouldn't have done that. They made a mistake." This wasn't the case. Craig was skilled, knowledgable, experienced, and had a good head. Once real details flow in it will be easier to tell, but I believe that most reasonable people would have made the same decisions that day. Other people in your life hear about these things and ask you to be careful. It always seems easy to agree and tell them it wouldn't happen to you because you're somehow smart or skilled enough to avoid it. This time I couldn't say anything.

 

Sometimes your number just comes up. Acceptance of that is part of spending any time in big mountains.

 

 

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My dad was a newspaper reporter of the old school. I reckognise that it is very difficult to report news with accuracey and grace. On the other hand when some freinds and I had a multi day epic in a storm in the mountains some years back the local paper got almost all of the facts wrong, hahaha.gif and this was especially annoying because one climbers in our group was the daughter of the owner and editor of the newspaper!

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