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Avi experiences
- BillK
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- Joedabaker
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19 years 2 months ago #176555
by Joedabaker
Replied by Joedabaker on topic Re: Avi experiences
I fell victim to familiarity as Gary stated earlier in this tread and ended up nearly buried in an avalanche last Saturday in Crystal's A-Basin (Southback).
The South was controlled and opened, bombs were dropped on both sides of our intended run
As I rolled into the open bowl it was untouched pristine. Looking down there was nobody below me and I rolled into the run without a ski cut. 10 turns later out of the corner of my eye I saw the surfaced crinkle and break up. Looking for an exit to the right the whole bowl was breaking for 100 feet, looked left and there was a class 5 rapid developing with no exit, straight below me liquefaction was in effect the whole slope was broken for at least 300 feet. Some how I kept upright in a wrestlers stance at an slightly down angle hoping to cross the white water rapids. Got pulled under the snowy current and my downhill ski came off and I came back to the surface. No swimming, but battling to stay on top-not scared but ready to accept my fate. My ski partners had already pulled out their beacons as soon as I was swallowed by the fractured debris. I came to rest behind a rock out cropping, and the avy had so much force it ran down and 50 feet up the slope on the other side of the basin. The resulting problem was 1 foot of snow on a weak crust that a credit card could penetrate and low density snow below that to the rain crust layer.
Since the majority of the slope had slid I spent time searching for my lost ski, but skied out on one ski and came back 2 hours later and found my ski. Thanks to the person that found the ski and stood it up in the tree!!!
I was thankful to be alive with no injuries, but kicking myself for letting familiarity control my thinking and trusting that the area had been controlled already.
This is not my first ride in 29 years of BC touring, so I was kicking myself for not following my protocol with an initial ski cut.
Needless to say for a well seasoned BC veteran I was a little embarrassed.
Not sure how many good reminders are left in the bucket, so that makes me feel uneasy.
The lesson was to formulate our safe protocol and stick to it-do not let familiarity take over.
Glad to be out with a people that knew how to respond!!
Thankfully safe-Joe
The South was controlled and opened, bombs were dropped on both sides of our intended run
As I rolled into the open bowl it was untouched pristine. Looking down there was nobody below me and I rolled into the run without a ski cut. 10 turns later out of the corner of my eye I saw the surfaced crinkle and break up. Looking for an exit to the right the whole bowl was breaking for 100 feet, looked left and there was a class 5 rapid developing with no exit, straight below me liquefaction was in effect the whole slope was broken for at least 300 feet. Some how I kept upright in a wrestlers stance at an slightly down angle hoping to cross the white water rapids. Got pulled under the snowy current and my downhill ski came off and I came back to the surface. No swimming, but battling to stay on top-not scared but ready to accept my fate. My ski partners had already pulled out their beacons as soon as I was swallowed by the fractured debris. I came to rest behind a rock out cropping, and the avy had so much force it ran down and 50 feet up the slope on the other side of the basin. The resulting problem was 1 foot of snow on a weak crust that a credit card could penetrate and low density snow below that to the rain crust layer.
Since the majority of the slope had slid I spent time searching for my lost ski, but skied out on one ski and came back 2 hours later and found my ski. Thanks to the person that found the ski and stood it up in the tree!!!
I was thankful to be alive with no injuries, but kicking myself for letting familiarity control my thinking and trusting that the area had been controlled already.
This is not my first ride in 29 years of BC touring, so I was kicking myself for not following my protocol with an initial ski cut.
Needless to say for a well seasoned BC veteran I was a little embarrassed.
Not sure how many good reminders are left in the bucket, so that makes me feel uneasy.
The lesson was to formulate our safe protocol and stick to it-do not let familiarity take over.
Glad to be out with a people that knew how to respond!!
Thankfully safe-Joe
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