Backcountry at Crystal - Ski Patrol Authority

Is that the booze talkin' or did such a slide really occur?  I was just back there yesterday, and didn't see anything...  Although this was a couple of weeks ago, I'd think Noah's Arc would be visible after a slide of that magnitude!  Maybe they swept it up for the 8's... 

I was surprised that there was no mention on NWAC on this slide since it was the talk of the patrollers that day.
According to the patrol the slide was triggered by a poacher the day before when the South was closed due to high avy hazards. That must have filled their shorts when they triggered that doo-zee.

Good news for you, that this was the last year that they may have the the Powder 8's. At least that is the talk.
I'm really surprised that this was posted.
Personal attacks are to be avoided here, so let me generalize and post what I saw as pure stupidity by a couple BC tourers during the Powder 8 event.
There was a break in the weather that morning so the event could take place. There was close to a foot of new from the day before with temps in the low 20's. The patrol did limited control work to save the terrain from being hammered by debris. There was a avalanche that happened the day before off the SE side of the King into Silver that left a 6 foot crown and the debris went all the way to the flats in the basin another slide that went off lookers left of Boxcar.

Early in the event there were two skinners who were making there way up Silver basin right below the tree island. They had made it up about 200 ft out of the flat area and were trying to make set a track across the main area of the bowl while the event was in progress.
All the ski patrol was yelling to go the other way, GO THE OTHER WAY. But like stupid road kill possums, they did not even acknowledge the ski patrol and proceeded to make a kick turn dead into the path of the up hill skiers. The patroller's said, "I talked to those guys at the base area and told them to avoid this area."  But did they listen?? NO
There was so much fabulous terrain, available to ski adjacent from Silver Basin and get away from the hoopla.
Why would one insist on skinning directly underneath skier traffic on a day where there is a foot of new????
Ask me, stupid inexperienced backcountry skiers who don't know crap about safe travel in the backcountry, who need to take some route finding and avy classes. Probably going to be digging their sorry asses out someday because they don't follow instruction very well.
Heck if these knuckleheads would have kick turned left instead of right they would have gotten themselves out of harms way and had some true privacy, but why were they so insistent on skinning up the bowl into harms way? I could not believe these guys did not even respond to the ski patrol's attempt to communicate with them. I thought for sure that we would be conducting a beacon search rather than a Powder 8 contest. But these clowns probably would not have beacons on anyhow.
Stupid knuckleheads is all I can say!
Go ahead and delete my post if it causes to much of a personal attack.
But in this case, a verbal chastising is better than a  burial search if it would even penetrate these clown noggins.

Joe, so we were the two clowns you are referencing, but some of your information is just not correct. 

We normally ski true back country and not at the ski area, so we stopped into to talk with the Ski Patrol to check conditions.

The first ski patrol said she thought our decision not to ski cement basin was wise and it made sense to ski Silver Basin  (the Avy risk that day was considerable to high).  She said it had been cleared, but to stay away from the east side (which was not cleared)

A second unidentified lady who acted very unprofessionally talked to us about the powder 8s, but I'm not even sure she was ski patrol since she was giving us information that contracted the ski patrol we talked to.  She was very condescending and not very willing to give much info other than "your skin tracks would really look bad right across the eights".   She was just kind of put out and when we asked her to review the map with us, she didn't have time.

She said to ski in an uncontrolled area (in which case, we would be putting ourselves in as much risk as in bullion or cement).  The other ski patroler said not to ski there.

She also said they would be done by 11:00 am, but they did not even start until well after 11:45.  The whole morning was clear while we were there.  I'm not sure why they started so late.

We did not enter the basin until after 11:00 and we did NOT ski directly under the line of the powder 8s.  We were on the spur and not in their way nor in the path of a potential slide they might start.   

We saw your fall and that crown was not 6 feet, Maybe 3 and from the day before the basin was cleared.  Still significant, but on the other side of the basin from us and 16 teams skied the whole basin with no slides at all.

Stugie said " Silver Basin became the last place we'd want to ski.  Not only would you be impeding skier traffic but if patrol wasn't finished with charging the slope...

Dogleg Bowl, Pickhandle, Bullion's...Cement was good that day"

but that is EXACTLY where ski patrol recommend NOT (capitals added for emphasis, not yelling) skiing that day and they were done charging the slope 2 hours before we entered. Not sure when you are recommending to listen to the ski patrol.

Brit, we really did not get our panties  (they were pink by the way) in a wad, but just wanted to understand their rational.  We were not trying to be confrontational, actually we stayed well out of the down hill skiers path.  If the organizers were concerned about us ruining the track, they could have also sent the skiers on that side of the bowl earlier, rather than later.  Not at all like a snowmobile.

Scotsman - thanks for the welcome to the forum.

Well thanks for taking the time to give your perspective of the incident.

As I said, if you are really a new poster then you are truly welcome and I certainly don't mind someone with controversial views or strong opinions... there's enough milquetoasts on this site already IMHO.

I'm sure you understand that if you were an existing poster just using a new avatar to remain unknown that that could be construed as a bit cowardly but since you say you are not... I admire you for answering the vitriol direct.

Still don't agree with your rationalization....If I knew there were was a competition in a certain area I would have avoided it. Period.

Stay safe amigo... peace!

Thanks for chiming in skiseattle.  I think that sometimes you have to make that choice not to ski at all, if the avy danger is so high that you're only comfortable skiing in semi-controlled sidecountry.  Not saying that was necessarily the case here, but it sounds like it might have been a consideration.

...there's enough milquetoasts on this site already IMHO.

So you keep saying...

We did not enter the basin until after 11:00 and we did NOT ski directly under the line of the powder 8s.  We were on the spur and not in their way nor in the path of a potential slide they might start.   

We saw your fall and that crown was not 6 feet, Maybe 3 and from the day before the basin was cleared. 

I really tried to impress you guys by talking big numbers, because I need to impress complete strangers to boost my low self esteem.
As I said in my first phase of my rant, the 6 foot crown started near the top of the SE King....
The result of the slide created several sympathetic fractures around the slide.
We skied off one of the sympathetic fractures as I stated...

We made it through 8'ing the trees at the top and off the 3ft fracture line, it was the seemingly endless field of 1ft frozen debris shapes that put me on my ass ending our streak of victories.

The way the event works is that we draw start slots and the contestants go in order of draw. Each team decides where they are going to ski anywhere from the last chutes before Threeway to the top of the King, so you WERE right in the middle of the event. So sending the skiers on your side of the bowl would have been unrealistic.

The real question remains, Why did you not respond to the Ski Patrol's yells that you were in the way of the event???
I was not the only person to witness the utter defiance of authority, so there were at least 20 people that can corroborate my story.
We kept yelling go left, go left and the next kick turn went right....Collective groan from the crowd. I yelled, "THE OTHER LEFT!" And you guys just stood there, never turned around once to see what the commotion was about, or attempt to communicate what you wanted to do. If there was patrol yelling at me on the slope. I think I would at least turn around to see what they have to say.
I'm just calling as it was, the patrollers were 200ft from you yelling instructions and you acted like defiant, spoiled teenagers.
I know that there are two sides to every story, but really it just looked like you had enough and wanted to be defiant. What do you call it?

You did the right thing by checking in to the patrol, but is sounds like there was a good dose of miscommunication at the patrol shack.
Asking the Patrol where to ski is good, especially when you have not earned enough time on the hill to assess the snow conditions yourselves. That takes time and traveling with a knowledgeable partner. You could have skied any of those slopes Stugie was talking about if you assessed the conditions yourself, recognized the dangers and made logical decisions from the data.

The rational in Silver Basin of...Well, 16 skiers skied it and nothing went, does not fly for me. Hindsight is 20/20. BC travel is about having fun, but respect of the potential dangers. Positioning oneself for a safe uptrack is keeping clear of the skiers coming down. I can't tell you the amount of runs I've dumped or waited, because there is a person skinning below where I want to ski. As a skinner I really fear those who ski above me, because the majority of the slides are skier triggered. SO it's bunk to say that it did not slide, so what's the danger!

It's difficult to be politically correct and say the right things to not come across as an a$$.
But I'm tired of doing that while people are doing irrational things in the mountains, sometimes I have to be a mean old mountain guy.

**Edit**
I'm just as susceptible to making wrong decisions and I've made my share of them and survived.
It's what I take away from it, that is the lesson learned. Rational, Responsible, Reliable.

There are 3 types of conversations.  Those that try to gain understanding, those that seek agreement and those at are just spiteful.   My experience with most back country travelers has been great, but it seems there is very little desire to seek understanding on this forum.  A would prefer to keep a more civil tone with a lot less hate and little less all righteousness.