Danny Zimmermann avalanche accident summary 3-5-11

I don't think a 38 degree slope rolling over to 40-45 degrees through skiable trees seems "rather benign", especially given the conditions and rated hazard.

The deceased was skiing with the toes of his Dynafits locked in tour mode. This is not speculation, but garnered from second hand information from people involved.

It's interesting that none of the other party members wanted to ski that slope.

Just food for thought. These point stand out to me from reading the report and talking to people close to those involved.

I feel safer a lot of the time on more open slopes with nice run outs. Steep trees give me the willies over here on the east side. I took a ride last year on a pretty hard slab and was lucky it didn't run far. It was a very innocuous slope. I've become very aware of terrain traps since then and way more conservative.

I don't think a 38 degree slope rolling over to 40-45 degrees through skiable trees seems "rather benign", especially given the conditions and rated hazard.

I don't disagree. I guess the point I was trying to make is the 45 degree slope below the starting point created a much more serious situation than the slope he was standing on at the start. In my looking at the photo of the start, I would not feel uncomfortable standing there if the slope below did not look so trappy. That one slope looking down from the start zone was the one photo that inspired fear in me. But that is just me.

Your statement of experiencing a slide on hard slab in very enlightening on the point of acceleration and ability to arrest

Alan

I didn't self arrest when I was caught. I was knocked of my feet and carried down slope on top. The slide slowed and came to a stop as it went over a rise in the gully it was flowing down. I came to a stop on my back, lying on blocks the size of large tvs and washing machines. Needless to say I was a little scared, then relieved.

The tree in the upper part of the slide path in the Cashmere incident are dead standing timber from a burn. I don't think timber like that offers any support for the snow, instead it creates weak points. In my mind worst case scenario, near surface faceting and surface hoar with lots of obstacles to strain through.

So, out of respect for Danny, maybe we can take some of the lessons/discussion etc to another thread, or give it some time before we get into it here. We all want and need to learn from these accidents and it's easy to forget that Danny's friends and family will follow what we say here and that, lessons aside, there's a ton of grieving yet to be done.

To all that knew him, again, I'm so sorry for your loss.

I'm sorry Marcus, I have known theses details for some time and hadn't said anything until this report was made public. I was a little surprised about the title of this thread, it could have been Cashmere avalanche fatality summary report.