June 29, 2013, Dege Peak, Fall on steep, hard snow

Bad bruises and scratches only...

I mostly like to post picture here, but I'm still shook up about Saturday - so I'll vent. I'm also posting this as a general reminder to be careful out there, and specifically to ask for firsthand knowledge of how something like a Whippit works in real world conditions.

I was taking my 19 year old (resort skiing) expert daughter skinning for the first time. We started hiking up the trail from the viewpoint to Dege Peak near Sunrise. After a short time, I noticed that there was a steep chute going right down to the basin. If we got down there, I could get her some practice on skins right away, and then boot up Dege. I walked down a ways to see if it would go, and everything looked fine to me. It was steep, but it was a very warm weekend and I could tell it would hold an edge. There was a half inch of soft on top. Thinking back, I remember that Silas had said it had rained a few days ago, and that may have created the problem. I cautiously slid in and traversed across and made a few careful turns. Ava followed and when she came to the spot to make her first turn she balked. I told her to side slip back a ways and get just enough speed to easily initiate a turn. She wasn't scarred (just cautious) and she did just like I said - but she didn't make the first turn. She either sat back or had her edges slip out. Either way, the next thing I knew was she was falling and one ski was off. I had originally set myself up below her first turn, but I didn't adjust when she side slipped back. She screamed and fought hard to stop but didn't really have a chance. She bounced on by heading towards the right side of a group of trees near the bottom of the steepest part. I think she may have brushed against a small downward leaning tree that slowed her down some, and then she hit a good sized tree which knocked her other ski off, and stopped her five feet below in the dirt of it's melted out treewell. If she had missed all the trees, she would have bounced down a couple of heather patches, and slid down to the basin. I skied down to her in stunned shock and fatherly fear, and was so happy when she said she was OK. I had made so many judgement errors that led to her near miss...All told she probably fell about 60 feet. Surprisingly, I had to sidestep up to get her ski. I think her body must have jammed it in the snow (4 bruises). As I stepped up, I was proud to see that she had jammed the edge of the other ski in many, many times trying to stop and slowing her down. There was also a solid vertical line in the snow, perhaps from her forcing a ski pole in the snow. Her fight had kept her from picking up too much speed, and certainly helped her avoid serious injury.

Some things that I take out of this are:

-You don't stop easily on a steep, smooth backcountry slope. The bumps at a ski resort usually help stop you.
-I'm going to use an ice ax more often when I boot up steeps. (You pick up speed fast if anything happens)
-I'm going to be more cautious in the backcountry. It would have been very difficult to get Ava out of there if she had been hurt. (It was still hard!)
-I'm going to consider using a whippit for me and my family.
-Most of all, I will be more protective of those I am responsible for. I will attempt to avoid the bad judgement that people like me tend to have. Years of being in dangerous situations, can lead to discounting the danger.

We played in the sun on the gentle Muir Snowfield the next day.

i fell too, learning i wasn't an expert skier even if the black diamonds said otherwise.
learning is fun
b

Dang, I'm glad Ava was ok! Those suncups were quite hard Sat.. I stripped a ski on the first run too. Luckily I was able to stay on my other edge, before complete carnage ensued
On a more happier note; it was very nice to meet you and your lovely daughter at the white river campground.

i fell too, learning i wasn't an expert skier even if the black diamonds said otherwise.
learning is fun
b

Actually I've only met one expert skier in my life (Uno Gignoux). I was about 19 and a really good bump skier. I was on my favorite run at Squaw Valley (KT 22 of course) and there was a terrible breakable crust on top of the huge 40 degree bumps. NOBODY was skiing it. We had all made a bad mistake getting on it and were just trying to get off in one piece. Out of the muck came a bobbing skier approaching us in very good balance and without missing a beat. He blasted on by and I recognized my old coach who used to beat us by 10 seconds in a 30 second race (Uno Gignoux)

I've spent all my life "attempting" to become an "expert" skier. I'm still at it. So no, Ava's not really an expert to people who know better - but to most of the world - she is.

Dang, I'm glad Ava was ok! Those suncups were quite hard Sat.. I stripped a ski on the first run too. Luckily I was able to stay on my other edge, before complete carnage ensued
On a more happier note; it was very nice to meet you and your lovely daughter at the white river campground.

Good to meet you. I've had some close calls in my life but they were just me! It's different when it's your baby. We had a great day on Sunday. Hope to see you again.

Brian

Glad to hear she was OK - what a scary thing to watch.  

On your question (I think) about the whippet in real world conditions - I had the misfortune to use one a few years back.  I was skiing down a bowl with some great spring corn; high speed joy turns.  However as I dropped into the lower bowl, I hit a runnel of water ice and went down quickly.  I slammed my helmet on the snow, and slid backwards without skis.  When I finally realized what was going on, I was able to arrest with the whippet, stopping in about 10 or 20 feet and avoiding a very fast slide into rocks below.  I probably could have limited the slide a bit more if I'd remembered to use my feet a bit sooner.

It was my first trip with both the helmet and whippet (though I have climbed with an ice axe for years).  Now I won't go without either.  

I'd recommend the whippet as it weighs nothing and works when you need it to.  It did well on some pretty hard snow - and most of the time, that's when you're actually going to need it.

Bill G