February 24, 2013 Heather Ridge Avalanche

Last Sunday we toured over Barometer Mt. in the Baker BC and found very reactive windslabs on NE slopes at 5,500-5,800.  2-3 mm in length of buried surface hoar was the weak layer.  We set off three size 2's by stomping on the ridge top and getting sympathetic realeases 20-30 feet away.  It was a kick to watch them run--and pretty sobering to watch large slabs release on a planar surface.

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I mentioned to my ski buddies that it would not be surprising if someone were not caught out by the dangerous nature of the localized hazard.  Your incident and one other incident I heard about confirmed the excellent NWAC forecast for Sunday.

My takeaway is to give kudos to NWAC and the superb job they do with their avy forecast.  Read that avy report and have your trip plan reflect sound terrain and elevation choices.  Thanks for posting this story.  We all learn from hearing from others experiences.

Willie,

Thanks for having the initiative to write up your avalanche accident and I hope you recover from your injuries soon. I think you covered the details well and fully understand what happened to you.

Just a couple of points:

Regarding the convexity, the way I look at it is that skiing convexities maximizes the probability of triggering an avalanche; but, in this case given the width of the crown from your photos it may well be that you could have triggered the avalanche from many places along the length of the crown. I think what a couple of others said about ridgelines and wind effects is pertinent. Starting zones need to be treated a little differently than areas farther down in the path.

Greg C mentioned the Avalanche Forecast, and as I recall it snowed on Thursday after a dry period of considerable length and then snowed heavily on Friday, the 23rd. As I recall the NWAC cited widespread instances of instability and avalanche release. I treat these details much like skiers would INFOEX in Canada. I think it is true that one can never get as many personal observations as the sum of knowledge in avalanche forecasts. So, these days I end up digging fewer pits as when it is known to be unstable I just choose less risky terrain. I mostly dig pits for further education, for future considerations, or for curiosities sake, although I do perform many small scale tests of various varieties. Essentially, when it is known to be unstable (or when one would expect that it is as in this case with a long dry period followed by snowfall) I punt and choose safer terrain. Anyway, that is what I do and it seems to work for most of my current skiing companions.

Thanks so much for writing up this happy ending report. We happened to ski the exact same slope just a couple of weeks before, so it hits home hard. I am relatively new to full on backcountry skiing and am very safety conscious. Like you, I don't want to put myself or my friends in danger.

I have a very long background of lift assisted powder skiing. For the last 15 years, I have been skiing the side country in Whistler and Stevens 20-35 days per year. I never owned a beacon until recently. I've always limited my exposure to avalanche danger by waiting for a few days after a large storm and/or by skiing lower angled slopes. I was told to do this by a big mountain patroller many years ago. At Whistler, this is easy to do because there is so much quality in bounds skiing to be had. Before they put in the Symphony Chair, I used to do the long trudge to Flute and back, but only a few days after storms. I also skied the lower angled slopes that very rarely avalanche. I love skiing steep, light powder, but settle for lower angled more consolidated snow, when I am out of bounds.

Since I have been going into the true backcountry lately, and have been active in this group, I have been surprised by the steepness of the slopes everyone seems to regularly ski, and by the fact that waiting periods are replaced by digging pits and going anyway. Everyone (including myself) has shovels, and probes, and beacons, but many don't have the self restraint to stay away for a few days after a big snow - or to at least stay on low angled, safer terrain.

"Fresh snow is only fresh once." I understand the pull of that as much as anyone, and I've often had poor judgement myself. As I continue my backcountry education, I hope that I will continue to have the judgement and restraint to stick to my guns and not put too much trust in my new safety tools. I also think that for those of us that just HAVE to ski the steep and deep, one of those new flotation devices would be a great thing. I'll probably get one myself even though I'm old and conservative and try to only ski when safe.

Glad you are ok. Thanks for reporting this. A lot of us frequent that area and perhaps don't give it the respect we should. I don't have additional advice but the fourth mistake you mentioned is one I think about quite a bit. When is it "ok" to ski over a trigger point? Some one mentioned ski cutting, which is useful, but can lead to some of the same false confidence of digging pits and the obvious lure that trigger points are often fun to ski without a pause for ski cutting. I think this grey area is one of the things that takes a long time to define or perhaps, as someone else mentioned, we get away with because of luck sometimes. Should we not ski likely trigger points until consolidated spring conditions? Or when we are 90% certain about conditions, 80%... ... perhaps not on days with so much new snow. Thanks again for the write up.

Willie, thanks for sharing your story, hope you heal up quickly. The only other observation I would add, and maybe you left it out of your narrative but based on your mistakes list maybe not.
Knowing that there had been high wind and snow fall loading, you and your partners should have acknowledged the extra risk at the start and agreed on an increased margin of safety in all decisions. That may have prevented you from jumping off solo, your crew may have decided to dig an extra pit or two, and like you say you may have backtracked as soon as you realized you were off original track.
Hindsight it 2020, thanks for sharing so we can all learn.

Thanks for all of the input everyone, it's very much appreciated. Ski2fly - your idea of talking about the dangers beforehand, especially on a day like that really makes a lot of sense. If we had talked about it beforehand it would probably have. Been far less likely that we would have made the same mistakes. At least that's how it seems now.

Saw a doc at UW sports medicine today. Initial diagnosis is torn acl. Going back for MRI soon, been referred to another doc that can handle both knee and shoulder. Going to get both fixed so season over for this year. Doc called this my bionic man year.