Phantom avy info? 04/06/11

Thanks for sharing your stories Marcus and Dan. Powerful reminders about the need to communicate about intentions and conditions before and actively during the trip. And even when others in your party have more experience and are the acting leaders to still keep thinking and assessing and be willing to share your thoughts.

Kudos to all involved with rescue ops.

Thanks for sharing your experiences, guys. Sharing your stories here has humbled me and undoubtedly "refreshed" my active awareness when in the backcountry.

I am grateful that all of you will live to ski another day....

Some more photos (all taken by Andy Hill - SPART and Alpental/Cascade Backcountry Ski Patrol).  I'll have a write-up on the extrication later today, as well as more thoughts on decisions/mistakes, etc.

The crown and area immediately above Dan's tree:


The climber's right flank:


Closer picture of the crown -- if memory serves, Dan an I were standing right below the cluster of trees on the far right of the frame.  The crown broke maybe a foot or two above my skis:


The crown at its thickest -- estimated 62 cm according to Andy:


Looking downslope from the crown:


The large tree on which Dan broke his femur.  I can only assume that, since I was right next to Dan, I threaded the needle on either the left or the right side of this tree:

Really glad you're all going to be OK. Thanks so much for sharing.

Thanks also for posting the pics - they really make it seem like the ultimate trigger was probably a wind slab sitting in that little bowl to the lee of the rock tower near the summit. I think I've met that slab before, but it was always smaller and pretty benign (at least when I was there, but things clearly can change).

Having that impression also makes this accident seem like it came out of a familiar scenario for a lot of us - looking for the goods just after a storm on familiar terrain, and wondering how aggressive you can go and still be safe. Is that a fair assessment? It just seems to make the accident a lot more relevant than the scary stories we've heard lately of 15 foot crowns running on a PWL. I get the sense that the decisions being made are ones we'll all encounter again, unless we decide to swear off skiing fresh snow and slopes steeper than 20 degrees. That is definitely one strategy that some folks employ. But for those of us who are still going to try and find the powder on some days ( and not every day is the right day to be out) then I think this is a pretty instructive read. Thanks for sharing.

Thank you Dan and Marcus for posting. Dan spoke to his thoughts approaching the final switchbacks, which reminds me to make sure my inner monologue in the backcountry becomes the outer dialogue with my partners.

Heal well!

I'm not passing judgement because I'm not familiar with that area, but from the pictures that slope scares the hell out of me. It seems awfully large and steep with way too many trees on it for me to feel safe after 2 feet of snowfall. Do people routinely ski that slope after heavy snowfall? Is it not as steep as the photos make it seem? And is that Alpental way down there at the bottom in that one pic? It seems that the three party members that were caught and carried are very lucky to have survived. I know everyone has their own level of risk tolerance, I'm just trying to wrap my head around this incident.