Mt. Whitney Portal Store & Hostel Forums General Mt. Whitney Portal Store Message Board Avalanche Burial Video

For all of us who venture into the Sierra during the winter and spring months this video underscores the importance of constant practice with avalanche rescue skills.

Avalanche Skier POV Helmet Cam Burial & Rescue in Haines, Alaska from Chappy on Vimeo.

That video gave me a case of the heebie-jeebies when it was making the rounds last year. Between the wierd sounds that dude was making through his avalung and the eerie stillness after he stopped and the "concrete" set up, it is a powerful testament to the dangers of winter in the backcountry. The guy was very lucky. If I remember correctly, he was located so quickly by virtue of his glove protruding from the snow and not a transceiver.

Kurt this is a great video. It really makes you stop and think. I was sitting there watching and waiting for him to get dug up getting sweaty palms the whole time. I clicked on the link to Vimeo and saw this commentary below where the video is posted. I copied it here. This is a great reminder for us all. Thanks for sharing it.


In April of 2008 I drove from Lake Tahoe to Haines, Alaska up the Al-Can highway through British Columbia and the Yukon with an enclosed 4-snowmobile trailer and a ton of gear. I told myself the year before after a few years of getting "shut out" with heli time, that I wouldn't come back up without snowmobiles....instead of sitting around drinking myself into oblivion on a "down day."

Well thank God we did that because we definitely had down days again right from the get-go. The sledding up at Haines Pass is out of control good. Even staying closer to town like below Old Faithful is great. Can't say enough about how much fun it is to ride snowmobiles up there with no trees.

So the first legit day after that main snow storm cycle, we still went out snowmobiling one more time wanting to let the snow set up a bit more....while another part of our group went up in the bird. Actually two groups went up in the bird, and the first group did all the normal day-after-storm-cycle snow pit and snow quality tests.

The first group decided that while the dangers remained elevated, that it was good to go. They all made some of the sickest pow turns in their lives I was told. The next group then - a couple hundred meters or so over - set up for their descent.

The guy in the video was the first one to drop from their group and while not a guide, he had a lot of Utah and AK backcountry experience. He had a Black Diamond Avalung on, but as you can tell from the video while he's talking as he's dropping in, it wasn't in his mouth to start. He tried to shove it in the instant of starting to get sucked down, but it didn't stay in fully during his ragdoll descent. It was just off to the corner of his mouth he said, and he definitely got some snow / ice in his mouth still.

So as he drops in you can also see the sluff to the skier's right immediately start building....and that's actually the chute that was the intended route down. For whatever reason - well pure, unadulterated powder will do it to you - he didn't go make some strong "skier cuts" into the upper pack to do one final snow check as instructed by the main guide who was doing the "tail gunner" work.

Instead he just sent it. And it didn't take more than a few turns out on this big shoulder above this cliff band to break loose.

This was a decent sized avalanche. 1,500 feet the dude fell in a little over 20 seconds. The crown was about 1 - 1.5m. The chute that he got sucked through to the skier's right was flanked on either side by cliff bands that were about 30m tall. He luckily didn't break any bones and obviously didn't hit anything on the run out.

He was only buried for 4 and a half minutes which is incredibly short. I cannot stress these next sentences enough; that in and of itself to be unburied in ONLY 4:28 is miraculous if you have any understanding of being caught in an avalanche and what it takes to be found. It could literally be some kind of "world record" just on how good the guide and supporting cast of other skiers was in getting to him. It also shows why you should ALWAYS be going with people trained in avalanche rescue / first aid....as well as why you'd want to be going with a guided heli operation. Sure this was terrifying for him, but he would've probably been dead if not for going with a guide.

He also got very lucky to be honest. In the time that he's buried, you can hear his breathing already accelerate. The ruffling noise back and forth is his chest rising and falling and the noise that his jacket makes. The intermittent whimpering noise you hear is him trying to swallow and get some air since the avalung wasn't fully in his mouth and instead just to the corner of his mouth. Still sends chills up the back of my neck. Oh...the luck? They located him so fast because his right glove came off just before he came completley to rest and there was an excellent visual of course.

And then the digging out is utterly amazing. I don't think that you could've paid a Hollywood crew to stage something better. The fact that he could've been facing any 360 direction and yet he's looking right up into the sun-filled blue sky with that first full scoop away of the shovel is borderline spiritual.

This is simply a very sobering and unbelievable video. However, you should take away from this video all the positive things that you can learn from it. Yes there are risks to the backcountry - but with proper gear, training, and guide(s) with avalanche and EMT training - you can greatly lower your chances of getting caught in an avalanche in the first place.....and coming back alive if you ever were to get caught in a slide.

Respect Mother Nature for sure. Learn from this. But just like a Craig Kelly in the snowboard world or a Shane McConkey in the ski world who died out in the backcountry (Craig via avalanche and Shane via ski B.A.S.E. jumping), they left this earth while doing the things that they were truly passionate about. And while they would stress the need for the proper gear and training....neither one would want backcountry enthusiasts to curtail their adventures because of their accidents....or this video.

Please check with your local resort for classes on backcountry training, or try starting with a place like AIARE - the American Institute for Avalanche Research and Training. Their website is avtraining.org.

Some old SAR folks might remember when a Ski instructor died on Mammoth Mountain, about 25 years ago. Three instructors decided to ski Cornice Bowl right after a 10" snowfall on 4" of ice. The mountain wasn't open yet; they just had to get in a couple of runs... The entire bowl broke loose and carried two of them down-hill to the bottom of the bowl. One guy was buried up to his neck and survived. We dug out his buddy 3 hours later from under 3 feet of hard pack Sierra cement; dead, of course. Even the best can make errors in judgment.

When I first saw this last year I sent it to a friend who does Heli Skiing--he went out and got an Avalung (sp?) that day. Intense stuff, but a good reminder to all.

Man, I have to say I'm a little surprised this thread is already dropping without more comments. There are 8 pages of comments about guns in national parks but not many here. I'm just wondering if people don't care about avalanche danger around California.

Is it possible to make this a sticky topic while we're in avalanche season?

Sierra Cement,
I suspect that this is such a chilling thing that most people don't want to say much. I watched it once and will not watch it again.

A separate avalanche awareness thread may have more postings.

Just an educated guess, but I suspect it's because it (or one very similar) made the board sometime late last year. I seem to recall a fair amount of response at the time, but not overwhelming. I believe it was while the thread on the poor guy that was missing on Whitney was brimming with opinions and controversy. Timing is everything, right? Still a cool video.

Either that, or a lot of the winter mountaineering audience is out . . . winter mountaineering.

Point well taken Mike. I can see how this video would have that effect. I'm curious to know if this made you motivated to update your avalanche training. It did for me but I'm wondering if I'm alone in that.

Thanks for your response bulldog. Yes you are correct. This video was posted last year so there are no doubt people around who have seen this before and that would account for some of this. There seems to be a lot of people on this board (and other boards) who are beginners and interested in going out in the snow. They post trip reports here all the time. I'm certain a lot of them have never seen this video before. I guess I'm still surprised more haven't weighed in on the topic.

I've avoided any slope over about 30 degrees forever. Being stuck in a Sierra Cement case til death has been a nightmare for me for about 50 years.
I have contributed to avalanche reporting and training organizations though as everybody should.

Nonchalant seems to be the nicest, and most gentle way of describing the general attitude towards avalanche safety. Here's some of the reasons I've heard:

1) Avi gear is expensive. A combo kit of beacon, probe, and shovel will cost you near $350 (see mountain gear for details).

2) The Avi 1 class is expensive ($350 through SMI and highly recommended btw).

3) It's heavy and I don't want to carry it (2.5 pounds for the above package).

Steve Larson was, for a while, posting the daily reports from ESAC but the general response was, "<shrug> Thanks."

The gear and training is expensive. It does put more weight on your back. But I look at it as a trade-off: recovery from an injury (like being wrapped around a tree) or, oh I dunno, DEATH is a bit more expensive to me. And yes, I take the gear out when I'm solo. You don't know if you'll come across another party in trouble and needing help (like, again, I dunno, Mt. Baldy???), or, worst case scenario, they can find my body before spring.

Different strokes for different folks. But if you're willing to skimp on safety equipment, what else might you be willing to skimp on out there?

BTW: skinned up to North Lake this afternoon, digging two pits (east and NE facing) along the traverse road to check out conditions for the WTC group heading out tomorrow. Column failure (125 cm tall and not to the ground yet) after 13 strikes on the compression test about 8 cm from the base. 6" of magnificent pow over a crust with similar pow beneath for another foot; another crust, then two layers of crystals and depth hoar. At least near the base the snow would compress somewhat. Be careful out there this weekend.

From my response to a current backcountry skiing thread:



The same goes for other types of backcountry travel as well.

I dunno, pants? Oh, its rhetorical...

bumpity

and Brent, I'm putting that no-pants trip down on my calendar in INK.

Same feeling I got from my weekly west side reports at a few places. Now I just do word of mouth. Bummer really. Watched a group from the Bay area go up a bowl two weeks ago that is pretty much a slide alley. 8" the night before. No pit, no tests, just skied. It was "not a concern" for them when I asked about it. They were "being conservative".

There is a selection process employed by Mother Nature.

Yes, Mike, you're right in a sense. But when it's my friends and people I love who are choosing not to invest in the gear and training before putting theirs, and others, lives at risk, then I start to get upset about it.

And get up on a soap box about it.

And get bossy about it.

And be bitchy about it.

These reports may be ignored, but at least they're not being criticized like Bob's write-up from a few years back. (Some didn't like that he was implying you could predict avalache zones based on historical data. My paraphrase. )

I know that his map IS good information based on what I've seen in the Whitney Zone over the past couple of decades.

Which brings about the opportunity to talk about common sense again...

As it warms up, those slopes that have iced up are going to release BIG blocks of ice, so climb past them early, or real late.

Watch the south facing slopes and gullies, 'cause as they warm up, they'll probably release too.

Three spots in particular:

- The gully "north" of the Carillon Creeek crossing. If this is holding snow, it's highly likely that it will release as it warms up.

- The SE corner of Thor Peak on the Main Trail side. SG got caught up in one a few years ago. It scares the hell out of me whenever I climb up that way instead of heading closer to Candlelight/Irvine.

- The slope below Iceberg. South facing. Always seems to have balls rolling down it in Spring. It caught some before and probably will again.

AV course, test pits, beacons, intuition, history, experience, guardian angels, I still pucker up on any slope over 30deg, and know there is always a chance of being buried.
Any history on the more popular coloirs after heavy snow years?

Dave: you mean like this one:



Best part of that is you haven't even hit the E-ledges yet.