On a recent local lazyboy tour I hopped Sugar Bowl’s Judah chair for a fast slingshot into the backcountry. The summit chair wasn’t open, but that was fine, it’s only a 20 minute skin to the top and if you set the line right you can experience snow conditions from the northwest all the way [...]
Archive for the ‘Avalanche’ Category
Should airbags packs be required?
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We’re fully invested in the new season now. The calendar has flipped over to a new year and there’s enough snow to ski just about anywhere. Here in the Tahoe area the avalanche hazard is in dispute. It’s not that the BC community doesn’t know the avy lizards are lurking. Hell, they killed two people [...]
ISSW 2012 Report
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Finally, the snow show came to my doorstep. The International Snow Science Workshop has been high on my tick list for years and now as the colorful leaves of fall began blowing off the trees, I was on the road to Anchorage’s convention center on the other side of the Chugach. The road trip [...]
Canadian Study reduces Avalanche Survival Time
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The commonly accepted survival phase for burial in an avalanche is about 18 minutes…This more recent study suggests 10 minutes would be a more appropriate guideline…
Posted in Avalanche, Dostie, Craig, News 
Tags: asphyxia, avalanche, avalanche fatality, survival curves, survival time, trauma 
2 Comments »Time to retire your beacon?
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While testing avalanche transceivers this year it has become more evident that older, analog type beacons should be retired. It isn’t because they don’t work. But the way they work can cause trouble in the dreaded multiple victim scenario. If you have more than one person buried in an avalanche the odds are at least [...]
Rerun: Buried Alive!
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Very quickly, the ability to move ended. As the snow built up around my torso I squirmed to maintain some sense of mobility, but it was futile. Even the simple act of breathing was becoming a struggle as the snow’s weight bore down on my chest, making it difficult to draw even a breath.
Posted in Avalanche, Avalanche, Black Diamond, Couloir, Dostie, Craig, Ramblings, Vol. XVIII Tags: avalung 2 Comments »Caught! Avalanche incident
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With cold temperatures and a not so deep snowpack depth hoar forms easily at the ground level, especially in the intermountain ranges like the Wasatch and Rockies. Add to that a fresh dump with a lot of mass and the ever eager skier to trigger it and you have the perfect formula for an avalanche fatality.
The Human Snow Conveyor
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A strategy for shoveling snow with measurable improvement. Practicing how to locate a buried victim with an avalanche beacon has become common protocol in avalanche courses, and to a lesser extent, by private parties. However, in the case of a real rescue, locating victims can be accomplished relatively quickly (assuming everyone in the group is [...]
Posted in Avalanche, Dostie, Craig, Technique Tags: avalanche, Bruce Edgerly, Dale Atkins, human conveyor, Manuel Genswein, rescue, shoveling, strategic shoveling, strategy, v-shaped 8 Comments »
