Thread: East Vail Slide activity

We saw lots of slides in benchmark bowl today. Old man's and charlie's death chute slid full path, as well as marvins. These slides were big, running all the way down into the gullies where it benches out. After acknowledging the dangers and picking our way down the safest low angle terrain we could find, we came to the standard traverse out of benchmark. an't afford to drop your guard here. On the traverse out of benchmark we had a close call with a natural avalanche that came down in front of our group, crossing the traverse track. Unless you're going to I-70, nearly everybody takes this traverse. We definitly shouldn't have been back there today. Time to hang up the gear for a while and let things settle. It's very dangerous out there, be careful.

With all due respect, what the fuck were you doing out there today?

I mean, you read and post here, yeah? Sketch conditions...

Your movie from Sunday was great.

Read the CAIC? Was that slide reported you guys?

4-5 avi deaths in the past week, "natural & human triggered slides likely"

Just sayin' might be a good day to let things settle...there are 5000+ acres to rip... hit the mile, drink some beers, stay safe-(er)

So we both edited, for obvious reasons!

Common sense and class always wins.

Rock on.

I called Vail ski patrol to tell them about our observations. They said that a skier got banged up and lost some gear on a slide in charlie's death chute. We were nowhere near that area, but I'm assuming that's what the CAIC was referring to.

That traverse always scares the shit out of me. You're skiing under so much snow and basically putting in a big slope cut above a terrain trap. I always ride it really fast, one at a time and take a deep breath when I duck into the trees. Glad to see everyone's alright.

What line did you ski; tele line far west marvins?

This board drives me crazy at times. I know there is a ton of armchair QBs that love to spew and blahblahblah after slides. However I don't think that I am one of them. I realize that there are safe lines in EV in lots of conditions. However lines like CDC are lines that...IN MY OPINION....aren't safe in most conditions.

People have different risk levels. That is ok. The fact that I don't think CDC or Old Mans or whatever isn't safe doesn't mean that it isn't within the risk level for others. When people are in slides...things went wrong. Nobody heads to ski a line with an intent for something to rip.

end rant

^^^^

could not have said it better. CDC, Old Mans, NBA, King Tuts arent all that safe and there are definitely lines in EV that are not nearly of the same consequence level. but some people accept the risk. i saw chris anthony on the bus back from meadow drive on monday and asked what he skiied...old man's. of course.

That being said I also agree that traverse outta there is pretty fucked. Scares me too. I rode west marvins along the treeline (skiiers left) monday (which was epic) and then took the traverse out. I think is the only reason why it doesn't rip more often, is the snow on that track is definitely very compacted. I've asked myself if theres a better way to get outta there, because it doesn't sit nicely with me either.

As I posted in another thread, I saw alot of smaller natural activity involving the storm snow especially around the cliff bands. Anyone who dropped into Old Mans/CDC could see the slide activity all over the bowl.

Either way, glad you posted that. It's not like the exposed portion of the traverse is unavoidable. There ARE safe lines if you know where to go.

Originally Posted by MakersTeleMark

What line did you ski; tele line far west marvins?

Yep, Joint Point along the trees on the left.

Originally Posted by montanaskier

This board drives me crazy at times. I know there is a ton of armchair QBs that love to spew and blahblahblah after slides. However I don't think that I am one of them. I realize that there are safe lines in EV in lots of conditions. However lines like CDC are lines that...IN MY OPINION....aren't safe in most conditions.

People have different risk levels. That is ok. The fact that I don't think CDC or Old Mans or whatever isn't safe doesn't mean that it isn't within the risk level for others. When people are in slides...things went wrong. Nobody heads to ski a line with an intent for something to rip.

end rant

I agree with you for the most part, but regarding people's different risk levels I think there's more to it. Obviously anytime we go back there we are taking a risk, no matter where you go. And yes people do have different acceptable levels of risk. But you also have to keep in mind that people become overly confident at times and push their luck on those bigger lines. There are people that ski old mans all the time, and since it's never slid on them they've become overly confident and comfortable skiing that line. You can have a lot of good days on Old Man's, etc, but it only takes one run to ruin your day or worse. It all comes down to evaluating the dangers every time you drop in.

Originally Posted by kleinmaf

I agree with you for the most part, but regarding people's different risk levels I think there's more to it. Obviously anytime we go back there we are taking a risk, no matter where you go. And yes people do have different acceptable levels of risk. But you also have to keep in mind that people become overly confident at times and push their luck on those bigger lines. There are people that ski old mans all the time, and since it's never slid on them they've become overly confident and comfortable skiing that line. You can have a lot of good days on Old Man's, etc, but it only takes one run to ruin your day or worse. It all comes down to evaluating the dangers every time you drop in.

Very good points...I know many people that fit that description. But like you said, it only takes one run to change everything. And if something is going to slide back there that usually doesnt, this would be one of those years.

what were you doing skiing east vail today?

hmmmm. Because I got face shots.

what happens when a photographer stands in the middle of a slide path to get the money shot?

oh, you mean the main slide path in center china wall? it's called photoshoot for just that reason.

skiier dropped that mega cornice/cliff and it ripped out on the photog and killed em....skiier skied away. afaik it was quite a while ago. maybe even before china bowl was open but i'm not really sure about that part.

I saw a huge slide there last year when I was riding a much mellower line to one chute to skiiers left (cornice already broke left of main path). Giant section of cornice naturally fell and ripped out the whole photoshoot chute full path to the ground. Garbage shear....took a shit ton of energy to make it release. (which actually speaks pretty nicely of the stability that day)

Someone standing in the middle of that thing while someone drops a cornice is just fucking insane imo. If there was no cornice, it might be different, but when that thing breaks, it slides so fucking huge every time.

Originally Posted by the machine

what happens when a photographer stands in the middle of a slide path to get the money shot?

Photographer gets fully buried in EV is what I heard. PM me details if you have them.

Originally Posted by MakersTeleMark

Photographer gets fully buried in EV is what I heard. PM me details if you have them.

The Sheriff of EV, thats who.. And he should know better wtf

Word is there is a lot of money out their in gear.

Originally Posted by media310

The Sheriff of EV, thats who.. And he should know better wtf

The Mayor of EV? The Sheriff of EV? Slide Magnet? What a Load. More like the King of Nothing.

Then it all crashes down
And you break your crown
And you point your finger
But there's no one around

Just want one thing
Just to play the king
But the castle's crumbling
And you're left with just name

Where's your crown, King Nothing?

The mountains are HUNGRY FOR SOULS!

Mayor? I dost protest. Was that #2 this year?

Little TR from the day before yesterday.

I rode trees btw. west marvins/watertower before riding the loaded NW aspect that takes you into Watertower. Stability is fine in the trees but I'm staying far away from exposed/open lines for now.

When you traverse out the trees you cross a few pronounced slide paths that have 15-25ft cliff bands at the top. Long story short this area can/does slide big enough to get yourself into serious trouble. I've seen it rip naturally a few times this year already.

When crossing these paths in questionable stability (danger was considerable on this aspect and elevation and the midpack and base are both shit) it is definitely a one-at-a-time situation.

So my friend and I are following the traverse out when we come to this area. These two fucking morons were in the CENTER of the path in a snowpit performing ECT. I think their 'logic' was that because there were like 3 mature trees above them, they were protected. Two people with all of their gear off, stomping around and digging on a prone slope prob 35 deg. steep.

Taking a photo in a slide path is one thing, but digging a pit in the middle of one? To me these people weren't taking a calculated risk.

Originally Posted by the machine

Word is there is a lot of money out their in gear.

???

WTF, dude? What kind of f'in statement is that to make in this context? GTFO, JONG.

It is the right one. I also saw these idoits probing under CDC ( which has NOT slide this year YET!!!!!!!!) for more than a hour looking for kriko's shit, he but a lot of his so called " friends" in a bad place just for a couple of dollers worth of his gear just cause he took their stupid photo.