Avalanche in East Vail 3/6/15 - 1 injured

[whipski]

Yep that was pretty big shit show for this forum

[skifishbum]

Is this a thread about an avalanche?

Kool kids call em dragons now
anyhow vibes and stoked it didn't end in the fatality colum

[grinch]

Kool kids call em dragons now
anyhow vibes and stoked it didn't end in the fatality colum

Ah yes. The big picture. We may have strayed just east of it

[Hott Butt Mud]

Lindahl hahaha. I'm pretty sure this guy isn't even that great of a skier.

+1 for Pitkin being in EAST VAIL. What a fucking moron.

[MakersTeleMark]

Lindahl hahaha. I'm pretty sure this guy isn't even that great of a skier.

+1 for Pitkin being in EAST VAIL. What a fucking moron.

I've skied with Brian. He's solid. No need for ad hominems in an avi thread.

[dglove]

I've skied with Brian. He's solid. No need for ad hominems in an avi thread.

Lindahl (who lives in both Boulder and Breckenridge):

Done smoked too much weed?

Lindahl (who lives in both Boulder and Breckenridge):

this place has no tolerance for that level of stupidity

What comes around goes around...

[TahoeJ]

Lindahl hahaha. I'm pretty sure this guy isn't even that great of a skier.

+1 for Pitkin being in EAST VAIL. What a fucking moron.

He's posted plenty of video - he's a good skier.

[powtario]

MakersTelemark, when Seth got caught a few years ago did he end up breaking his ankle? I talked to somebody in Whistler and they said that's what he deserved for skiing at Vail.

[summit]

And yeah, naming consensus in EV and getting the right map in the hands of patrol is something thats been talked about a lot. A few of the crews have been chatting about it for a while now.

A few years back, I was asked to East Vail with someone from CAIC, and we had a good tour and ski, and I created the requested map with multiple names for each line trying to match the most common names and variations for many lines. The last I heard is that it was too different from what ski patrol had or something like that so I assumed that my map was put in the recycle... so I forgot about that until now.

Sad to hear it is still a problem.

Just too many names for too many lines... a 911 dispatcher kept bothering me to coordinate list cross referenced to a map for her... too much work for too low yield and possibility for causing as much confusion as it solves.

Really, it ends up being like Maker's said: geographical features, a drainage, or as you say, GPS... as much as "sicter gnar xyz crew's name for this line" to cue SAR (and ski patrol). But pinpointing... that is done with multiple field teams, maybe helicopters, and "where are the flashing headlamps and the yelling" type of thing as often as it is done by GPS.

Though, I find GPS to be the best option when it comes to injury/incident.

First words out my mouth if I dial 911 in an backcountry emergency would be "do a phase 2 on me now" That prompts the 911 dispatcher start "push the button" that commands your phone to generate GPS coordinates and send them to dispatcher... hey maybe before the battery dies. Then proceed to explain "my ankles are broken. my ankles are broke. i have broken ankles." etc,,,

[adrenalated]

First words out my mouth if I dial 911 in an backcountry emergency would be "do a phase 2 on me now" That prompts the 911 dispatcher start "push the button" that commands your phone to generate GPS coordinates and send them to dispatcher

Quoted because this info makes this thread worthwhile. Thanks!

[COpow]

Yeah, I've suddenly found myself with a lot of free time again.

And yeah, naming consensus in EV and getting the right map in the hands of patrol is something thats been talked about a lot. A few of the crews have been chatting about it for a while now. Though, I find GPS to be the best option when it comes to injury/incident.

How about making better backcountry decisions and not relying on Vail Patrol to save your ass outside their operating boundary? (not directed at you specifically, but all the "crews")

[Goatski]

http://avalanche.state.co.us/caic/ac...rep&acc_id=560

Love the thread so far, HA! but I thought I'd add this now that the official word is out.

I was the injured skier, and it was a brutal day. I'm incredibly happy to be sitting here posting (for the first time in awhile), and I wouldn't be in such good shape had it not been for my excellent partners that day.

I also thought I'd expand on the report to pass on a few things that went right when everything around me was going very, very wrong.

On Monday, March 2, we had a very humid and warm airmass come through the valley at 10am, and it lingered until that evening. The snow went from dry fluff to sloppy mashed potatoes, and the spruces below 11,500' dropped all their snow and were dripping wet. I did 2 laps in East Vail Chutes that day - lap 1 in Pitkin Chute (W of King Arthurs) was great on the top half, then "challenging" on the lower half. I got to the bus with a sopping wet jacket. Hoping that the highest reaches of the mountain were still cold I lapped around for a Tweeners... which was only still dry on the first pitch. A major settlement day.

Then a storm rolled in and Vail reported 9" on 3/3, then 8" on 3/4. Typical of Vail, experience didn't match the report, but the mountain was fully refreshed & good to go. 3/5 was set to be sunny, so I called around and joined-in on plans to hit the Gore early and get it while the getting was good. That was strike #1 - not waiting for the storm snow to settle (24 hour rule), and feeling rushed to beat the damaging sun.

We got to the top around 9 on Thursday, and dug some hand pits. 12" of still-dry fluff on top of the snow that settled big-time on Monday. the Monday surface was even a bit wet still. Below that was solid & settled. The 12" of new didn't seem like a cohesive slab where we poked around, and we felt good about managing it. Skiing it would be great!

I had never been to this line before, and it was hard to see the line from the drop-in spot. I volunteered to go last, and told the guys that I wanted to watch from a better vantage point that looked straight down the chute. 2 dropped from the blind rollover, and the 3rd dropped closer to where I was watching. I saw where they ducked behind a cliff skiers left of the chute. When it was my turn to go... I rushed. Instead of sidestepping for 2 minutes back to where the others dropped, I just dropped from my lookout. I didn't even think about how it was a different slope and snowpack than what we had evaluated 20 yards to the north. Strike #2 - rushing myself, tunnel vision. Dropping a slope I hadn't critically evaluated. Strike #3 - dropping where the slope was steeper & the new snow was deeper more drifted. Dropping the gut of a chute 18 hours after it had stopped snowing.

I dropped and skied over a thin rocky section I hadn't seen from the top - a vent or something, almost like the top of the Y chutes at Beaver Creek (but steep). I got nervous then, and two turns later I saw the snow start to wrinkle around me. I tried to point it and get out skier's left, but I couldn't get going any faster than the sliding snow and my feet were pulled out from under me. Lying flat on my back I put my avalung in, ditched my poles & spread my arms out wide. The slide was moving slow at first, and I even had time to look back above me at the crown to see a good amount of snow moving behind me. I should've tried to kick my skis off, because it may have lessened the severity of my leg break, and also because they were nothing but anchors that I could feel pulling me down.

I looked ahead and saw the slope get steeper, and felt the slide pick-up speed as it made a turn to the left. It was good to have my avalung in as the powder cloud grew and I could no longer see. I could feel the squeeze as the slide funneled into the narrow chute. Then I felt light as I must've been shot off a "cliff", or at least a real steep part of the slidepath. Then I came down HARD and felt my leg break. Not sure if my ski was still on, maybe the leg broke as it was torn off. Or maybe it was just such a hard impact that it had no chance. The impact caused me to spit my avalung out. Hard to say which way was up at that point as I started tumbling.

Two things went through my head at that point:
1) keep my mouth clamped shut - don't let any snow in the lungs
2) swim, fight, claw for the surface

I could feel the slide slowing down and i figured out I was on my belly, head uphill, because I could feel snow rushing over my head and down over my back. I started doing push-up movements to get up to the top (total crazy instinct, but i remember the pushing). Just as the slide was stopping I put my hands up in front of my mouth, which was still clamped hard. Then I finally stopped, and the snow around me was very white. I remember thinking "YES!!!!" and I did another push-up which got the back of my head to poke above the surface. I clawed out a tunnel to breathe and thanked the mountain for not taking me. Then I felt blood dripping and pooling around my kneecap.

I was face down, head uphill, and mostly straight. Except I could tell my left heel was pointed up...but my knee wasn't bent. I figured out that I had a boottop break just as the adrenaline wore off. And then I started screaming for my friends.

One was on the phone with 911 already. Every minute counted and it was great that he had started the process. Placing the call from the hillside was smart too - what if there was no service on the valley floor?

Another started zig-zagging the slide path at 20 meter traverses - what if I had gotten tied-up on a tree or bush?

The third skied down towards the toe, where it was most likely I'd end up. He saw my backpack from afar, then no doubt heard me screaming. He was there probably 3 minutes after the slide and started digging me out. I told him to be careful - I had a boottop break, and it was bleeding. But I also told him to please hurry and get me straightened out ASAP.

The other two joined the effort once they got down and dug a flat spot for me to roll over onto, we'd leave the broken leg on the snow and I'd rotate over it to my back. Holy OWCH. Cried for my momma. We all knew we had to elevate it, so they gave me a minute then we moved the leg again GAHHHHHH, and put it up on a backpack covered with snow. Then they cut my pantleg open to view the gore. Much uglier than the surrounding Gore views. We called 911 again to tell them how bad the injury was.

The buddy with WFR experience took the lead and called for gauze out of his first aid kit. He washed-up his hands in the snow and packed the gauze into the wound, which was open to the size of a slice of bread. They had a good look at my broken tibia poking out the inside of my calf. The fibula was broken in two places as well, but contained in shredded calf muscle and busted fascia. They got sandwich baggies out of the first aid kit, packed them with snow, and put them around the leg. Then it was time to build a splint. They used a climbing skin on each side of the lower leg to pad the two shovel handles that went on the outsides of the skins. Then a few handy voile straps to cinch it all together- OUWWWW

Search and rescue called back just then. They had looked at our location gathered from the 911 calls, and combined with the description of the injury they had decided to send a heli. That was great news. We were 2.2 miles up the valley from the trailhead, a 45 min skootch if everything had gone well and we were to head down to the cars for beers. Probably a 4 hour toboggan ride.

My friends kept me alert while we waited, trying to keep me from shock. Taking my pulse every now and then. Making me tell them stories. Having me tell them every detail about my wedding day. Piling me with all of their layers to keep me warm. Rotating gloves for me to wear because I was hypothermic. Rubbing my hands to warm them up. Snow had found it's way into every layer that I was wearing, and I was soaked.

[Goatski]

I heard a thwap-thwap-thwap in the distance. A blackhawk helicopter flew up the valley, looking for a landing zone. Then it flew back down to a nearby school to pick-up the rescuers. 15 minutes later it was thwapping back up, and it dropped-off 2 rescuers with a cascade toboggan 100 yards below. It was 11:00, and the slide had happened around 9:10. The rescuers climbed-up and tried to give me IV painkillers.... but I was too cold and my veins wouldn't cooperate. I was lifted >>PHUUUcccKKKK<< into the tobaggan. They slid me down to the heli, where I was loaded into the massive bay with soldiers from the high-altitude training base out of Gypsum. My friends stayed behind to clean-up the mess, and I was super relieved to take-off towards definitive care.

I was loaded into an ambulance at the school's soccer field, then into Vail ER for initial evaluation. The CT scan only showed 1 of my 3 arteries working, so they prepared the flight for life to send me to Denver Health (vascular specialists). After a very beautiful ride over the Gore and Front ranges, we descended into the canyons of downtown Denver and my hospital captivity began. After 6 days & 3 surgeries I finally crutched out to fresh air, wriggled into my wife's car, and followed I-70 back home. Home sweet home, with a beautiful wife that could've lost me. It is bittersweet, and there is a lot of guilt. Because I was rushing around, impatient to ski fresh snow. Because I have many, many days in the Gore range and beyond, and was starting to get a little too comfortable. Because there is always another line to check off the list, a cooler descent to figure-out. Maybe because it is so damn fun.

I will return to the backcountry, but my goals will be scaled-back. I'll be happy in the trees, meadow-skipping & corn skiing. Maybe I'll hit the Gore a week after the latest storm. Gutting a line the first time I've seen it? Never again. You'll find me on the fringes, the spines, the high ground. I've used-up my luck.

I hope my story can help people imagine the consequences, and also prepare for the worst. If sharing the experience can help someone remember to clamp their jaw shut and keep the snow out, it's been worth typing. When the snow starts moving is when the fight begins. Better to run away than have to fight, but shit happens. Take your time out there, and try to stay safe everyone!

[BraddA]

Remarkable story, thanks for sharing. Stoked for you and your family.

[Rideski]

Three cheers for your ski buddies Goatski, glad you're still around.

[Lindahl]

Glad to hear you're relatively ok man.

[North]

Thanks for sharing, and best of luck on the leg recovery!

[John_B]

How did gauze do stopping/slowing the bleeding? I've had a couple of "Quickclot" bandages in my FA kit plus one compression bandage. Any shoulda/woulda other than not getting caught? Sounds like keeping warm was a challenge. Thanks for posting this, it was a great writeup.

[Micol]

Glad you're resonably well for such a ride. Vibes++++
Thank you for sharing your story

[_Aaron_]

Dang dude. Heal up quick!

[jm020]

Thanks for the write up! Glad you're pretty much OK. Here's to a speedy recovery!

[blazes_boylan]

Thanks for sharing. There's much we all can learn from what you shared. Heal up soon!

[Tips^Up]

Thanks for sharing the story. Hope you have a quick and full recovery and will be on the bike soon this summer! Really glad results weren't worse.

[mrburns]

Thanks for sharing. Here's to a speedy recovery.

[tone capone]

Keep us posted Goatskt, best wishes on your recovery and may you take 2 steps forward from this one setback.