Spearhead Traverse close call

[Eldo]

Interesting comments by SAR.

Skier escapes death after fall down crevasse
Trapped in ice, woman rescued unharmed in B.C.
CATHRYN ATKINSON
From Thursday's Globe and Mail
May 8, 2008 at 5:28 AM EDT
A skier near Whistler had a narrow escape on Sunday after falling nine metres down a backcountry crevasse.

The 26-year-old woman, who was with two male friends, was uninjured by her fall but trapped in the ice. The Lower Mainland resident was ski touring through an area called the Spearhead traverse, a popular route of 12 peaks that connect Whistler and Blackcomb mountains.

Whistler Search and Rescue manager Brad Sills said yesterday that the woman fell through a bergschrund, a crevasse that is created by a moving glacier separating from static ice above it.

Such crevasses are deep and can extend all the way to the bedrock.

"Typically, they fill in with snow in the winter and it is a common danger in the spring that they become rotten, the snow that sits on top thins. It's not as strong as it is in the winter," Mr. Sills said.

The woman fell at around 11:30 a.m. and was finally freed at 4 p.m. Whistler SAR arrived at around 2:30 p.m., and took about 90 minutes to extricate the woman. Mr. Sills added that good weather, coupled with the fact that the party alerted SAR by satellite phone, allowing rescuers to get a helicopter in quickly.

"She was in good health, a little cold. We took her to the clinic for a check-up, but she was released soon after," he said.

"It's nice to do a good-ending story. It's prime time to go ski touring, but the people who are doing it need to know the basic rules. The basic mountaineering rule is that whenever you are on a glacier, you should be roped together."

Ski touring is popular from this time of year well into the summer, said Mr. Sills, because the days are longer, brighter and warmer.

He said backcountry skiers traversing this route can easily reach it from the lifts that are still in operation at Whistler.

Mr. Sills, who oversaw the nine-person SAR team on Sunday, said two other ski parties came by and weren't roped up either.

He compared skiers unfavourably with climbers, who he said understand the need to be roped together to arrest the fall of a person who slips into a crevasse.

"The lessons were really hard learned by the mountaineering community through fatal accidents. And I don't think that has been generally acknowledged by the skiing community. The culture of safety is taking a beating," he said. "Climbers are always roped, that's the cardinal rule, and it applies to everybody."

Mr. Sills said that apart from injuries, those who fall into crevasses can succumb to hypothermia.

He said the woman didn't seem to realize her potential peril.

"Had we not been able to access her in a timely fashion, she would have expired," he said. "I don't think she really understood the danger she was in. She was thankful for being rescued, but I don't think she understood in the way the rescue party was concerned about what could have happened."

[powder11]

its a sketchy time of year out there. lots of rollerballs the size of car coming down, cornices dropping, crevasses opening up, rotten snow... time to watch your p's and q's.

[huck4bucks]

Checking BigTrubs. Please come to the white courtesy phone.

edit: I forgot she's chillin' with the Pope. Carry on.

[Hugh Conway]

An idea where on the Spearhead? 11:30am would be early on.

[guermo]

Gnarly. After just being on the traverse 3 weeks ago, I can say it is pretty big terrain out there with alot of danger. I only saw one other party out there and neither of us were roped up. Came close to falling into a hole that opened up way back from a cornice myself. This article makes me realize how much peril there is out there, and how I should have probably been roped up in spots myself. It's difficult though to know when to be roped up and when not to - when crossing gnarly avy slopes (many on the traverse) do you really want to be roped up 100 feet from your partner? Or do you want to stick to normal skier avy protocol and cross the slope one at a time. Alot of judgement calls here.

[LeeLau]

interesting comment by Brad. This time of year slots are easy to avoid. There's some exposure at Tremor, the Curtain, Fitzsimmons, Overlord. I'll try to find out. Í've brought rope once and its been to ski cut on belay.

Will try to find out where.

[GeezerSteve]

It's difficult though to know when to be roped up and when not to - when crossing gnarly avy slopes (many on the traverse) do you really want to be roped up 100 feet from your partner? Or do you want to stick to normal skier avy protocol and cross the slope one at a time. Alot of judgement calls here.

Good comments. Glacier skiing poses a layer of issues over top of those present with glacier travel on boots. Has anyone out there tried a team arrest while wearing skis? Over the years, I've practiced team arrests with and without skis (and been involved in a few team arrests for real w/o skis), and it's damn amazing how wearing skis makes such a difference. Assuming all other factors are constant, a team arrest while booting may be routine, while a team arrest with skis can be downright impossible. Scary shit.

[PaulB]

An idea where on the Spearhead? 11:30am would be early on.

Assuming they started from the lifts that day, they'd probably be between Decker and Pattison, maybe below Tremor. If they overnighted, it could have been anywhere.

This article makes me realize how much peril there is out there, and how I should have probably been roped up in spots myself. It's difficult though to know when to be roped up and when not to... Alot of judgement calls here.

I'd wager that the majority of experienced ski tourers choose to never put on (or even take) a rope when doing the Spearhead, at least from mid-winter to early spring. I probably wouldn't if I were to do it this weekend but in another couple of weeks, after some warm weather, I'd be more apt to take crevasse gear. As Lee said, right now most of the dangers are obvious and, as always, smart route selection goes a long way to keeping you safe.

Everyone makes decisions based on their own knowledge and experience. I'd read Mr. Sills comments that "The culture of safety is taking a beating," and "Climbers are always roped, that's the cardinal rule, and it applies to everybody." as a bit of boilerplate soapboxing to those new to touring and the general public.

On the other hand, Whistler SAR probably rescues a lot of people who's stupidty and/or ignorance got them into trouble, so I can understand the "do it by the book" message.

[bigtrubs]

Checking BigTrubs. Please come to the white courtesy phone.

edit: I forgot she's chillin' with the Pope. Carry on.

haha yep... and I'm 23. not chilling with the Pope quite yet... fly calgary to london tonight, arrive in Rome on Sunday.

[Jordo]

Effective glacier travel is an ongoing risk assessment of safety vs speed and ski traverse parties obviously must weigh this balance. Obviously the key to deriving the best balance comes from anticipating likelihoods of risk, which is a skill born out of experience.

And, yes, as PaulB noted, SAR does not have the luxury of articulating this tricky dynamic; they must give a more clear cut picture to the public.

[LeeLau]

Brad is very experienced so no comment from me on his comment:

http://www.theglobeandmail.com/servl.../National/home

See comments there for clarification from Ron Klopfer - member of the party

[ptavv]

How does one use a rope prophylactically? It sounds fun.

[Jordo]

Appropriate word choice for Whistler.

[AKturnanburn]

He compared skiers unfavourably with climbers, who he said understand the need to be roped together to arrest the fall of a person who slips into a crevasse.

"The lessons were really hard learned by the mountaineering community through fatal accidents. And I don't think that has been generally acknowledged by the skiing community. The culture of safety is taking a beating," he said. "Climbers are always roped, that's the cardinal rule, and it applies to everybody."

I very much agree with this statement. It also applies to snowmachiners at the same level. The least we should do is carry crevasse rescue gear, ascenders, perlon, snow stake/ice screws, and a harness, just in case. I know its a close balance but the more this stuff happens the more it will become common practice. don't fuck with glaciers after the first few major melts has been my philosophy for a while (depending on how much snow you've had of course).

[PNW Skier]

Careful out there people, that's a gnarly traverse when the snow is good!

[LeeLau]

According to SAR this incident happened at Northeast aspect of Ripsaw Glacier . Lat : 50. 02’. 22.9” Long : 122. 47’. 08.5”

That's very interesting. I've skied this route a few times although I traverse lower then where the incident occurs and its not the place one would expect a slot!

Here's a map showing the location. The rescue spot is a bit skiers left of Ripsaw-Naden col. Ripsaw-naden col is one of the cols that you would hit going downhill if you're doing a Blackcomb - Whistler Spearhead traverse. It's reasonable to conclude that the party was doing a Blackcomb - Whistler Spearhead traverse since the Whistler lifts are shut down right now.

Since the party was at this point, it's reasonable to conclude that it was either a very fast Spearhead-in-a-day party or a multi-day party.




Here's the Ripsaw Glacier - which looks so benign. These shots were taken from last year. The slot might be on picture right. The usual route is to traverse high without skins on the Ripsaw then ski down to Ripsaw-Naden col in picture centre. The incident occurred higher then where the skier in the picture is heading downhill



Here's the same vantage of the Ripsaw Glacier looking to Ripsaw-Naden col. The incident occurred just to the right of the head of the skier in the shot



This shot was taken from 2006 in a low snow year around April. The Ripsaw Glacier is used extensively for heli-skiing and is quite low-angle. The incident occurred just off to the left of the picture

[LeeLau]

Here are the comments from the other person in the party

Ron Klopfer from Vancouver, Canada writes: As a member of this ski party, I'll offer some clarification and comments:
-We were a party of six, without a guide, but with extensive collective ski mountaineering experience
-We were not carrying a satellite phone, but did have a recently-introduced transponder device that proved to be very effective: www.findmespot.com
-Of the dozens of other ski parties I have encountered on this and previous trips on the Spearhead route, I have never seen a group roped together. The crevasse risk on this route is comparatively low. Even SAR staff have told me that they do not rope-up on this route.
-We should have been carrying a rope, even if we weren't using it prophylactically. Our party was trained in crevasse rescue techniques, but those skills are worthless without the required equipment.
-The biggest lesson learned, from my perspective, is to stop and assess/discuss each section of a route as a group. The one open crevasse on this particular glacier would have been apparent had we stopped to inspect the glacier from above before skiing it.
-The secondary take-away is that one should generally ski the fall-line of a glacier, rather than "traversing high" to preserve elevation (as we did). Traversing high dictates that your ski path runs parallel to the bergshrund openings, which are also situated high on the glacier. This increases your odds of a mishap significantly.
-The victim was very well aware indeed of how fortunate she was to come out of this in one piece.

Interestingly, almost every track I've seen on the Spearhead on about 5x doing this route indicates that parties traverse high.

[guermo]

According to SAR this incident happened at Northeast aspect of Ripsaw Glacier . Lat : 50. 02’. 22.9” Long : 122. 47’. 08.5”

That's very interesting. I've skied this route a few times although I traverse lower then where the incident occurs and its not the place one would expect a slot!

Here's a map showing the location. The rescue spot is a bit skiers left of Ripsaw-Naden col. Ripsaw-naden col is one of the cols that you would hit going downhill if you're doing a Blackcomb - Whistler Spearhead traverse. It's reasonable to conclude that the party was doing a Blackcomb - Whistler Spearhead traverse since the Whistler lifts are shut down right now.

Since the party was at this point, it's reasonable to conclude that it was either a very fast Spearhead-in-a-day party or a multi-day party.




Here's the Ripsaw Glacier - which looks so benign. These shots were taken from last year. The slot might be on picture right. The usual route is to traverse high without skins on the Ripsaw then ski down to Ripsaw-Naden col in picture centre. The incident occurred higher then where the skier in the picture is heading downhill



Here's the same vantage of the Ripsaw Glacier looking to Ripsaw-Naden col. The incident occurred just to the right of the head of the skier in the shot



This shot was taken from 2006 in a low snow year around April. The Ripsaw Glacier is used extensively for heli-skiing and is quite low-angle. The incident occurred just off to the left of the picture

Thanks for the info Lee. Shit, I crossed in that exact same spot - I think you can even see the schrund in this photo:

[LeeLau]

That's my point guermo - I think almost every party I've seen crosses in that same spot

[Hugh Conway]

Thanks very much for the info Lee - not where I would have expected a fall.

[Cheesestoff]

thats right near where we camped.. wouldn't have thought it would happen there, but I guess the mellowness of the terrain turns everyones radar off

[forest]

damn, I skied that very line, solo, in a whiteout a month ago. I'd been thinking about slots all day, but not there. Certainly wasn't roped to anyone. hmmm, makes you think abit.

[shirk]

pfffft is slackcountry terrain out there, come on you can be at Starbucks in an hour from any point in the Whistler backcountry. Safety smafety, stare danger in the eye I say.

[Lone Star]

"It's nice to do a good-ending story. It's prime time to go ski touring, but the people who are doing it need to know the basic rules. The basic mountaineering rule is that whenever you are on a glacier, you should be roped together."

.......

He compared skiers unfavourably with climbers, who he said understand the need to be roped together to arrest the fall of a person who slips into a crevasse.

"The lessons were really hard learned by the mountaineering community through fatal accidents. And I don't think that has been generally acknowledged by the skiing community. The culture of safety is taking a beating," he said. "Climbers are always roped, that's the cardinal rule, and it applies to everybody."

......


He said the woman didn't seem to realize her potential peril.

"Had we not been able to access her in a timely fashion, she would have expired," he said. "I don't think she really understood the danger she was in. She was thankful for being rescued, but I don't think she understood in the way the rescue party was concerned about what could have happened."

interesting quotes. surprising to see such judgment passed by SAR personnel.

[LeeLau]

Brad Sills actually gave the reporter quite a few comment. Apparently the reporter was selective in her selection of quotes