TR: Blower on the Silver and Troubles in Dead Elk

[spankthepow]

Sunday 4/10

Miss Spank and I had been eyeing the Silver Couloir for the past few weeks, hoping to check off another classic descent. With snow in the forecast along with high winds, we took our time and arrived at the trailhead around 11AM. We were hoping that new snow would fall/transport onto the Silver to avoid an icy descent. We made our way to the summit pretty quickly and dropped into this.









Dropping another classic in blower was a treat, but we paid for it on the way out. We managed to turn a 4-hour day into an 8-hour day by missing the turnoff back to the trail. All the new snow had covered up any old tracks that led out and we made the mistake of following the aqueduct for quite some time, eventually realizing that we were not heading back to our car. Instead, we found ourselves in some gated community along HWY 9.

After slogging out of the neighborhood and along HWY 9, some guy pulls over and asks if we need a ride back to the trailhead. We gladly accepted and hopped in his truck, later finding out it was Shredgnar. I got pretty confused when Shredgnar offered us beers thinking that it should be the other way around. We shared stories and chatted for a good hour or so before it got completely dark. Its funny how things work out in the end. Thanks again Shredgnar for picking up the Miss and I, we definitely owe you a few cold ones.


Monday 4/11

This gets part gets lengthy and I apologize, but shit hit the fan for us on this line and it could have gone differently (not an avalanche incident).

Sinus issues have been slowing the Miss down the past few days, so she decided to stay back and rest while my roommate Kyle and I went up to RMNP to bag another line. Winds were much higher than forecasted and our original goal of the Notch Couloir didn’t look like too much fun since we would be at the mercy of the winds for a long time. We decided to go for option #2 and drop into Dead Elk Couloir, another line on my to-do list that I had been scoping for a while. We chose this because we would avoid the hike all the way around divide and I thought it would be a little more protected from winds, allowing the snow to soften up. We droppen in and rode to the downclimb, and found icy conditions as well as the winds ripping thru the choke. Not exactly what I was expecting. We slowly worked our way thru, being cautious of the ice and loose rock, and worked together to get our gear down each section.

Kyle heading up Flattop


Kyle beginning the downclimb


Spank in the downclimb




I knew well before dropping in that there was going to be a possible jump at the end of the downclimb. This aspect of the line was not a surprise. After scoping it out, I decided the left side of the boulder looked better to descend. I judged this by how deep a good-sized rock that I had pushed down had landed in the snow. It appeared to be soft on top and I assumed that winds coming thru the choke would transport snow below this boulder. It was only a 2’ drop for me, so I lowered myself till the last possible moment and then let go. This is when things went bad.

Before I continue, here’s some POV what happened in Dead Elk.



I slid. I kept sliding. I went over a boulder and slid even more. Kyle watched in horror as I came to a stop 25’-30’ below the downclimb. Somehow, I had managed to immediately get into a self-arrest position upon hitting the snow. It all happened in slow-motion as I dug my axe into the snow and held on for dear life, coming to a stop below the giant boulder I had just ridden over. I was extremely shaken up by what just happened and pretty freaked out to be 100% honest. I collected myself and I hiked back up as far as I could, only to find a section of bulletproof snow between Kyle and I. With no crampons, there was no way to get back to Kyle. Originally, we planned to hand gear down after each section to allow us to be more maneuverable. Now Kyle had two boards and the daunting task of getting down with both of them.

At this point, all I could do was watch and be Kyle’s eyes from below. There was no way he was going to descend the same way I did, so he went back to the right side of the boulder. He placed the snowboards vertically in the snow and used the bindings as a step to allow him to step down in control while avoiding a fall into the giant gap between the rock and snow. Carefully, he strapped my board onto his pack and laid it above him. Then, he cut himself out a very small bench to lay his board on. Facing uphill, he strapped in. This was not easy. With a boulder in front of him, ice behind him, and a gaping hole beside him, words cannot describe how difficult this move was. Kyle pulled it off and then threw his pack on with my board attached to it and slideslipped down to me, where I repeated his move. With the ice axe keeping my board from moving, I strapped in facing uphill as this entire section had refrozen and a toeside edge was essential. I sideslipped down, not making a single turn until I had reached daylight and soft snow.

Kyle and I stopped, put our axes away and gathered ourselves before making turns in heavy powder down the apron. These were some of the best turns of my life, mainly because I knew that our “ordeal” was over and we were out of there safe.

So happy to be on the apron


Kyle making turns






I’ve been replaying these events over and over in my mind, not only extremely thankful to ride away without a scratch, but also with the goal of learning from this.

Things I believe we did right:
1) Immediately got into a self-arrest position
2) Took our time, we carefully thought out how to get out of this situation
3) Stayed cool. While both of us were freaking out on the inside, we remained calm visibly. This was key for both of us. It was a reassurance of sorts that we were going to be ok.

Things I did not do right/questionable:
1) Body position during self-arresting. I was unable to fully position myself over my axe for two reasons. I wasn't able to pull myself up on my axe and I became too focused on the boulder, slowing my reaction to properly stop myself.
2) I did not bring crampons. I’m torn if this would have actually helped me. If I had them on, I believe I would have tumbled head over heels. But then again, I would have made it back to Kyle.
3) Misjudged the snow and made assumptions.

I consider myself very fortunate. While this may not seem like much, it could have gone very differently in my opinion. I’m very thankful that I had an excellent and competent partner and friend that day. Without him, this would have been a very different experience. I made mistakes this weekend. These are the two biggest mistakes I’ve made so far. One turned out to be awesome. The other got me scared shitless.

[soylent green]

I will loan the next party to try this line a RAPPEL LINE! Jesus you guys learn some climin skills to match your riding skills.

Great TR's keep em coming!

[soylent green]

Ok, I just watched the video. The mountaineering skills are present. Nice self arrest. I woulda rapped. Just sayin.

[spankthepow]

I regret not bringing my 30m rope. It would have been extremely useful and I had even thought about packing it the night before. I recommend anyone looking to do this line to rappel.

[_Aaron_]

Hairy shit man. Glad you made it out unscathed and just got a dose of humble pie out of that. From the looks of it, Dead Elk could have served up much more than that.

Buff looked excellent to say the least.

[pappag]

Fuck the rope ... real men cross their fingers and huck that final downclimb section. But seriously, nice save on the board almost flying away as well as your body. Surprised to see the winds hammering hard inside the couloir. Ultimately, the Dead Elk apron is what it's all about ... such a fun descent that skis much better than Dragon's Tail. And those Buff photos make me (almost) want to give'r again this year under pow conditions. Well done.

[Name Redacted]

Glad I could help you guys out. Always good to help out a few splitters and share some beers, don't worry, I have plenty of beer to go around. We'll have to ride sometime in the future.

Glad you made it out of dead elk ok too. At least you didn't get lost on that one.

[MakersTeleMark]

I don't think I've ever seen a more classic instant self arrest caught on tape. It most definitely saved you from at least some serious injury. Great execution, and glad you are around to share it. I don't like this recent trend of "just hop off" into the unknown. It tends to lead that way.

As for Buffalo, I've posted clear pictures of the exit up and R years ago to save folks from exactly that slog. I don't know if a search will reveal it, but it's worth a shot. I solo'd it the morning of the Mini in '06 and made the same mistake - it was my first time on that line, and there wasn't anyone else around. I've skied in that area a bunch since then, and have never missed it again.

[FiveLarge]

Wow - on many fronts. Thanks for sharing the experience and vid. Glad you guys made it out unscathed. Scary stuff for sure.

And primo conditions on Buff. That looked super sweet.

[thin cover]

Having taking a slide like that last year resulting in catastrophe, I can attest to feeling and emotion involved. Nice arrest and stop and glad you made it out ok and got to shred that line. I thought I was going to be able to stop for a minute until my whippet shaft snapped off right at the axe head while I was applying pressure. I think by the time I had righted myself to self arrest I had to much speed and velocity with my weight.

[adimmen]

Ballsy jump given the firm snow. Even better self arrest. I always carry cord and webbing for cutting cornices and situations like this. It has abated things like this multiple times.

The situation could have been significantly worse if the one board had blown off the mountain and then this happened. Way to get out safely. Sometimes these days are more memorable than the epic ones.

[madturtle]

Great TR/write up thanks for sharing. Way to keep your cool for the self arrest and double props for not getting tumbled by that exposed rock you went by.

I think the decision to not haul a rope, webbing, crampons etc is always a tough one when they are just dead weight 90+% of the time...of course the same could be said for shovel probe and beacon.

[Imz]

Wow- Johnny on the spot self arresting- crazy footage of you staring at your axe.

Seems like a rope might have been handy if you knew you might have to downclimb.

Glad everything worked out!

[alldownhill]

Glad everything worked out. Buffalo looked fun.

I think I ran into you guys on buffalo cabin trail? Talked to 2 people headed up to silver... I had a little skittish dog with me.

[telejb]

Glad you're ok! Hard to tell from the video, but looks like you guys made the downclimb harder than it needed to be. When I was on it earlier this year, we stayed to skiers right, not left, and it was pretty easy, except for a tricky move to reach the snow at the end seen below, as Michelle is almost through it.



Great line though!

[BrianH]

You made a bad decision (jumping the last few feet) and lived to tell about it. That's called experience. Way to keep chill when things got hectic and yeah, a really nice self-arrest.

Ditto on the rapping. Yes it sucks to take your gear on a walk, but many of the alternatives are worse.

[spankthepow]

Thanks everyone,

Like I said earlier, a rope would have been nice to bring. Also keep in mind the "jump" seems way bigger that it actually was because my head travelled much further than my feet did.

Shred: Let's definitely get out soon!

alldownhill: Yep, that was us!

telejb: That side of the rock didn't any better at the time, about as bad as the left side (as viewed from above at least). Had it looked like that, I would have taken that route.

[hutash]

In hindsight the jump was a bad idea, but even in foresight, it probably wasn't a good idea either considering the unknown. glad it went well and congrats on a self arrest. The trick is to get into it immediately as you did. It looked like the boulder actually slowed you down, and gave the pick a little more bite then in the snow which you cut right through.

Question: could you not cut steps back up with the adze? It didn't look exactly bullet proof considering how easily the pick cut through the snow.

[adimmen]

50 feet of cord weighs 3-5 ounces and is the size of an iphone. This isn't an attack on you or any particular poster....just a suggestion that a full climbing rope isn't the only option.

[Rip'nStick]

50 feet of cord weighs 3-5 ounces and is the size of an iphone. This isn't an attack on you or any particular poster....just a suggestion that a full climbing rope isn't the only option.

Ditto. Doesn't have to be dynamic. Also critical to have in case you need to make a sled and drag your buddy out. 30M of 8.2 dynamic for stuff you know might get hairy (might have gone this way given your known mandatory air and unknown season conditions), but I pretty much carry 10M of .5? anytime I'm beyond side country. Again, multiple uses but a small rappel being one. Costs are minimal compared to rope.

Not armchair QBing, you all look capable. I just learned the use of rope as a kid tramping around in the forest. Never know when you might get cliffed out. Having been cliffed out and having to make the leap of faith with bad consequences, I don't want to repeat the experience.


Weather (white out) can also change where you think you are and best laid plans. Little cord is pretty helpful then.

[spankthepow]

Question: could you not cut steps back up with the adze? It didn't look exactly bullet proof considering how easily the pick cut through the snow.

No. I tried, but it was pretty useless. The snow was much firmer above the boulder than it was below it. Even getting my axe in was tough while hiking up. The footage of me hiking up after the fall was below the boulder.

Adimmen and Rip-

Thanks, and I definitely agree with you guys about rope not being the only option. I will be carrying cord from now on to prevent the future shitting of my pants.

[Rip'nStick]

Watched the POV. That looks fun minus the self arrest over the boulder stuff. Thanks for posting stoke as well of what could have been not so stokeworthy

[SchralphMacchio]

dang, thanks for posting and glad that didn't go worse. It looked like just about the least frantic self arrest I could imagine given the situation. This is what I call a free lesson ... singed your ball hairs but didn't cost you when it could have, and cost me even less and hopefully I learned from this too.

[smitchell333]

Whewwww.

I'm not a fan of downclimbs at all.

Is that a skier at the bottom of Dead Elk at the end of video? Thought you were with a boarder.

[wardog]

Holy shit, I'm glad you made it. It's great to have good partners.

It was a bit of luck that when the board blew loose it presented itself to you in a grabbable way, but still you made an excellent save. Likewise as others have said, you did a fantastic job getting the self arrest started instantly when you landed. It's way better to start a half-decent self arrest instantly than to start a perfect one too late.

With that wind I'm sure it was intense enough even before the mishaps.

And as everyone has said, it makes sense to carry some cord and a couple slings.