NY Times article on the Feb 2012 Stevens Pass avalanche

[nogophers]

Very long, thorough and well-written feature on the tragic events from last season. Although I cringed at a few things the author wrote, I remembered his audience. This will be nominated for a Pulitzer.

http://www.nytimes.com/projects/2012/snow-fall/

Edit: Someone already posted in the Slide Zone...Sorry for the duplication, but it's here for those who don't frequent that thread.

[Scooter65]

I also saw this in Slidezone, glad I went to it...I was familiar with the events and some of the folks involved from earlier articles in Powder, Outside etc. The NYTimes presentation is pretty powerful though, including helmet cam footy from Elyse and others from that day...that is actually in a slightly different video clip(10 minutes or so...) on the story that for some reason is not found in the above article...I didnt find it that way at least...

http://www.nytimes.com/video/2012/12...nel-creek.html

[road trip]

Reading this article at breakfast made me about an hour late for work today. Couldn't turn away.

[akahn]

Wow, this is amazing.

[Like a Boss]

Great piece and a must read.

[ColoMike]

A compelling piece of journalism. Read it at work and could not turn away. This approach to media just might save the newspaper business.

[Lamothe]

Read this at work , i work at a desk at a hotel , probably wasn't the best place. Take the time , grab a drink and read this.

[maloik]

It's not only a great read, technically speaking this is excellent as well (from a web designer/developer point of view, that is). Best thing I've seen all year, this might change the face of online publishing, or at least I hope it will

[puma]

It's not only a great read, technically speaking this is excellent as well (from a web designer/developer point of view, that is). Best thing I've seen all year, this might change the face of online publishing, or at least I hope it will

Agreed. A must read/watch for everyone.

[splat]

Holy shit. The NYT dedicated this story its own section in today's paper, like 6-8 pages,two page spread photo of Tunnel Creek.
Pick it up if you can.

xpost from slide zone.....

[cocavaak]

We must get over the feeling that someone will think less of us if we say we have doubts about a run. Realize that we must always voice our concerns. We must learn.

[gimpy]

awesomeness on all levels.

anybody notice that the guy who found the pole at the bottom had to pull his beacon out of his pack. i dont own a tracker so i couldnt tell if he was also just turning it on at that time as well.

group dynamics and ski touring is a tricky beast. really goes to show the importance of skiing w/ people you know and trust

[WK Monoskier]

I will always remember being at Stevens that day...riding up the Southern Cross chair and seeing the ridgeline hike roped off and closed, I thought that was quite odd, it's never closed. Shortly after that, I learned of the Tunnel Creek avalanche. I had no idea of the severity of the avalanche until driving down Hwy 2 and seeing all the emergency response vehicles and the slide zone. A tragic day but a very well done article.

[darkstar1974]

Great article about a very scary topic. Be safe out there and never be afraid to have 2nd thoughts.

[jfost]

... really goes to show the importance of skiing w/ people you know and trust

and the importance of being lucky (or unlucky)...

[ulty_guy]

Group dynamics are just huge aren't they. Article does a great job at zeroing in on that part of the puzzle. Mountains don't care.

In my experience, theres always multiple mistakes made. 2 of the 3 stupid situations I've gotten myself into involved a group dynamic that played their part in clouding my judgement.

Edit- anyone else pick up on the number of times people didn't do or say something cause they didn't want to seem 'uncool'?

[EarlyWood]

anybody notice that the guy who found the pole at the bottom had to pull his beacon out of his pack.

i was wondering about that too...

riveting account by the nyt, and very sad

[cocavaak]

anybody notice that the guy who found the pole at the bottom had to pull his beacon out of his pack.

Yea I noticed that. I was taught to always wear your beacon, your pack can get ripped off as it did with one guy.

[icelanticskier]

good article. That outing was destined to end in tragedy long before that large group hit the snow that day.

Too bad. the list of Avy related deaths continue to grow and will continue to do so, so long as we all are human.

Rog

[MotoBeak]

That article is a great presentation of a terrible event. I think I'll have that in my head every time I'm in the backcountry. Very sobering.

[tarkman1]

When some mini in Mammoth comes along and a few of us hatch a plan to ski something ambitious like the Pinner or Mendenhall...then word spreads...somehow fifteen of us wind up in a predicament that the suppressed better judgement would have been the best defense.

[splat]

As someone who's had a few articles and photos in ski rags over the years, I am quite familiar with what I feel the dynamic that occurred there might have been. When you show up at a resort with a couple pros in tow for the shots, the one guy that wants to make your visit memorable is the marketing director. A lot of times he'll have a local skier who is well known and/or knows the area well and they'll suggest the best place to mine for photos. Then a few people hear about it and want to tag along. And it starts...

The best person to have along in these ready to shred groups that come together fast is a ski patrol person. As your designated guardian/guide and someone who knows the season's snowpack, they will most often shut down a foray into sketch terrain that a gung ho group might think would be a great run/photo op/memory. The dynamic needs a circuit breaker to allow the switch to flip to off and halt going any further when his/her snow sense dictates in opposition to the groups thinking.

I know I have personally been aghast when patrol shut our group down on some great photo op terrain. Only to realize later that they probably saved our lives.

[Tye 1on]

Interesting review in the New Yorker.

[Pegleg]

The thing I kept thinking about was the decision of the three (Wesley, Pankey and Carlson I think) who got sketched at the top and cut skier's left into the trees, away from the sweet, sweet meadows (and the avy path). Would I have made that decision? I know I'd have been sketched out - in fact, I wouldn't have been there at all because after seeing that avy report and knowing that there was a ton of new snow on top of an older base, I'd almost certainly have chickened out on going out of bounds at all. (That is to say, I'm a pussy - not that I know better than any of the people involved. I probably wouldn't have gone even if the report wasn't so dicey.) But assuming I was there, I know what I'd be thinking:

"It looks sketchy here, I don't know if I trust this. But if I bail and cut out, I'm going to meet Jack, Rudolph, etc. at the bottom and they're going to tell me about how I just missed the greatest run of my life and how there was nothing to worry about. So maybe I just sack up and go for it, I'm sure it'll be fine and I'm overestimating the danger..."

Seems like it only takes one dude who's gung-ho and willing to take the risk, and then everyone else (or at least, people like me) start thinking that they don't want to be the ones that missed out. If EVERYONE decides that it seems unsafe, then it's easy to bail. But when some folks decide they want to go for it (maybe because they're legitimately doing their own risk assessment, or maybe because of ulterior motives like wanting to impress guests, too much powder lust, reliance on the fact that no one else has spoken up against it, etc.), it gets exponentially harder for others to trust their own judgment. I'm going to remember this article next time I'm in that situation.

Also, technically speaking, this was the first thing I've read on the iPad that made me realize the potential of multimedia articles. That part where it describes each person's line and, as you scroll down, it shows the line on a pic of the mountain to the right - absolutely awesome.

[plugboots]

Also, technically speaking, this was the first thing I've read on the iPad that made me realize the potential of multimedia articles. That part where it describes each person's line and, as you scroll down, it shows the line on a pic of the mountain to the right - absolutely awesome.

I actually said to myself, "Shit, have I been missing out on this?" Thinking articles in the NYT were all like that. Nope.

Thanks, splat, you're spot on.

I remember very clearly not skiing then, as I was spooked by all that snow after it hadn't snowed for 2-3? weeks. Then when I heard about the accident, I was sitting at my dining room table shaking my head and asking "Why did they do that?"