This.... is a ski cut.

[Bunion 2020]

[icelanticskier]

veddy nice.

rog

[Peruvian]

There goes all that good powder!

[icelanticskier]

Bet the bed surface skied dreamy.

rog

[Shadam]

dude !!!

but I was guna ski that !!!

[spook]

i would love to know what it feels like to have that happen right in front of you. without all the risk. they'll have to include "barely avoided huge avalanche" in a cyber-reality program.

[Bunion 2020]

Spook, that was a very un-risky ski cut. Well executed and controlled.

What it feels like is similar to rolling a big fucking rock down a hillside.

[spook]

i would think there would be some weird balls in your belly feeling watching a large slab slide away, whether it was unrisky or not. but for the cyber reality program, we can have a setting for experts and beginners.

[spook]

so is the object to stay close enough to the trees that it should break in front of you? what's to keep it from breaking 2' back and taking you with it? it looked like he was still downslope from the trees.

[icelanticskier]

i would love to know what it feels like to have that happen right in front of you.

it's quite exhilerating to say the least. depending on the consistency of the slab and texture of the bed surface, they can create cool sounds as well. the biggest one i set off sounded like the rubbing of nylon on nylon. big wet slides i've set off give more of a hissing sound. like a slow moving snake.

pretty cool

rog

[icelanticskier]

so is the object to stay close enough to the trees that it should break in front of you? what's to keep it from breaking 2' back and taking you with it? it looked like he was still downslope from the trees.

he appears to be riding along a lower angle spine/ridge with his skis cutting the top of the leeward/loaded slope. there probably wouldn't be enough to pull him down in had the snow broke just above him as there really isn't much there. coulda maybe got knocked off balance a bit, but when cutting yer usually leaning into the uphill slope so you can dig in or turn a bit up and out if something went worse.

rog

[Mofro261]

so is the object to stay close enough to the trees that it should break in front of you? what's to keep it from breaking 2' back and taking you with it? it looked like he was still downslope from the trees.

The object is to stay close to but above the natural convexity/trigger point. In the vid, he is really moving along the top of a ridge line where the trees are, getting close enough to add weight on the slope to try to get it to slide while avoiding going out further onto the slope to where one might get entrapped if it goes.

The hope is that if it does break 2 feet behind you that you have in your skill set the ability to move 2 feet off the moving snow and on to the bed surface to arrest. Ski cuts are a fantastic tool for avalanche education as well as slope mitigation.

[LeeLau]

^^^ What they said but the slide can break above you and if you don't get off the moving slab you're going down with it - from the top. Which is not a good feeling at all. So as with all things make sure you know what you're doing

[spook]

so wouldn't ropes be a reasonable tool for a ski cutter? like for cornices?

[LeeLau]

for sure but if I need to be roped on a ski cut or say a pit I always think - do I really want to be here?

The thing about a ski cut is that if you get result sometimes it can be a binary outcome result - ie the video Bunion posted.

Another random thing about ski cuts is - move quickly on your cut; bounce up and down to load the slope; and be going to an escape point. But all of this is very situational. Patrollers get to practise this stuff all the time so they know more imo

[userA]

so wouldn't ropes be a reasonable tool for a ski cutter? like for cornices?

easier to un bury one dude.
b

[Grizzled]

"Avalanche. Stay back. "

Awesome.

[spook]

for sure but if I need to be roped on a ski cut or say a pit I always think - do I really want to be here?

The thing about a ski cut is that if you get result sometimes it can be a binary outcome result - ie the video Bunion posted.

Another random thing about ski cuts is - move quickly on your cut; bounce up and down to load the slope; and be going to an escape point. But all of this is very situational. Patrollers get to practise this stuff all the time so they know more imo

i guess i was thinking "if i have to do a ski cut at all, do i really want to be here?"

[icelanticskier]

i guess i was thinking "if i have to do a ski cut at all, do i really want to be here?"

Depends on how badly you wanna be/ski there

The lovely thing about being out on elevated/high days is generally yer going to ski great snow and have very few others to share it with. You just have to choose yer terrain wisely and do everything correctly

I prefer to be moving VERY quickly and deliberately when performing a ski cut.

rog

[Mofro261]

i guess i was thinking "if i have to do a ski cut at all, do i really want to be here?"

Starting avalanches/ knocking snow down to me is a vital part of avalanche awareness, and I'd rather anticipate the snow coming down from trying to get it to move, than be caught by the unexpected release once I'm heading down. You can practice ski cutting on relatively benign features like small roll overs to get a sense of how the snow breaks and where it fractures, how it propagates etc within the current conditions. Generally there are ample line choices on a slope where a good ski cut can help mitigate the avalanche risk and still provide for great turns to be had, but occasionally they lead to big releases where skiing the bed surface is the right choice. In general, moving very quickly and deliberately and with an eye to the escape point and a sense of where the snow might break has served to keep me out of the turbulent flow.

[My Pet Powder Goat]

Very well done cut. It looked like slide brought on by mid day heating?

The object is to stay close to but above the natural convexity/trigger point. In the vid, he is really moving along the top of a ridge line where the trees are, getting close enough to add weight on the slope to try to get it to slide while avoiding going out further onto the slope to where one might get entrapped if it goes.

The hope is that if it does break 2 feet behind you that you have in your skill set the ability to move 2 feet off the moving snow and on to the bed surface to arrest. Ski cuts are a fantastic tool for avalanche education as well as slope mitigation.

great description. also add:

Always important to have your escape plan, ie. "oh shit" route visualized before cutting.

[Trace Hardslab]

He stopped. No harm done in this case, but you gotta FINISH your cut.

[Lindahl]

Good example of what a ski cut can do, but the major thought that comes to mind is what if it hadn't released. His ski cut was NOT aggressive at all, and I could EASILY see that slab popping on another skier after a failed ski cut. IMO, he should be moving MUCH faster, and stomping MUCH harder/deliberate, likely closer to the edge of the rollover (hard to tell in video), but with a much more deliberate movement towards a safety zone. If I saw someone do that, I'd be looking to rework the ski cut before dropping down the slope.

[Meadow Skipper]

Very cool video.

I <heart> ski cuts. You just have to know what you're doing.

[SquamptonBC]

Spook, that was a very un-risky ski cut. Well executed and controlled

How in the fuck was that un-risky? Controlled?? I had no idea avalanches were so predictable. You should have been there to teach everyone who died this week, maybe written the bulletins for us.