Blister's founded near fatal incident -- group debreif

[doebedoe]

Apologies if this has been posted before. No avy's in this, but a good reminder about the risks of even mild days. And a good motivation to get some medical training.

http://blistergearreview.com/feature...he-backcountry

Jonathan at Blister had a very close call on July 9th at Independence Pass on a mellow ski day with some friends. Episode is the group getting together for their first collective debrief. Worth a listen.

[smitchell333]

Good podcast with lots of detail on their experiences.

Glad the guy survived.

I've been witness to a couple of these summer snow falls over the years. People think that because they can handle the steep skiing the climbing is an afterthought and not perhaps the meat of the danger without the equipment.

The short of it is steep summer snow is not something to be casually ascended in boot pack style with skis slung over the shoulder. Once it freezes solid it's skis on the pack and ice axe or whippets in hand. Three points of contact on or above anything steep. And crampons are part of the equipment in many cases if not all.
While being an expert skier in double black diamond ski terrain may mean you'll probably not have trouble with the skiing, climbing that terrain is an entirely different matter.

Sounds like these guys are from Taos where steeps are regularly accessed but almost always via boot pack if hiked. That may be a factor. I

[goldenboy]

Yeah, both those episodes were gripping and made me think.

Interestingly, I crashed my bike pretty hard a few weeks ago (I hadn't listened to the podcast). Headfirst, into a tree, and my neck hurt. Unlike the Blister guy, I wanted to go the hospital asap. In the end, I spent a shitload of money to find out I had whiplash, but it was worth every penny for my peace of mind. Listening to his podcast, and what could have happened, I don't regret getting checked out one bit.

Also, yeah- crampons. I put them on all the time, for shit that isn't that hard. No reason not to.