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  1. #26
    Join Date
    Feb 2005
    Posts
    19,206
    I once got avi'd climbing pinnacle gully on MW. The route cut out way above and slammed me and my partner for what felt like over a minute. I was so thankful I was at a belay, and my partner had just put in a screw.

    Bought a beacon very shortly thereafter and started learning snow science.

    The force of that thing wigged me the fuck out, and I was in my very early 20's and clueless.

    RIP. 2 hrs. under, still breathing, and then arrest. Absolutely brutal.

  2. #27
    Join Date
    Jan 2019
    Location
    Grammy Jay
    Posts
    56
    The full report is even more brutal than the initial one. To be buried for 2 hours and still be semi-conscious/making noise when the rangers reached him is beyond a worst nightmare, and then to have him succumb to hypothermia related complications is just awful. RIP

    https://mountwashingtonavalanchecenter.org/4112019-avalanche-fatality-raymond-cataract/

  3. #28
    Join Date
    Apr 2006
    Posts
    7,454
    ^gnarly. sucks for sure.

  4. #29
    Join Date
    Sep 2015
    Location
    Flatstar
    Posts
    341
    One other notable factor in this accident was the fact that at least three parties observed and later reported seeing what appeared to be a fresh crown line in Raymond Cataract. No one made the 5-10 minute diversion to look for clues or do a beacon search of the debris where a ski and pole were on the surface 75’ uphill of the burial site.
    This is sad as all hell.

  5. #30
    Join Date
    Apr 2006
    Posts
    7,454
    they were too busy getting go pro footy of their most likely mediocre skiing.

    super close friend spent over an hr on the skin up w him. said he was a cool dude.

    you are on your own when you walk up a hill to ski something.

    driving is far more dangerous.

    positive vibes to all involved.

  6. #31
    Join Date
    Nov 2016
    Posts
    412
    Heroic rescue from everyone involved. The MWAC folks don’t have an easy job, and we're so lucky they are out there every day keeping us safe.


    Sent from my iPhone using TGR Forums
    Last edited by mrkbrnblm; 04-16-2019 at 09:42 AM.

  7. #32
    Join Date
    Oct 2008
    Location
    Colorado
    Posts
    5,517
    Damn. Tough one.


    Sent from my iPhone using TGR Forums
    Quote Originally Posted by Benny Profane View Post
    Keystone is fucking lame. But, deadly.

  8. #33
    Join Date
    Jul 2005
    Posts
    3,230
    Quote Originally Posted by powdork View Post
    he mentioned there was another slide the day before too.




    Sent from my iPhone using TGR Forums

  9. #34
    Join Date
    Dec 2004
    Location
    Amherst, Mass.
    Posts
    4,684
    Re the other parties who saw the crown line, even aside from the varying estimates on how long that diversion really would be (for a party heading up to Hermit Lake), if they saw it from the Tux trail (i.e., where you get that one brief perfect spot-on view of Raymond Cataract), I suspect that most people wouldn't have the slightest idea how to reach the runout zone.
    (I've ascended the LH Winter Route, skinned up & skied down the Huntington Fire Road, and I've skied the "Raymond" part of Raymond Cataract, yet I'm not even sure of the fastest route to where Nick would have been buried on Thursday.)
    Mo' skimo here: NE Rando Race Series

  10. #35
    Join Date
    Apr 2006
    Posts
    7,454
    ^ agreed, you can't see that shit from just anywhere.

  11. #36
    Join Date
    Jan 2008
    Location
    truckee
    Posts
    23,115
    Quote Originally Posted by ridge_skier View Post
    The full report is even more brutal than the initial one. To be buried for 2 hours and still be semi-conscious/making noise when the rangers reached him is beyond a worst nightmare, and then to have him succumb to hypothermia related complications is just awful. RIP

    https://mountwashingtonavalanchecenter.org/4112019-avalanche-fatality-raymond-cataract/
    Props to the rescue crew for considering hypothermia and the possibility of rewarming with ECMO (which is basically the heart lung machine used in open heart surgery). Not clear why this plan wasn't followed through. The axiom in hypothermia is that you're not dead until you're warm and dead. There are many reports of apparently dead, severely hypothermic victims being saved by rewarming. I took care of one of them.
    In this case, I'm not so sure it would have helped. With severe hypothermia the mechanism of death is usually primary cardiac arrest due to cardiac irritability leading to a fatal dysrhythmia, after which there would be no moaning, movement, or breathing. From the description it sounds like there may have been an internal injury like a torn aorta leading to severe internal bleeding. I assume there was an autopsy so the cause of death is known. My impressions are of course speculation.

    I recently had a tumbling slide on ice into a tree, with spine, rib, and acetabular fractures. When I talked to Squaw Valley ski patrol 2 months later than knew what injuries I turned out to have and told me they had a regular conference with the trauma team at the hospital in Reno I was sent to where my case was discussed. It was impressive to me that patrol had that kind of follow up on injured patients.

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