Northstar Backcountry Death

[Kinnikinnick]

Is there no longer a Tahoe thread?. They just found the guy who went missing 12/25.

Looks like he went out of bounds then tried to trek out to a Truckee neighborhood but died 1/2 mile away.

New to the area, so sadly prob didn’t know where he was going.


https://www.cbsnews.com/news/rory-an...edium=news_tab


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[Percy Rideout]

What a butchering of that italian last name by the reporter.

RIP. Happy for closure to the family if nothing else. Cleveland, Ohio by birth.

[Bosco]

https://www.tetongravity.com/forums/...Tahoe-Thread))

[doebedoe]

Tragically this thread title confused me as this weekend two people and their dog passed away in an avalanche on North Star in CO: https://avalanche.state.co.us/caic/a...rep&acc_id=801

[thefrush]

Tragically this thread title confused me as this weekend two people and their dog passed away in an avalanche on North Star in CO: https://avalanche.state.co.us/caic/a...rep&acc_id=801

Wow, hadn't heard about that one. Such a small terrain feature, lots of people ride that knob through the winter and consider it safe, but Colorado snowpack is not to be fucked with and if you wrap around the corner too far to the north the slope angle gets a little too critical. Vibes to the friends and family. So sad.

[TahoeJ]

So Northstar doesn't have any exit gates to the BC. It's presumed that he was skiing in white out conditions and while in the glades of lookout mountain accidentally went out of bounds and got lost. I could definitely see this happening on the skier's left side of that zone. He really made it a far way - almost to Schaeffer's Mill... tragic, he was so close to making it.

[bodywhomper]

I hope this helps with closure for friends and family.

Condolences to goldenboy and other friends and family.

[old goat]

So Northstar doesn't have any exit gates to the BC. It's presumed that he was skiing in white out conditions and while in the glades of lookout mountain accidentally went out of bounds and got lost. I could definitely see this happening on the skier's left side of that zone. He really made it a far way - almost to Schaeffer's Mill... tragic, he was so close to making it.

I almost went OB at Wolverine Saddle at Alpine Meadows in a whiteout. A spot where I'd been hundreds of times. Turn right and you're inbounds, turn left and it's 100 mile to civilization. Don't underestimate how easy it is to get turned around in a whiteout, even if you're in familiar terrain.

[goldenboy]

I hope this helps with closure for friends and family.

Condolences to goldenboy and other friends and family.

I never met Rory, just his sister, but I'm really glad they found him- she had been probing around for the last 2 weeks trying to find him. Pretty amazing they found him so far away from where they were searching. It's really sad, she was really close to him and all 3 of her brothers have now passed away.

[amoeba]

I almost went OB at Wolverine Saddle at Alpine Meadows in a whiteout. A spot where I'd been hundreds of times. Turn right and you're inbounds, turn left and it's 100 mile to civilization. Don't underestimate how easy it is to get turned around in a whiteout, even if you're in familiar terrain.

I dunno bout that there what you said, very few people go missing, in this case, the skier didn't know the mountain, according to his sister's video clip was skiing the backside for the first time. Nevertheless did so alone, in the trees, during a blizzard, without an elb, then moved a long ways. Very sad to hear, but rare. Condolences are appropriate, but I would have liked to hear much more said about how to avoid and what to do during disorientation events such as this.

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[bobz]

Last I checked, Northstar doesn't allow out-of-bounds skiing. And there's really not much in the way of prime OOB there anyway; most of the resort is somewhat closely surrounded by snowmobile roads. Unless you're hungry for several hundred feet vert of moderate angle turns after recent fresh stuff already got tracked out in-bounds (not that I'd do something like that at Northstar, and certainly not recently).

As for how easy it is to go OOB if skiing Backside... There's a nice bit of glades off to the left of the skier's-far-left side run that leads to Challenger, where Ski Area Boundary signs soon start to steer you back rightward from the glades to the main run. That would be the easiest spot to go wrong. Below that, from Challenger's first open bowl and down from there, it's harder to accidentally go OOB. Would be pretty easy to go too far to the left descending Lookout, too. If he went OOB off Backside, he had a serious trek to get to the general area where he wound up; the first couple miles are downhill (and another generally downhill mile a ways after that), but there are miles of flat and some short uphills too.

[J. Barron DeJong]

I haven’t strayed OOB (I’m a rule follower by nature), but couldn’t you get yourself pretty lost if you headed down white rabbit or sawtooth ridge areas and took a wrong turn?

[TahoeJ]

White rabbit takes you pretty much right to the 2 backside lifts. Sawtooth ridge, on the other hand, yeah, that's my guess of where he may have accidentally gone OB since his sister said he was skiing on the backside. The boundary is always roped but with that much snow in such a short period I could see it getting buried in spots.

[amoeba]

I would think once you've determined you're lost, staying put increases your chance of rescue, whereas moving decreases it. Alot. Probably other essential points (shelter, leave sign, stay hydrated), but that's a main one. There was one dude who was lost OOB a couple days, and rescued, at Heavenly not too many years ago. Reeled him in on a chopper so wasn't too bad off it seemed.

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[old goat]

Staying put for sure. Make a shelter. if you can or at least get out of the wind.

[J. Barron DeJong]

There was also the older guy who got lost in the Tahoe area a few years ago (don’t remember exactly where) because he went out during a bad storm while testing out his new GPS.

Satyed alive by just trudging back and forth along his own path to keep moving until he was found.

[yeahman]

There was also the older guy who got lost in the Tahoe area a few years ago (don’t remember exactly where) because he went out during a bad storm while testing out his new GPS.

Satyed alive by just trudging back and forth along his own path to keep moving until he was found.

I hope he returned the GPS.

[spanghew]

Staying put for sure. Make a shelter. if you can or at least get out of the wind.

A guy skied off the back side of Mammoth and got lost and benighted. Burrowed into a snow drift to sleep . . . in the middle of the Reds Meadow road, so the search snowcat ran over him the next morning. He was OK, but shed most of his clothes while worming his way out of the snow, so a bit cold when they found him . . .

[J. Barron DeJong]

A guy skied off the back side of Mammoth and got lost and benighted. Burrowed into a snow drift to sleep . . . in the middle of the Reds Meadow road, so the search snowcat ran over him the next morning. He was OK, but shed most of his clothes while worming his way out of the snow, so a bit cold when they found him . . .

Yeah, snow shelters can be surprisingly warm - or so I’ve been told… in high school Outdoor Ed there was a winter camping trip each year for one of the grade levels. Groups of three or four students are to build snow shelters as their sleeping accommodations. Of course my year was the one when we had no snow on the ground in December. It’s fucking cold sleeping in a 3-season tent in Ontario in December!

[old goat]

One thing I can say about the Tahoe storms of December--the finest igloo and snow cave snow I have ever seen. Providing you have the tools or are very patient.

[Westmeister]

you don't get it. He shat himself

[amoeba]

you don't get it. He shat himself

Agreed. A missed opportunity by the media to educate on what to do, or not (like this Rory dude) instead saying he had all sorts of backcountry experience...probably trying to be sensitive to his family. He's dead, but better to learn from it than be silent.

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