San Juans heli ski slide - pov footage

[durangobrad]

Sounds of music slide path near the Opus hut

Found this video interesting.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=MaxShyCAq18

Friends who were up on battleship took a photo of the aftermath.


Sent from my Pixel 6a using Tapatalk

[Bunion 2020]

Thanks for posting that. Until you see that kind of POV most folks don't understand how weird it is when you are caught on a slab.

[easyrdr]

that's nuts

[Alpinord]

Sounds of music slide path near the Opus hut

Found this video interesting.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=MaxShyCAq18

Friends who were up on battleship took a photo of the aftermath.


Sent from my Pixel 6a using Tapatalk

Thanks for posting. Lots of carnage and death in that couple/few square miles in the past decade and beyond. If it's the path, I'm thinking that is, in 2019 after the big winter the slide went across the valley below and swirled up the other side and took out thousands of trees. (Battleship is behind the ridge).

[Dromond]

It took 15 seconds for him to pull the airbag for anyone who is counting.

[Foggy_Goggles]

It took 15 seconds for him to pull the airbag for anyone who is counting.

paraphase, "is your trigger out? We are gonna space 200 ft."

Thanks for posting that video. There was a CAIC ob but it got pulled because guided outfits and ski areas don't report publicly.

[PNWbrit]

It took 15 seconds for him to pull the airbag for anyone who is counting.

He appeared to be in over his head before the avalanche happened.

[SKIP IN7RO]

There was a CAIC ob but it got pulled because guided outfits and ski areas don't report publicly.

Is CAIC not allowed by law to report on guided outfits/ski areas? Sure seems like this accident deserves a report considering it was in an area heavily traveled by human-powered bc riders prior to the guided slide.

[Bunion 2020]

Is CAIC not allowed by law to report on guided outfits/ski areas? Sure seems like this accident deserves a report considering it was in an area heavily traveled by human-powered bc riders prior to the guided slide.

All Forecast centers tread a fine line. They rely on ski areas and guided outfits for observations, often the heli groups will give them a deal on flight time to service or install remote weather stations. Best not to getting in a pissing match.

[Foggy_Goggles]

I have no idea what the law is. The way I understand it, just from having good friends in the game, is that their is gentlemen's agreement that ski areas/heli ops etc. report privately.

I think it is BS for my own personal reasons.

[Foggy_Goggles]

So what you have now is a YouTube video of a customer burial being discussed on a skiing message board with a HeliTrax logo on the guides jacket for which there is no pubic CAIC observation.

I'd think that would be a PR nightmare. You'd think they would want to control the narrative before someone like Unofficial gets a hold of it.

[adrenalated]

All Forecast centers tread a fine line. They rely on ski areas and guided outfits for observations, often the heli groups will give them a deal on flight time to service or install remote weather stations. Best not to getting in a pissing match.

Yes - and Telluride Helitrax specifically (their logo is on the guide's jacket) does often support SAR efforts and CAIC avalanche investigation/hazard mitigation efforts in this area. Of course getting your clients slid is bad for busine$$ so of course they want to keep that shit on the DL.

IMO, CAIC should still put public observations up on anything that they receive from guided outfits or ski areas though, like they did from this other guided incident that buried two clients less than a week prior. In this case it was posted by a forecaster and doesn't contain any info that could easily identify the guide or outfit which seems like a fair compromise.
https://avalanche.state.co.us/observ...e-822aa4b9f5fc
https://classic.avalanche.state.co.u...=865&accfm=inv

[SKIP IN7RO]

Just found this. Thanks for answers above.

Observation Summary:
17th skier on the slope. Guide traversed as the 16th skier, across the slope and waited for their first guest. The 17th skier triggered and collapsed the slope, triggering the slide propagating above the skier. The skier was never under the snow. The guide traveled along the slide and told the skier to deploy their airbag. They did. The bag was never utilized or needed for flotation. The skier rode nearly 1200 linear feet. No gear was lost. No injuries. No burials. No other involvements.This slide or collapse, either remotely or sympathetically, triggered a second slide. The first triggered slide on a SW aspect at 12,600'. This we classified as R2-D2. 550' wide 900' vert. The second remote slide was east aspect, 800' wide, 900' vert.

Route Description:
Heli-ski operations in the area known locally as The Sound of Music

[BFD]

I guess it was his best day ever. He walked away unscathed.

[timeo]

He appeared to be in over his head before the avalanche happened.

That was my thought as well just watching his initial turns. Seemed like he had a chance to ski out of it if he hit the gas instead stopping and sitting down. That would have been my plan.

[adrenalated]

Expert skiers are not the primary clientele of most heli and cat ops. People with $$$ are.

[MakersTeleMark]

There was a guided close call published today.

[powdork]

I wanted to post this vid earlier. The way the slab moving down looked like a wave coming up was surreal.

[Bunion 2020]

That was the slab flowing up and over the stock wall and yes, it was a great demonstration of flowing solids acting as a liquid mass. All in all that was a great video to use to show people what getting caught looks like up close and personal.

[MagnificentUnicorn]

I took a short ride like that on a surprisingly low angle slope. It seemed to happen in slow motion. It was a 50cm hard wind slab over large surface hoar. I probably moved 50’ down slope and rode on top like that.


Sent from my iPhone using TGR Forums

[ASmileyFace]

There have been quite a few guided close calls in the North San Juans this year. More than I can recall in the previous few years combinded.

A year with a touchy snowpack everywhere is compounded down here. Plus the pressure to put clients into terrain that has less tracks will always win out

[SKIP IN7RO]

It really is a scarily fascinating video. I am seeing some comments saying the dude a) should have tried to ski out of it b) should have tried to get his skis off once in it c) should not have even been out there. If put in the same situation, I would hope my flight response would kick in immediately to attempt option a, but I don't know and hope to not find out.

[MagnificentUnicorn]

You’d be surprised how quickly you get pulled off your feet before you register what’s happening.


Sent from my iPhone using TGR Forums

[snowaddict91]

That was a pretty wild video of the slab starting. I like to think I also would have tried to haul ass out of there and hopefully pulled my trigger immediately.

Regarding the obs being pulled/marked private, I agree that it sucks but understand why. Hopefully the video stays up.

[Rudimatt7]

More guide shenanigans.
https://classic.avalanche.state.co.us/caic/acc/acc_report.php?acc_id=865&accfm=inv