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  1. #1
    Join Date
    Dec 2002
    Location
    Uptown
    Posts
    6,213

    Really sad news in Idaho

    Yesterday we lost a skier in the Lost River Range. He was not just a backcountry skier but a key member of our community and a true hero. Family and many friends have been notified, but we are not sharing his name just yet.

    Some details are available on Sawtooth Avalanche Center.

    More to follow.
    Living vicariously through myself.

  2. #2
    Join Date
    Feb 2011
    Posts
    157

  3. #3
    Join Date
    Mar 2005
    Location
    Yonder
    Posts
    22,069
    Ooff. Sad. ED docs aren’t stupid. And their lifetime karma points should warrant escaping such a demise.

    RIP ski doc. Wishing you endless Valhalla pow turns.
    Vibes to all that new him.
    Kill all the telemarkers
    But they’ll put us in jail if we kill all the telemarkers
    Telemarketers! Kill the telemarketers!
    Oh we can do that. We don’t even need a reason

  4. #4
    Join Date
    Mar 2004
    Location
    Maine
    Posts
    827
    Sad news....RIP doc.

  5. #5
    Join Date
    Dec 2004
    Location
    Amherst, Mass.
    Posts
    4,718
    While returning from skinning/skiing the Killington Soopustah Glacier yesterday, I called up a friend in Boise.
    (He is originally from Vermont, so I always update him with conditions from his home state.)

    Turns out a friend of his (whom I've met, so this isn't an internet stolen kidney story) was touring on the next peak over, and knew the victim (although not all that well). This friend-of-a-friend was sticking to northern aspects, and did not detect any instabilities. So perhaps the SE aspect cited in the CAIC report was the key difference.

    All of the following is probably well known to any ski tourers in Idaho, but for any fellow outsiders interested in the details behind this tragedy ...
    My friend says the climate there is notorious for a thin rotten snowpack. ("People say Colorado is bad, but ...") My friend usually goes there very late each spring since that thin snowpack sticks around a long time. But even then, he says the snow is often rotten there.
    The avalanche center had already closed for the season, and this terrain is outside the forecast area.
    Mo' skimo here: NE Rando Race Series

  6. #6
    Join Date
    Dec 2004
    Location
    Amherst, Mass.
    Posts
    4,718
    While returning from skinning/skiing the Killington Soopustah Glacier yesterday, I called up a friend in Boise.
    (He is originally from Vermont, so I always update him with conditions from his home state.)

    Turns out a friend of his (whom I've met, so this isn't an internet stolen kidney story) was touring on the next peak over, and knew the victim (although not all that well). This friend-of-a-friend was sticking to northern aspects, and did not detect any instabilities. So perhaps the SE aspect cited in the CAIC report was the key difference.

    All of the following is probably well known to any ski tourers in Idaho, but for any fellow outsiders interested in the details behind this tragedy ...
    My friend says the climate there is notorious for a thin rotten snowpack. ("People say Colorado is bad, but ...") My friend usually goes there very late each spring since that thin snowpack sticks around a long time. But even then, he says the snow is often rotten there.
    The avalanche center had already closed for the season, and this terrain is outside the forecast area.
    Mo' skimo here: NE Rando Race Series

  7. #7
    Join Date
    Feb 2005
    Posts
    19,592
    Sounds like a windslab that most of us are used to dealing with, not anything special with the snowpack. You can see it in NV and CO right now pretty prominently. Anyway, huge loss for the community.
    Is it radix panax notoginseng? - splat
    This is like hanging yourself but the rope breaks. - DTM
    Dude Listen to mtm. He's a marriage counselor at burning man. - subtle plague

  8. #8
    Join Date
    Dec 2002
    Location
    Uptown
    Posts
    6,213
    Ben VandenBos from SAC put out a detailed accident report. Here is the part regarding conditions. The skiers were downclimbing in crampons to move around a rock face when the event occurred.

    This was an unintentionally triggered hard slab avalanche large enough to bury and damage a
    vehicle (HS-AFu-R3-D2.5). The avalanche failed above the substantial, icy crust that formed at
    the end of April, on faceted layers of snow that developed during a period of sustained,
    unseasonably cool weather in early May. It broke widely, with crowns spanning three gullies on
    this steep face. The slabs that failed were uniform with average crown depths of just 8-10
    inches (Figure 6). Isolated, wind-thickened areas near the top of the slopes that failed had
    crowns approaching 2 feet. The thin but dense slabs that failed contained irregular ice crusts in
    the upper few inches, separated by wind-packed snow. This layering appeared to have formed
    in the windy, cool days after the May 5 precipitation event. The crown face melted appreciably
    after the avalanche occurred and was covered with a thin sheet of ice when the author visited
    the site the next day.
    Living vicariously through myself.

  9. #9
    Join Date
    Dec 2020
    Location
    Idaho
    Posts
    1,897

  10. #10
    Join Date
    Mar 2005
    Location
    Yonder
    Posts
    22,069
    Holy crap that’s a chilling read. And detailed.
    She must be having ptsd nightmares. But she did her best. Definitely a great backcountry partner.
    Kill all the telemarkers
    But they’ll put us in jail if we kill all the telemarkers
    Telemarketers! Kill the telemarketers!
    Oh we can do that. We don’t even need a reason

  11. #11
    Join Date
    Feb 2004
    Location
    208 State
    Posts
    2,638
    yep, let's all skiers, no matter who you are, help support his long time partner, Emily through all of this.

    Very sad.

  12. #12
    Join Date
    Jan 2005
    Location
    Access to Granlibakken
    Posts
    11,611
    Tough to read that.

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