Trip Report – 2 Days of East Vail Chutes BC – Sick!

[summit]

Trip Report – 2 Days of East Vail Chutes BC – Sick!

THIS IS VERY LENGTHY BUT WORTH THE READ

Note: I’m tired, pardon the tense shifts and person shifts.

Better late than never

Wednesday, January 7, 2004 – Day 1

Backcountry trip to East Vail Chutes with Blurred Elevens showing me and two others around his old stomping grounds.

~0700 Alarm goes off… *smash smash smash* almost didn’t get up and thought of skipping a day with a person I’d never met, but eventually drag myself up for my first backcountry day of the season. I called CAIC (Colorado Avalanche Information Center) hotline and stepped out the door.

~0800 Met Blurred in Silverthorne, first mag/minion I’ve ever met, and we drove to Frisco to pickup the two other members of our party, Allison (who apparently I’d met before) and Jeremy (her jealous (of everyone, especially Blurred) boyfriend). She is spaaansored for placing is some competition at Crested Butte. We switched to her reliable vehicle and off we went to Vail. Blurred is very creative with parking… Very nice stuff. After gearing up in the parking lot, Blurred and I gave Jeremy and Allison a quick lesson on how to use their beacons. We then did a beacon check and made a quick walk to the base. Antsy to get on the mountain, Blurred made a few turns down a large hill of snow in the parking lot. At the base, we had to get a forgot-a-pass for the gal, and buy a friend-pass for her guy. The toilets at he Vail base are posh. We saw many a color-coordinated gaper and women with floozy fur lined boots that most likely cost $300… Blurred observed that the boots made the gaper chicks look like they were wearing poodles on their feet and proceeded to heckle the gaper. They were almost as bad as the people who put their skis in air travel ski bags to protect them on that oh so treacherous five minute walk to and from the indoor parking. I’m sure Blurred will tell you his saying there.

~1000 Riva Bahn lift (HS-detatch quad) up, another HS-detatch quad up, catwalk to Blue Sky, few turns in chopped heavy, cat walk, HS-detatch quad up, and then another catwalk to disappointment. The last lift (Mongolia, platter surface lift) was not running and there was no way to start it. We hiked it. Though the lift line was relatively short, it was steeper than it looked. The hike took a lot more than we thought it would. Once we at the top, we proceeded up to the access gate, called on the phone for the updated avvy report, which was inaudible (those phones suck!), never mind, I’d checked the CAIC website and called the hotline from home that morning (mod below t/l, mod /w cons around TL, all aspects). We left our route (Benchmark to Water tower) and names and up the boot pack we went. It was steep at first then nice and flat right along the SAB. Still, it was rather tiring for out of shape me and my 13lbs of alpine boot. If Mongolia lift had been running, it should have taken 20 minutes to do the hike according to Blurred, instead it took us closer to 75 minutes total. At the top (11,800+ right around treeline) we had a fantastic view in all directions. The snow was windblown and almost looked groomed.

At the top, right around treeline, we watched some beaconless folks ski a steep open face. It looked pretty sweet. We traveled a very gentle trail along ridge line to below treeline for about a half mile to the point on the ridge where we decided to eat at ~11,200ft.

~1200 The point that we sat on was amazing. It jutted out into the abyss. We overlooked the eastern part of the Vail Valley, I-70 could be seen but not heard. Snow covered lodge poles were at our back while the expansive glades and gullies below us beckoned. For a starting line, we had the choice between steep and a double 7ft drop. It was a site to be seen. I took some pictures. Blurred and Jeremy jumped the double 7ft drop in. Allison and I opted right to loop in. The snow was unbelievably nice and untracked. The terrain quickly became thick trees and with moderate to steep pow and small drops. There were some huge cliffs to our left that were easily 80ft-100ft. Blurred said he did an 80ft cliff. There is no way I could disbelieve him. I’ve seen the site. We followed the leader as I got my legs back to me slowly. Allison commented that this was out of her league. I wondered if it was out of my league as well, though that feeling was starting to fade as I got back in the swing. Blurred hit some small drops that the rest of us skipped. Then we came to something that looked odd to me. I realized I was on the edge of a cliff with Jeremy next to me. I can’t remember if Blurred hit it or not. He stood far below by some trees back across a gentle field of pow. Allison went through a short crag after finding a hole in the snow from a buried tree.

I stood looking over the cliff while Jeremy began side stepping away from it towards the crag. Blurred encouraged me to simply drop the cliff. I had never dropped a cliff in the backcountry. I had hardly dropped anything over a few feet inbounds. It sure looked high. “Lean back.” “OK I’ll go for it.” I opened my coat, tossed the camera to Jeremy and he skied down and set up for a picture. “Hoooooah!” and I was airborne… *this isn’t sooooOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOHHHHHHHMMMMYYYYYYYYYYGAAA AAAWD!!!!!!! My heart leapt as I accelerated. *POOF* Everything was briefly white. WOOHOO! I couldn’t believe what I had just done. The landing was feather soft. I was thrilled and unhurt. However, I’d lost a ski so I squirmed uphill a few feet to search. Glancing up, my jaw dropped. I couldn’t believe the how high the cliff was I’d just dropped. 25ft!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! I know for many of you, that is not much. But it was my first real cliff and my mind was blown.

I WANTED MORE!

The picture of airborne me was a success too. I was psyched. We made our way down through some thick trees and small drops and came to open glades, and open chutes, some of which looked wind loaded, so we went one by one. We did come across a small slide from the storm 3-4 days before. We quickly found ourselves in a gully full of endless supply of large and small drops and pillows which we hit (blurred took the biggies), we even got Allison to do one! However, a few minutes later, Allison hooked a tree branch with a ski and found herself in a very uncomfortable tangled position.. Jeremy got the very upset Allison out. While we waited, I realized that my camera had fallen out of my pocket on one of the drops. I was furious and bummed… $200 camera that is no longer made AND I lost the roll of film (If you ski Water Tower and find a silver Rollei Prego 90 in a Black and Purple camera case, let me know! The camera will be dead but the film will be fine). We eventually reach the bottom, pass the water tower (more of a tank) and Blurred lead us down several streets (nobody told me to bring rock skis!) I follow Blurred over a seemingly small jump, I heard him it the concrete while I was in midair, WHAP right onto a perfectly flat driveway Searing shin pain, Blurred said he now has a headache from it. Ow. We’d just done ~3,200ft vertical on the Water Tower run. Bus, bus, base. Up the same lift we went… except now we were freezing cold with all the sweat we worked up, now chilling us since we were motionless. Almost as many people were downloading as going up.

Me: “You are going the wrong way!”
Downloading Boarder “Uh… uh not if I am going to the park.”
Blurred: “You? In the park?”
*loud laughs*

We take the second lift to the top and blurred leads us to a stash that is actually steep (Vail is mostly flat like Keystone, almost the same gaper percent too). We cut right in, still freezing and agreeing to go inside to warm up later, small drop, Allison goes last, but buries her left tip and makes a terrible cry. She said she really hurt her knee. Suddenly, nobody was cold. Jeremy got her out of her skis. This was very scary as ski patrol would have had a very slow and difficult time getting the sled in and out of where we were… then of course they would have had us arrested (BS CSSA). Seeing her hurt shot my confidence level down and I think everyone else’s too. Blurred brought up taking her out ourselves (she is a WilFir) and I had enough in my pack to jury rig a sled from skis. Allison then declared she could ski out if we went gently. She even turned down the ace-wrap and meds from my pack. We slowly made our way out through very thick trees and some pretty steep stuff, at points. Eventually, we popped out onto a mogul run and took groomers the rest of the way down. By the time we got to the bottom, Allison was skiing quite well, which had us all feeling relieved. I was exhausted as I’d been in months. It was an amazing day. We all agreed to go again the next morning.

[summit]

Thursday, January 8, 2004 – Day 2

Backcountry trip to East Vail Chutes with Blurred Elevens showing Evil E and I around.

~0700 Alarm goes off… or it doesn’t….
~0715 Sensation of pain in my legs and shins, then realization that the phone is ringing. Blurred: “You up?” I come very close to telling him I’m too waxed to go again, but I slide out of bed and make breakfast. Called CAIC hotline… avvy report was the same as the previous day. Moderate for where we were going to be.

~0825 (me == 30 minutes late) Met Blurred and Evil E in Silverthorne where it was just spitting a bit of snow. Blurred said that Allison’s knee was hurting and Jeremy was just too exhausted to come, although he suspected Allison was OK it was just Jeremny nixing the trip. We loaded into E’s vehicle and drove off. It was of course snowing fairly hard on the Pass and into Vail. We did the same Blurred Elevens creative parking… We then did a beacon check and made a quick walk to the base. Four quads, three catwalks, two runs, and we started on the catwalk to Mongolia lift, which Blurred had been informed only ran on the weekends. We debated whether to attempt to hike from another spot as we had suspected people had done the day before or to ski to Mongolia and attempt to forcibly start it ourselves, something that Blurred said Vail used to let people do. We opt to attempt to creatively start the lift. We proceed down the catwalk and we let out yells when we saw that Mongolia lift was running. We went up the platter. I was very grateful for the lift since I was tired from the day before and had opted to add 8lbs of Canon EOS 35mm gear to my already heavy pack since I’d lost my point and shoot the day before.

Once we at the top, we proceeded up to the access gate, up the boot pack we went with me seriously lagging. At the top, we once again watched some folks ski a steep open face. We traveled a very gentle trail along ridgeline to below tree line for about a half mile to the point on the ridge where we had eaten lunch before. We enjoyed the view again as we ate. I took some pictures.

For a starting line, this time I followed E and Blurred on the double drop. Immediately, gargantuan cliffs were visible through the trees left and uphill from us. Blurred and Jeremy jumped the double 7ft drop in. The snow was still unbelievably nice and virtually untracked because of new snow. We came back to the same cliff I had dropped yesterday. Blurred dropped a larger cliff to the left of it. E went down the crag. I stepped over to the same cliff. I went off a little higher and this time I stuck the landing! It was an honest 30ft that time. We made some more wonderful turns. Watching E on his SPATULAS made Blurred and I both want a set.

~1345 Trees, glades, open. I found myself on the opposite side of a drainage from where Blurred said I’d lost my camera the day before. I needed to cross anyway but the prospect of maybe spotting my camera excited me so I shot straight down the short embankment and POW! Stars as I came to a sudden stop and my shiNs tried to touch my toes and my legs shoved themselves into the boots all in an instant. Pain. Shout. I sidestepped up and loosened by cuffs (a mistake in hindsight). Ugh. This was the worst thing I’d ever done to my lower legs. Every turn from that point on was very painful and more tiring and my confidence was sapped. I began to really lag behind. Blurred and E dropped big things and I stuck to small things and pillows. I almost hooked the branch that got Allison the day before. We reached the bottom, but this time Blurred lead us on a nice shortcut through the someone’s backyard and we didn’t hit the driveway kicker of death. I was exhausted. My upper legs burned and my lower legs ached. They were going again so I popped four Advil and said I’d see how I felt when I got up. Bus, bus, base. 3 quads, 3 cat walks. Very cold… the temperature had dropped in addition to the sweat and motionless issues. Blurred said he would take us to a different chute and we could go slow.

~1500 Arrived at Mongolia Lift right as they were closing the line. I believe we were the last three to go up. Blurred saw some sort of weird airplane. I was exhausted and thought of turning back, and I should have, but did not. I really lagged badly on the hike up. I was pissed about the heavy professional camera gear in my pack that I had barely used. At the start of the flatter section, several snowboarders stopped to ask me if I knew what the avalanche danger was. I spouted off the CAIC report and they replied they had no idea what I had just said and asked me to explain it. At that point, Blurred and E called me from afar to move. I got up to where they were and mentioned how tired I was, but E said the backside lifts were closed. The only way was forward so forward we went. Unfortunately, the sun was getting lower in the sky so we couldn’t take the run slowly as planned. We made a very long traverse left cutting new trail for the last section including traversing across the tops of some 80 footers and ended up in the Waterfall Chute (~3000ft vertical). It was an arduous trip down for me. We all still dropped what was available. We came across a slide that appeared to have been from the day before and that made us all nervous. We then entered the gully on which most of the trees were almost all flagged on the up-gully (up the length of chute). We came to one rather tricky section where I made two drops, then found myself on a very small pillow above a section of the gully that was blocked by two massive trees. I had to drop and stop or I’d end up somewhere I couldn’t get out of. I got out. I believe it was E who dropped the whole thing in one swoop. Incredible. All the landings were just so soft, though the snow at the bottom had gotten decidedly heavy. I only found one rock the whole time that I caught in the ribs when I side slid down to the creek bed and learned to listen to Blurred about taking skis off in the pow. We eventually made our way through until Blurred led us out of the gully where it became impassible. We cut into some very very tight trees with the village in sight. There was barley any light left in the trees and I had been struggling on every turn for my legs had nothing left to give.

~1745 We popped out in a cul-de-sac in a East Vail subdivision and it was a short skate on the street to the bus stop. Two busses and a short walk and we were back at the vehicle.


Conclusion:

What a blast. This trip ruled. I am very grateful to Blurred for showing me around. I feel sorry for Allison. Being with E and Blurred, who both had 10 years BC experience to my one, made me realize I have a lot more knowledge and training than experience. I shouldn’t have made the second run as I went up to my limits and then beyond. Dropping the cliffs was amazing. I want more. These two days are the best BC days I’ve ever done. I may have had a better single run elsewhere but these were the best lift based BC runs I’ve ever done. I really wanted to put in more visual description. However, Blurred had already tried to describe it to E and me, but words fail. You must see it to understand it. I had a blast. I'd ski with Blurred Elevens and Evil E any day. I am saving all of the rest of my pass days for the East Vail chutes. Fill it in guys.

[bad_roo]

Originally posted by SummitCo 1776
POW! Stars as I came to a sudden stop and my shits tried to touch my toes.

Never had that happen before.

Nice work.

[up an down]

great report!
__________________________________________________ _
~1200 The point that we sat on was amazing. It jutted out into the abyss. We overlooked the eastern part of the Vail Valley, I-70 could be seen but not heard. Snow covered lodge poles were at our back while the expansive glades and gullies below us beckoned. For a starting line, we had the choice between steep and a double 7ft drop. It was a site to be seen.
------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

good description, it brought back some nice memories for me
__________________________________________________ __
(If you ski Water Tower and find a silver Rollei Prego 90 in a Black and Purple camera case, let me know! The camera will be dead but the film will be fine).
-----------------------------------------------------------------------------------

i will be in vail the 17th-19th. i don't know east vail bc nearly as well as blurred, but did ski there many times during the winters i spent there ('86-'92) i would love to make some turns with some fellow maggots, in east vail ( if conditions are decent) or wherever. maybe we will score a camera

[bad_roo]

Originally posted by SummitCo 1776
While we waited, I realized that my camera had fallen out of my pocket on one of the drops. I was furious and bummed… $200 camera that is no longer made AND I lost the roll of film (If you ski Water Tower and find a silver Rollei Prego 90 in a Black and Purple camera case, let me know! The camera will be dead but the film will be fine. The guy wearing women's lingerie and beating off over an 8x10 glossy of Neon Deion Sanders isn't me by the way.

[Evil E]

nice job aaron! well worth the wait for the read. To aarons credit, although he has only been in CO for a few months I was very impressed with his willingness to drop big. Not the typical minnesota mindset for sure. Next time make sure your legs are fresh and your eyes are open to the terrain and hazards around you. That terrain was mind blowing for sure. Major major thanks to blurred for the guiding and great company. I hope this is just the start of many more days to come. I have 5 more days to use on my vail pass, and my girlfriend has all her 10. I may have to cut the bar code off hers and paste it to mine if she doesnt get out there soon!

Chime in if you dont think that would work.

[funkendrenchman]

E, her name will come up on their device.

[up an down]

Originally posted by funkendrenchman
E, her name will come up on their device.

so all he has to do is legally change his name eh?

[Evil E]

shit. do they really look at every name?? or do they hear the beep and then Im golden? Maybe I can wait until it gets busy and then just kinda roll through when they have a bunch of people to scan in a row. I can always bring my pass with me just in case. I bet that would work. its not like a liftie is gonna check every single tickets name when they have a full lift line. There is no way my girl is gonna use all 10 of her vail days and i paid for them anyways.

[Blurred Elevens]

Everyone take a moment to step back and basque in the glory of the overdue TR...Thing of beauty isn't it?

Actually SummitCo, you did an incredible job of writing that, I'm impressed by your accurate recount of events, you've also proven that you are one of the best writers here.

SummitCo did an amazing job skiing. I've never seen a guy who's never hucked a substantial cliff, huck a 25 footer so confidently. He did'nt hesitate, and did'nt make excuses. I did'nt have to coerce him to huck, he was just like "well, I'm on top of it, I'll huck it". It was pretty incredible. He went back the next day and hit it even bigger, and he stuck it. Also, I'm sorry about the lack of use of the camera the 2nd day, it's just so hard after all the prep and chairs and hiking to get back there, and stand on top of blower pow landing drops waiting for a camera to set up. We'll make a day back there just to photoslut everything A, that's my promise.

Also, Evil E's a ripper. He definitely made Summmitco and I drool for a pair of Spatulas of our own. Everything he skied looked super floaty and smooth, was cool as hell to watch.

Evil, I had a friend actually photocopy a barcode, and than put it on his pass. He kept it in one of those plastic sleeves on his arm. It worked great! I think if I stepped to the ticket checker before you did, and than had someone behind you, he would'nt even look at his scanner. I forgot your girls name...
It's not also a guys name is it? (Pat, Kelly, Terry, etc.) That would make things easy.

It was my pleasure showing you guys my world of skiing over in East Vail. Words still fail me describing it, even though SummitCo did well in that TR. Showing people that type of experience and terrain is half the fun for me. I know you guys will be safe whenever you go back there, it's a dangerous place. That slide that we saw really wierded me out. If that thing did'nt slide when it did, I would have triggered it. Even though we skied it properly and you guys could have dug me out, it would not have been an experience I would have enjoyed. However, I haven't been in that last chute in several years, and I was reminded how sweet it was. My thanks goes out to you guys for keeping everything safe and fun!

Planning another assault on the chutes tomorrow. It's been pretty warm the last 2 days, but I have a feeling the snow will still be good on the top 3/4's.
My bro just got out of an Avy awareness class this weekend, and he's chomping at the bit to go, fresh with avy skills.
Alison is probably up for round 2, and I'm sure her boy isn't going to let her go alone with the players..
Evil E has expressed interest, and has a friend that would like to go but needs some equipment.
Don't know SummitCo's schedule, I'm sure he'll get at me.
Also, Iskibc, where are ya? Coming up later this week?
Let me know where you stand you guys, let's Tee up some more shit!


I have 8 days left on my Vail pass. That's 8 more days in East Vail. I'll take any fellow maggots back there that have the proper equipment and/or experience. I figure that if I bring safe people back there, whenever they see folks with no beacons,etc.-they'll turn them around back to the inbounds stuff. This may save someones life someday.

Also, I declare this the official East Vail TR and log thread. I'll bump this thread and add onto it each time I ride East Vail until the end of the year. Hopefully we'll get it stuffed full of photos here soon as well.
Peace

[Blurred Elevens]

I promised Evil and SummitCo I'd post this.

http://biglines.com/photos/blpic17096.jpg


The arrow on the left is where we came up and over(end of the hike)

The blue line on the left is that WR cliff huck I was telling you guys about, and it's also where the guy died in an Avy in the story I'm posting.

2nd arrow is Joint Point, where we stopped and ate lunch.

Red is WaterTower, the first run of the 1st and 2nd days, the yellow line is obviously the last run. Notice that huge cliff we were on top of the whole time. That's the one that I said once your down there it's all mandatory 60-120' air. You can also see that weird flat spot we were on....hehe.



Here's the Avy story of that guy on King Tut/Old Mans-

March 4, 1996
East Vail Chutes, Colorado
2 out-of-bounds skiers caught, 1 partly buried, 1 buried and killed
submitted by: Dale Atkins, Colorado Avalanche Information Center

On Monday afternoon March 4, two Vail men left the ski area boundary to
venture into a backcountry area called East Vail Chutes. The men
traversed above the Chutes to Two Elk Pass where they ventured out onto a
large cornice. The cornice failed beneath the two skiers and dumped them
into the the King Tut avalanche path. The resulting soft-slab avalanche
fell about 1500 vertical feet down the easterly facing gully.

The survivor was carried 1000 vertical feet and buried to his neck. He
was able to free himself and tried to search with his avalanche rescue
beacon, however, it appears that he did not know how to use the beacon.

After his failed search effort he started down on foot--all of his gear
was lost in the slide. He later met 4 other O.B. skiers and was able to
borrow one ski to aid his descent to Interstate 70.

Back in Vail he notified authorities about he slide, but at that time he
wasn't even sure if his friend had been caught. His friend failed to
report to work and when his ski gear had not been returned the Vail Ski
Patrol organized a search.

Patrollers at the slide quickly picked up the buried man's beacon signal
and as they were zeroing in they spotted his cap. The time was about 1800
hours. The man was buried face down and had appearently died from
traumatic injuries suffered in the avalanche. The 22-year-old-man had
moved from Minnesota to Vail to spend the winter skiing. This was his
first and last trip in the East Vail Chutes.

The avalanche was classified as SS-AC-3-O. The cornice was 15' thick
where it failed and the resulting soft-slab avalanche was about 3'.

The East Vail Chutes area is a popular spot with out-of-bounds skiers; it
is also a very dangerous place when the snow is unstable. It seems that
most winters there are at least a couple of reported incidents where
skiers are partly buried or injured. Since 1990 this was the 4th death in
the East Vail Chutes.

-------------------------------------------------------------------
27. Prepared By (print or type): Dave Ozawa

A 22 year old male, backcountry skier. The East Vail Chutes are
outside the Vail Ski Area Boundary but they are accessed by a 20
minute hike from the top of lift 22 (Mongolia Bowl surface lift).
Interviewing the Vail Ski Patrol, they said this area is getting
skied more and more frequently by less experienced skiers/snowboarders.
As many as 50 people per day. I would see this type of out-of-bounds
skiing as becoming more and more popular at all areas. Beaver Creek
Patrollers also report more out-of-bounds skiing at several areas around
their existing permit boundary.

[ Part 2: "Included Message" ]

FS-6700-8 (8/86)
USDA Forest Service Report of Incident To Other Than Employees

1. Unit (1-2) : Region 2
2. Sub-Unit (3-4) : White River NF
3.District, JCC : Holy Cross RD
4. Case Number : (7-9)
5. Classification of Injured or Property Owner: Visitor
6. Date (mo., day and year) : March 4, 1996
7. Time : 2:15-2:45 pm
8. Day of Week : Monday 02
9. Exact location of incident : East Vail Chutes, King Tut Chute
10. Name of Injured : Burke, Kevin P.
11. Sex : Male
12. Age DOB: 22, 4/21/73|
13. Permanent Address : Vail, CO
14. Extent of Injuries: Death
15. Hospital : Vail Valley Medical Center, Vail, CO
16. Description of Injury - Avalanche victim, autopsy pending but
assume death by asphyxiation
21. Describe Fully : Kevin and John skied out to the East Vail Chutes
from the top of Chair 22. They were standing on top
of a cornice overlooking King Tut Chute when the
cornice broke. See attached sheet.
23. Type of Incident : Accident
25. Agency of Accident : Snow
26. Activity : Snow Skiing
27. Prepared By (print or type): Dave Ozawa

-------------------------------------------------------------------
Avalanche center warns backcountry travelers

By Allison Anderson
Daily Staff Writer

Kevin Burke of Vail became Colorado's seventh avalanche-related fatality of
the season Monday when a 1,500-foot slide buried him in East Vail.

Avalanche danger was rated moderate or high above treeline Monday and
moderate at or below treeline, according to Dale Atkins, a forecaster
with the Colorado Avalanche Information Center. He said danger would
likely rise to high with the snowfall and winds forecast through today.

Burke and John Andrle were standing on a cornice above Old Man's Line in
the East Vail backcountry when the cornice gave way at about 2 p.m. Both
men were buried, but Andrle was able to dig himself out.

"They might have been able to ski the slope safely but the cornice
collapse was like a bomb going off on that slope and triggered the
avalanche," Atkins said.

Atkins advised all backcountry travelers to educate themselves and be
properly equipped with avalanche beacons and shovels, which Andrle and
Burke were carrying. Andrle was unable, however, to pick up a signal from
Burke's transceiver. He said they had twice practiced by burying the
beacons and finding them earlier that day.

"Carry the equipment, but don't rely on it," Atkins said. "Once you're in
an avalanche, survival is luck, not skill.

"People heading into the backcountry need to be prepared for possibly
dangerous avalanche conditions, especially on steep slopes and gullies,"
Atkins said. "Carry and know how to use avalanche rescue equipment but
travel as if you don't have it."

Both men were reportedly experienced backcountry skiers, but it was Burke's
first time to ski that particular area. Brian McCartney, manager of
mountain operations in Vail, also warned skiers that proper equipment is
not the only tool needed to safely explore the backcountry.

"As this case shows, route selection and backcountry knowledge are the real
key," he said. "Unfortunately, both failed in this case."

Burke was pronounced dead by Eagle County Coroner Ken Wilson at
about 8:30 p.m. An autopsy is pending.

Others who have died in Colorado this season were also backcountry
skiers, snowboarders or climbers, with the exception of Alice Cartwright.
The East Vail woman died Feb. 21 when snow slid off her roof and buried her.
"That was a classic slab avalanche," Atkins said. "It doesn't matter if the
slab is off your roof or off a mountain."

The Colorado Avalanche Information Center offers recorded information
about backcountry conditions. The number in Eagle County is 827-5687. The
Summit County number is 668-0600.

[Evil E]

i will be in vail tommorrow skiing inbounds with the fiance. wish i could get back to east vail with you but tommorrow it isnt gonna happen. Let me know how it turns out and if the snow is still nice and soft. Keep me posted/drop me an email when youre planning your next excursion and i will definitely be into it.

Im going to switch passes with my girl tommorrow and see if any of the ticket checkers notice. If they do we can simply switch them back. but i think it will be a good test.

that last run with you guys through that waterfall area was SICK!!!! cant wait to go bigger next time.

[summit]

Cool pic Blurred. I'll put up a topo or areal photo if I have some time. I gotta work 8-12 so I don't hink it would be worth buring a Vail day. I can do Friday as long as I'm home by 5pm and I suppose I can skip out on an ice dive on Sunday.

Dale Atkins is a really cool guy.

I'll have to get my print film developed and scaned... and someone find my camera!!!!

[Billow]

Blurred Elevens, Evil E and SummitCo 1776 are ether all one jumble of alter goes or………………

Nice TR, didn’t think Blurred would have stepped up, props.

[Blurred Elevens]

Evil- keep your cell with you tomorrow. If the snow sucks back there, we'll be hitting up some of my stashes on the front. I'll give you a call and maybe we can all make some turns together. Also, we'll definitely go back there after the next big dump, and film the fuck out of everything...going huge of course!

SummitCo-I'm down for Friday, maybe gape it up at Breck or something and save the days for the goods if the snow sucks tomorrow. I'll let you know.

[Blurred Elevens]

Snow was still light today, but had definitely settled from the other days. Still really soft...we need more snow now.

[summit]

Ariel Ortho Photo
UPDATED
SEE PAGE 2 OF POST

[summit]

USGS Topo
UPDATED
SEE PAGE 2 OF POST

[shera]

Holy crap, that was an awesome report! I am so jealous.

Pleaseohpleaseohplease, can I go?

[Shredhead]

Evil E:
Be careful using someone elses pass. VA offers lifties a bounty if they catch you using someone elses pass. I think the fine is $335 and then the pass will be voided. I heard they caught 35 people at Breck in one day.

[Ted Stryker]

Originally posted by Blurred Elevens

....... my world of skiing over in East Vail......

u
go
girl.

[Evil E]

put finger over picture on pass...

liftie sez..sir..can you remove your finger?

---Oh well. it was my pass. I just wanted to see if they actually checked and it turns out that they do.

I have 5 days left on the vail pass and I hope to save every single one of them to ski the BC with blurred and the gang. Snow is firm as hell up there. Way too warm during the day. Come on Ullr, bring us some snow wouldja??

e

[funkendrenchman]

Originally posted by Evil E
put finger over picture on pass...

liftie sez..sir..can you remove your finger?

---Oh well. it was my pass. I just wanted to see if they actually checked and it turns out that they do.

I have 5 days left on the vail pass and I hope to save every single one of them to ski the BC with blurred and the gang. Snow is firm as hell up there. Way too warm during the day. Come on Ullr, bring us some snow wouldja??

e

Yikes! The snow is firm even up top in East Vail??

[Evil E]

sorry to confuse...Im sure east vail was mostly fine, but I bet the lower third is pretty set up.

I was talking about vail inbounds. It needs snow.

[Blurred Elevens]

Originally posted by SheRa
Holy crap, that was an awesome report! I am so jealous.

Pleaseohpleaseohplease, can I go?

Mir-I'd be more than happy to take you back there. With all of your avy awareness training/patrolling/etc and I think you'd be safe and have alot of fun with us. You have a beacon/shovel/ etc right?

It's been so warm this last week that I probably won't head back there again until it snows over a foot. Maybe in the next week or two, let's keep our fingers crossed. -Brett