For Those Who Like It Off The Beaten Path
avalanche!!!!! (January 08)
AVALANCHE!!!!!!!!!
Current mood: thankful
Saturday, Jan 5, 2008
Pictures in 07-08 winter album...(myspace)
We decided to just have a short day and ride in the "Bridgers." Even though the mountains down south were getting lots of snow, Taylor's Fork isn't any fun in the middle of a storm when you can't see, so we thought we'd just have a nice, easy, Olson Creek Day. When we left the house and we looked down south, we were really glad we weren't going to be fighting the white outs down Taylor's Fork. WE dropped the kids off with my folks, and got some concerned comments from my dad about avalanches. We said, "we don't really have to worry about them where we are going" and headed on out the door. The plan was to meet Rob & Laura at the "Caveman Jump", since they would be riding up from Skunk Creek. We geared up in the truck and Rob wasn't going to bring his avalanche beacon because we were "only" going up Olson, and there really isn't any "avalanche terrain" up there, but I reminded him of "avalanche gully" and said, "If I have to pack mine with me, I might as well turn it on." (the strap broke, so it's in my pocket, so it's always with me), so he put his on too. Anyway, we unloaded on Bridger Canyon Road and headed up Olson Creek.
I was really disappointed in the snow when we got to the meadows, since everything was all tracked up and has really settled in the warm weather. We cruised up around the corner to the caveman meadow, and even it had a few tracks in it, and the rest of the snow was really settled. I hit a few jumps, a moose ran across the bottom of the meadow, and we sat and waited. Rob said, "what do you think?" and I said, "there sure isn't any snow left up here!, pretty slim pickins!" I was getting a little crabby at the lack of good powder riding, but then glanced at the sky and was still glad I wasn't down the Canyon. About then, Rob (Sr) and Laura pulled into the meadow, and off we went.
We headed around the road and hit jump meadow, then part of Canyon Creek, then Bishop's Park, and then stopped for a quick snack. Rob said he wanted to drop into avalanche gully and the clearcut hill, and I agreed, because I wanted to find "some" powder somewhere. Rob and Laura have different names for things than we do, so they wanted us to make sure we told them where avalanche gully is. We drove around to the green gate in Bangtail. We climbed on the hill above the road and played around there for a little while. I was heading down, then turning around, and climbing up, jumping the road, and climbing some more, jumping drifts, etc, before I got to the trees and turned out. On my third or fourth run, I noticed that the snow was getting really "slabby" and I was thinking, "I'll have to call the avalanche guys and tell them they are right, we're getting some windslabs up here." Then we all grouped up again and headed into avalanche gully.
We dropped in and Robby and I immediately cut a turn and climbed up the gully a few times. I stopped once and he said, "I see a line – you'd better take it before I do!", so I charged up the hill and came back down and turned my sled off and said, "Is that the one you meant?" then he saw another line, up in the narrow part of the gully. This is the part that usually slides on him – thus the name of the gully. Usually, though, he will just kick off something small – a couple feet or a few yards – or he is "cutting" the hill and it is sliding between his trenches…or, if it is larger, he's usually already at the bottom of the hill or somewhere else. Not that this means we "disrespect" the hill and consider it to not be dangerous. Not at all. That gully is the reason why we turned on our beacons! So, he headed up to the narrower part, and I did too, although I don't really like climbing there, because there isn't much room at the bottom for turning out because of some trees. In fact, last year, I had to get extremely creative through the trees – thank goodness for my left handed throttle that day! Anyway, I went back down to the mouth of the gully and we were all sitting there, so I decided to pee. I had all my gear off, and we were standing there talking. Laura said, "I see a line, Robby!" so she told him to take her new sled (800 rev xp w/ under 300 miles on it) and go "between the rock and the tree and try to go over the top." I was looking at a different angle on the line than what Robby took, but he circled around a couple times trying to get lined up, then he hit the hill.
Rob was about ½ way to ¾ of the way up the hill, in the middle of the "bowl" when the entire hill just SHATTERED. One minute he was climbing, the next, he looked like a little dot compared to the whole hill, which was in a million pieces and sliding. I yelled, "Avalanche, Robby!" (like he could hear me…) He and the sled rolled and then he disappeared under the snow and we didn't see him again for a long time. I was watching for him to start "swimming" or to even move, but he was totally gone. All we could see occasionally through the snow was the sled rolling. The snow just seemed like it kept sliding and sliding and sliding…for a "small" hill, it sure looked like a big slide when we couldn't see Rob, and there just seemed like SO MUCH snow! I was thinking about starting my sled, but I was just staring at the slide, concentrating on where I needed to start searching with my beacon & probes. Thank God, as the chunks and snow settled at the bottom of the hill, Rob's head popped out and someone yelled, "He's up, I see him!" Then Laura said, "HE'S NOT MOVING!" so at that point, I basically panicked. Full scale panic…no brain power anymore.
Rob Sr was already driving his sled over there to help Rob and I was trying to start mine…(it takes me too many pulls!), so I felt like I was taking too long, and so, like a retard, I took off with one glove and no helmet, and in too big of a hurry to get a good line on the hill. I glanced to my left and was going to circle around and get a good angle, but I could see Rob Sr shoveling snow off of Rob and that freaked me out big time, so I just kept her pinned…hit a vertical wall, got a face full of snow, then landed and rolled my sled, where I got pitched off head first into the powder (no helmet). I was pissed off. I hit my kill switch so my sled wouldn't flood and climbed up the hill on foot. I was sooooooo mad at myself. Duh. You can't take care of someone else or help them if you can't keep yourself safe or if you can't get your sled to the slide area! Stupid, stupid, stupid! I was sooooo mad and disappointed in myself for freaking out. So, while I was messing around, Rob Sr had gotten to Rob and started digging him out. When he first got there, Rob said, "DIG ME OUT, DAD! I'm getting claustrophobic!!!" He had his hand about down to his wrist and the face of his helmet out of the snow, but he couldn't move.
So…..anyway….Rob Sr. got Rob dug out and I could see he was okay, so I grabbed my little camera and saw I my 24 roll of film was on number 23. The lighting was really flat, and I didn't think the pictures would turn out at all or show anything. (Amazingly enough, they came out a LOT better than I expected) I snapped a few pictures, hugged him to death, tried not to cry, then started walking down to finish rolling my sled the rest of the way over…thanks to Laura and the 2 Robs, we got it done. Rob is okay, other than major whiplash from getting pounded on the rocks and sandwiched by the sled…
ROB'S VERSION….(as told to me)
When he was climbing, he saw the hill shatter all around him, and all of the sudden, the 3 feet of snow was GONE from under the sled, and it started to roll, which pitched him off on the downhill side of the sled. He had to fall all the way down to the ground – about 4 to 5 feet – where he landed headfirst in the rocks. Immediately, the sled slammed on top of him, then all the snow from above him came crashing down. He was trying to swim and keep himself up, but was getting shoved, rolled, and tumbled down over the rocks, so it was basically impossible to "swim". The sled finally rolled off of him enough to get one arm up and then the slide was over and he was trapped. He knew he was okay since his head was out and managed to wiggle his hand over enough to take off his goggles. He was soooooo happy to see SOMEONE (his dad) show up, and yelled, "DIG ME OUT, DAD!" – as I said before.
Then, it just became a task of digging out Laura's new sled (sooooo sorry about that) and getting re-grouped.
The slide was at least a hundred yards wide…maybe 150 yards wide, and about 80-90 yards long (tall).
It was crazy.
We kept riding, got in a whiteout, then it cleared off, we found a mulie fawn with a broken back that we couldn't do anything to help it, rode some more…then got in another white out. I was just feeling puny for the rest of the day. I was able to not think about it too much…until I went to bed…and then I just saw the hill shatter over and over and over….
Thank God for His many blessings, and for watching over us even when we are "stupid"!
So….lessons for the day…. 1) any hill can slide under the right (or wrong) conditions. 2) I can't help someone if I can't take care of myself 3) everyone needs to always wear their beacons and be prepared to use them….practice, practice, practice. 4) if you call it "avalanche gully" – be prepared for it to slide!! :O)
"normally" when Rob is in a slide, I'm fairly calm and can focus on what I need to do to "rescue" him…but this time…I freaked out when he disappeared for sooooo long…..
Thanks to Rob and Laura too…I'm REALLY glad they were there. (and your parts are on order! ;oP!)
Avalanche Report on Sunday Morning…
The Bridger Range:
The Bridger Range has quieted down since all the natural avalanche activity on New Years Day. However, recent winds have created small wind slabs near the ridgetops as well as mid-mountain on northeast facing slopes. These slopes are our primary avalanche concern. For today, the avalanche danger on wind-loaded slopes steeper than 35 degrees is MODERATE while all other slopes have a LOW danger.
In the Bangtails, a small range east of the Bridgers, a snowmobiler triggered a slide which partially buried him yesterday. It broke 3 feet deep and a few hundred feet wide on a wind-loaded slope. The snowpack was thin and the slide ran on the ground. This was a small slope and the reporting party wanted to emphasize that it's easy to be fooled into thinking small hills are not avalanche terrain, when in fact they can be
Current mood: thankful
Saturday, Jan 5, 2008
Pictures in 07-08 winter album...(myspace)
We decided to just have a short day and ride in the "Bridgers." Even though the mountains down south were getting lots of snow, Taylor's Fork isn't any fun in the middle of a storm when you can't see, so we thought we'd just have a nice, easy, Olson Creek Day. When we left the house and we looked down south, we were really glad we weren't going to be fighting the white outs down Taylor's Fork. WE dropped the kids off with my folks, and got some concerned comments from my dad about avalanches. We said, "we don't really have to worry about them where we are going" and headed on out the door. The plan was to meet Rob & Laura at the "Caveman Jump", since they would be riding up from Skunk Creek. We geared up in the truck and Rob wasn't going to bring his avalanche beacon because we were "only" going up Olson, and there really isn't any "avalanche terrain" up there, but I reminded him of "avalanche gully" and said, "If I have to pack mine with me, I might as well turn it on." (the strap broke, so it's in my pocket, so it's always with me), so he put his on too. Anyway, we unloaded on Bridger Canyon Road and headed up Olson Creek.
I was really disappointed in the snow when we got to the meadows, since everything was all tracked up and has really settled in the warm weather. We cruised up around the corner to the caveman meadow, and even it had a few tracks in it, and the rest of the snow was really settled. I hit a few jumps, a moose ran across the bottom of the meadow, and we sat and waited. Rob said, "what do you think?" and I said, "there sure isn't any snow left up here!, pretty slim pickins!" I was getting a little crabby at the lack of good powder riding, but then glanced at the sky and was still glad I wasn't down the Canyon. About then, Rob (Sr) and Laura pulled into the meadow, and off we went.
We headed around the road and hit jump meadow, then part of Canyon Creek, then Bishop's Park, and then stopped for a quick snack. Rob said he wanted to drop into avalanche gully and the clearcut hill, and I agreed, because I wanted to find "some" powder somewhere. Rob and Laura have different names for things than we do, so they wanted us to make sure we told them where avalanche gully is. We drove around to the green gate in Bangtail. We climbed on the hill above the road and played around there for a little while. I was heading down, then turning around, and climbing up, jumping the road, and climbing some more, jumping drifts, etc, before I got to the trees and turned out. On my third or fourth run, I noticed that the snow was getting really "slabby" and I was thinking, "I'll have to call the avalanche guys and tell them they are right, we're getting some windslabs up here." Then we all grouped up again and headed into avalanche gully.
We dropped in and Robby and I immediately cut a turn and climbed up the gully a few times. I stopped once and he said, "I see a line – you'd better take it before I do!", so I charged up the hill and came back down and turned my sled off and said, "Is that the one you meant?" then he saw another line, up in the narrow part of the gully. This is the part that usually slides on him – thus the name of the gully. Usually, though, he will just kick off something small – a couple feet or a few yards – or he is "cutting" the hill and it is sliding between his trenches…or, if it is larger, he's usually already at the bottom of the hill or somewhere else. Not that this means we "disrespect" the hill and consider it to not be dangerous. Not at all. That gully is the reason why we turned on our beacons! So, he headed up to the narrower part, and I did too, although I don't really like climbing there, because there isn't much room at the bottom for turning out because of some trees. In fact, last year, I had to get extremely creative through the trees – thank goodness for my left handed throttle that day! Anyway, I went back down to the mouth of the gully and we were all sitting there, so I decided to pee. I had all my gear off, and we were standing there talking. Laura said, "I see a line, Robby!" so she told him to take her new sled (800 rev xp w/ under 300 miles on it) and go "between the rock and the tree and try to go over the top." I was looking at a different angle on the line than what Robby took, but he circled around a couple times trying to get lined up, then he hit the hill.
Rob was about ½ way to ¾ of the way up the hill, in the middle of the "bowl" when the entire hill just SHATTERED. One minute he was climbing, the next, he looked like a little dot compared to the whole hill, which was in a million pieces and sliding. I yelled, "Avalanche, Robby!" (like he could hear me…) He and the sled rolled and then he disappeared under the snow and we didn't see him again for a long time. I was watching for him to start "swimming" or to even move, but he was totally gone. All we could see occasionally through the snow was the sled rolling. The snow just seemed like it kept sliding and sliding and sliding…for a "small" hill, it sure looked like a big slide when we couldn't see Rob, and there just seemed like SO MUCH snow! I was thinking about starting my sled, but I was just staring at the slide, concentrating on where I needed to start searching with my beacon & probes. Thank God, as the chunks and snow settled at the bottom of the hill, Rob's head popped out and someone yelled, "He's up, I see him!" Then Laura said, "HE'S NOT MOVING!" so at that point, I basically panicked. Full scale panic…no brain power anymore.
Rob Sr was already driving his sled over there to help Rob and I was trying to start mine…(it takes me too many pulls!), so I felt like I was taking too long, and so, like a retard, I took off with one glove and no helmet, and in too big of a hurry to get a good line on the hill. I glanced to my left and was going to circle around and get a good angle, but I could see Rob Sr shoveling snow off of Rob and that freaked me out big time, so I just kept her pinned…hit a vertical wall, got a face full of snow, then landed and rolled my sled, where I got pitched off head first into the powder (no helmet). I was pissed off. I hit my kill switch so my sled wouldn't flood and climbed up the hill on foot. I was sooooooo mad at myself. Duh. You can't take care of someone else or help them if you can't keep yourself safe or if you can't get your sled to the slide area! Stupid, stupid, stupid! I was sooooo mad and disappointed in myself for freaking out. So, while I was messing around, Rob Sr had gotten to Rob and started digging him out. When he first got there, Rob said, "DIG ME OUT, DAD! I'm getting claustrophobic!!!" He had his hand about down to his wrist and the face of his helmet out of the snow, but he couldn't move.
So…..anyway….Rob Sr. got Rob dug out and I could see he was okay, so I grabbed my little camera and saw I my 24 roll of film was on number 23. The lighting was really flat, and I didn't think the pictures would turn out at all or show anything. (Amazingly enough, they came out a LOT better than I expected) I snapped a few pictures, hugged him to death, tried not to cry, then started walking down to finish rolling my sled the rest of the way over…thanks to Laura and the 2 Robs, we got it done. Rob is okay, other than major whiplash from getting pounded on the rocks and sandwiched by the sled…
ROB'S VERSION….(as told to me)
When he was climbing, he saw the hill shatter all around him, and all of the sudden, the 3 feet of snow was GONE from under the sled, and it started to roll, which pitched him off on the downhill side of the sled. He had to fall all the way down to the ground – about 4 to 5 feet – where he landed headfirst in the rocks. Immediately, the sled slammed on top of him, then all the snow from above him came crashing down. He was trying to swim and keep himself up, but was getting shoved, rolled, and tumbled down over the rocks, so it was basically impossible to "swim". The sled finally rolled off of him enough to get one arm up and then the slide was over and he was trapped. He knew he was okay since his head was out and managed to wiggle his hand over enough to take off his goggles. He was soooooo happy to see SOMEONE (his dad) show up, and yelled, "DIG ME OUT, DAD!" – as I said before.
Then, it just became a task of digging out Laura's new sled (sooooo sorry about that) and getting re-grouped.
The slide was at least a hundred yards wide…maybe 150 yards wide, and about 80-90 yards long (tall).
It was crazy.
We kept riding, got in a whiteout, then it cleared off, we found a mulie fawn with a broken back that we couldn't do anything to help it, rode some more…then got in another white out. I was just feeling puny for the rest of the day. I was able to not think about it too much…until I went to bed…and then I just saw the hill shatter over and over and over….
Thank God for His many blessings, and for watching over us even when we are "stupid"!
So….lessons for the day…. 1) any hill can slide under the right (or wrong) conditions. 2) I can't help someone if I can't take care of myself 3) everyone needs to always wear their beacons and be prepared to use them….practice, practice, practice. 4) if you call it "avalanche gully" – be prepared for it to slide!! :O)
"normally" when Rob is in a slide, I'm fairly calm and can focus on what I need to do to "rescue" him…but this time…I freaked out when he disappeared for sooooo long…..
Thanks to Rob and Laura too…I'm REALLY glad they were there. (and your parts are on order! ;oP!)
Avalanche Report on Sunday Morning…
The Bridger Range:
The Bridger Range has quieted down since all the natural avalanche activity on New Years Day. However, recent winds have created small wind slabs near the ridgetops as well as mid-mountain on northeast facing slopes. These slopes are our primary avalanche concern. For today, the avalanche danger on wind-loaded slopes steeper than 35 degrees is MODERATE while all other slopes have a LOW danger.
In the Bangtails, a small range east of the Bridgers, a snowmobiler triggered a slide which partially buried him yesterday. It broke 3 feet deep and a few hundred feet wide on a wind-loaded slope. The snowpack was thin and the slide ran on the ground. This was a small slope and the reporting party wanted to emphasize that it's easy to be fooled into thinking small hills are not avalanche terrain, when in fact they can be
Comment
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Comment by zak lavers(a.k.a crazy jew) on September 28, 2008 at 10:16am - i agree john ... like doctors hills
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Comment by John Smallwood on May 31, 2008 at 1:50am - great read thanks for posting it....think I saw the pics before i saw the story...lost a good friend last year to an avalanche,He was a real outdoorsman,profesional guide, and great husband and dad. They were stoped having lunch when it broke way. quick thinking by the group kept it from being even worse...was a sad sad day...we need to be really careful out there.I got Into a small one this winter not a good fealing.....For 3 days all the smaller hills were sliding here this spring your right the ones you think arnt so bad are actualy the bad ones they hold more snow alot of times.....
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