Ski Bum Poet

How about a gasp for the current Little Cottonwood Canyon snowpak? The first photo below is courtesy of Spencer Wheatley on Facebook… although he points out that he didn’t take the photo. Here is his caption, and the photo:

“Natural avalanche in Cardiac Bowl -Fracture wraps into Little Superior Buttress.”

From the same cycle, check this next photo from High Greeley in the Alta Ski Area boundaries…this photo taken by Carvn Chip Robinson. Jesse posted a quote on an article at The Daily POW about this, yikes…

“An Alta ski patrol worker was briefly buried during avalanche-control work at the resort Sunday morning. About 9 a.m., he was helping with routine avalanche control when he was caught in a larger-than-expected slide near Greeley Bowl, said Alta General Manager Onno Wieringa. He was buried with only a hand sticking out, but his fellow patrollers pulled him out within about two minutes.”

Man, scary stuff. Stay safe out there hippies.

Avalanche Skier POV Helmet Cam Burial & Rescue in Haines, Alaska

Jesse posted a link to this video on the AltaCam skiing forum recently, and I just had a chance to watch. It’s about 8 and a half minutes long. With the avalanche occurring in view at skier’s right around 1 minute 17 seconds in. The remaining 6+ minutes of footage is POV of being buried alive in a slide. Incredibly intense and scary to watch, but it’s important that you watch it…the whole thing. Here is a quote from the story included at Vimeo.

The guy in the video was the first one to drop from their group and while not a guide (he was going tail-gunner style), had a lot of Utah and AK backcountry experience. He had a Black Diamond Avalung on, but as you can tell from the video while he’s talking as he’s dropping in, it wasn’t in his mouth to start. He tried to shove it in the instant of starting to get sucked down, but it didn’t stay. It was just off to the corner of his mouth he said, and he definitely got snow / ice build up as you’ll see on the second sweep of the mouth by the guide after they get to him…

Glad to see this turned out ok in the end, but a good reminder to everyone who enjoys the mountains in the winter…

This year the Utah Avalanche Center (UAC) added a new distribution method for their daily advisories using MP3 files available from their web site. Click Here for the Web Audio Advisories. This adds MP3s to their already robust distribution techniques including email notifications and a toll free phone number. The podcasts are generally 3-6MB file sizes.

As you might have guessed, their primary concern is Avalanche safety in Utah. I’ve always liked the UAC’s mission statement which is “Our goal is to keep people on top of the Greatest Snow on Earth instead of being buried beneath it.” This crew does an amazing job of helping backcountry skiers stay safe in the ‘Greatest Snow on Earth’. Have you ever checked out all their site has to offer? It’s an incredible resource. Here are just a few things you’ll find at  UtahAvalancheCenter.com:

• Daily Avalanche Advisories & Warnings (the two main advisories I watch are the Wasatch Range and Western Uintas Advisories)
• Backcountry Avalanche List (Wasatch Range)
• Mountain Weather Forecasts (UAC Forecast)
• Avalanche Education & Awareness (Check out the Avalanche Encyclopedia)

This site offers much, much more. And if you’re out in the backcountry doing anything you should be sure and subscribe to the advisory podcast RSS feed . Know before you go!

Over and out, Gary M