Threads related to Colorado mountaineering accidents but please keep it civil and respectful. Friends and relatives of fallen climbers will be reading these posts.
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Carl_Healy wrote: ↑Wed Feb 03, 2021 10:21 pm
San Juan County Office of Emergency Management also had a recent Facebook Post/Press Release.
Very sad.
The photos contained within are particularly distressing. Burial in 20+ ft of snow I can't imagine the effort it took the SAR teams to dig that tunnel into the snow for recovery.
The photo of the SAR team member cutting the snow with a chainsaw was telling...
Carl_Healy wrote: ↑Wed Feb 03, 2021 10:21 pm
San Juan County Office of Emergency Management also had a recent Facebook Post/Press Release.
Very sad.
The photos contained within are particularly distressing. Burial in 20+ ft of snow I can't imagine the effort it took the SAR teams to dig that tunnel into the snow for recovery.
The photo of the SAR team member cutting the snow with a chainsaw was telling...
I just took AIARE I and thought that would help in the chance myself or my companions were to be buried, but those photos are a bit eye opening.
Even if there were 5 companions carrying probes and shovels I don't think they'd be able to get to anyone buried that deep in time to save them...
If you can't run, you walk
If you can't walk, you crawl
If you can't crawl, you find someone to carry you
Carl_Healy wrote: ↑Thu Feb 04, 2021 12:06 pm
I just took AIARE I and thought that would help in the chance myself or my companions were to be buried, but those photos are a bit eye opening.
Even if there were 5 companions carrying probes and shovels I don't think they'd be able to get to anyone buried that deep in time to save them...
Yeah - they don't make probes that long. You'd have to dig WAY down to even get to the point that you *could* probe.
the statistics of a live rescue are about 4% when buried by snow 2 meters or more (6.5 feet). I was really curious from the prelim reports why the 3 skiers not caught in the slide were only able to recover one person, but if the other three were buried 20' deep then that explains it. It'll be interesting to see the full report when it is finished.
Does an avalanche due to weak snowpack make a slope safer? Though not practical, one solution to address CO weak snowpack is to safely trigger massive avalanches everywhere? That way, future snow can accumulate on top of stable layers? Just asking out of intellectual curiosity.
Those who travel to mountain-tops are half in love with themselves and half in love with oblivion
ker0uac wrote: ↑Thu Feb 04, 2021 4:23 pm
Does an avalanche due to weak snowpack make a slope safer? Though not practical, one solution to address CO weak snowpack is to safely trigger massive avalanches everywhere? That way, future snow can accumulate on top of stable layers? Just asking out of intellectual curiosity.
