Peer Pressure

I agree that crucial mistakes were made, but if one of your best friends was buried, you'd probably dig too.  Common sense kind of goes out the window at that point.  Don't forget that Chris ended up on the surface and they were basically within a few feet of each other when the slide hit them.  The second point about what triggered it is kind of irrelevant, and like I said, we will never know.  Point of fact is that you don't always trigger the slide that kills you.  Sometimes it's warming temperatures or something else and you can just be in the wrong place at the wrong time. 

Responding to MuchoMango, I actually agree with you now.  This happened before most people on NS were born.  Peeps or beacons were just starting to be used and they weren't that easy to get.  Now, going out of bounds without beacons and probes would be completely moronic considering that they are much more available.   Collapsible probes weren't available either.  They had shovels and standard gear for that time.  At that time most experts would have considered them to be well prepared.  Peeps were considered to be an added safety feature, but reviews on them were mixed.  By buying peeps they were adding another level of protection for themselves.  The coroner told us that it probably wouldn't have made a difference.  He thought that the force of the impact killed him immediately, or at least knocked him out.  The rescuers said that there was no sign that he had been trying to breath under the snow.  Anyway, this is getting kind of morbid and it's bringing back bad memories.  This happened 17 years ago and I have only skied in the back country once since then.  It pretty much killed the urge for me.  One good reason to take precautions when you ski the back country is that, if you get killed back there, your friends and family will still be dealing with it 17 years later.

I didn't realize it happened before the technology was widely available. Your post made it seem more recent for some reason.

I would of probably done the same if i was in that situation. I have been lucky to never been in the situation were i have to search for any one. The only time i have had to dig in avalanche debris, was to free my legs when i got partially buried 5 years ago.

It still feels recent unfortunately.  I just realized something too.  I lied about going OB only once since then.  I've probably been out a handful of times.  I skied for Warren Miller in "50".  Not throwing that out for the claim, but to make a point about technology and attitudes towards it. 

We skied Bluesky Basin before it was open to the public.  None of us were wearing peeps for that shoot either and that was only 11 years ago.  There was pretty huge slide danger for that; really late spring conditions and super heavy new snow on top of crust, severe slabs.  Peeps never even came up in conversation.  Beacons have become more widely used only in the last 10 years. 

hahaha i lold

Even in context that is a really inconsiderate thing to say.

Yeah it is stupid to go into uncontrolled terrain without knowledge/gear. No you don't "deserve what happens to you" You basically just said that if someone dies in an avalanche with no gear, then they deserved to die.

Assuming the 4th was not a moron I'd listen to them. A lot of times I overlook shut because of how excited I am at the moment.

-B

I'd have to go with the 1 at a time approach. But sometimes you just get that deep gut feeling that something isn't right, and if thats the case, sometimes you just have to turn around and find a different line. Everyone who goes that way all day might make it down safely, but if you're doubting the conditions, you'll end up doubting yourself which might make you more prone to making a stupid mistake and ending up in the shit.

sometimes it just doesn't feel right for you.

I would try to talk to them, and see if I could avoid them from doing it. If not, I'd tell them to wait 100meters down, and I would ride down to them.

Why would you ride down to them and get yourself stuck in a situation you're not comfortable with? Once you drop into most lines, you're completely commiteed and have no choice but to ride it and hope for the best. Stopping and joining your group 100 meters down a slope is a terrible choice. If a slide goes, all of you are taken out, leaving nobody to dig you out in the event you all get burried. You have to keep a strong group dynamic where you all have trust in eachother, while still having that inidividuality at the same time to where you can make an independent choice and the group will either listen/trust your intuition/decisions, or that you will listen/trust their intuition/decisions. I'll be honest here, I dont' have a ton of BC experience, but I have enough to know that there's a whole lot more that goes into BC riding than, "i'll wait to see if you make it down that section OK and then I'll give it a go".

Btw, I want to clear something up after Mr. Hucks post. Even though I realize his statement that an elk farting could've set off the avalanche for all he knew was sort of a joke, Avalanches are NOT caused by sound waves. Unless it is a direct, localized shockwave from a bombing, the forces are not generally strong enough to trigger a slide.

Once again, I have to respectfully disagree.  Cornices for instance build to a breaking point, but what causes them to actually break and turn into a slide could be anything.  It could be weight, sound, temperature change or any combination of other factors. 

For a little comic relief during avi training workshops, instructors may tell you that your Yodel is not going to cause a slide.  The fact is that it could and probably has, and you really don't want to go out and test the hypothesis, unless you want to end up receiving a posthumous Darwin Award. 

It's not worries. Like I said, it's possible that sound waves can cause an avalanche but I highly doubt the force of a person/animals voice (or fart for that matter) would be strong enough to effect the structure/integrety of the snow. I think it would have to be something much stronger and lower fequency than a voice to cause any change in the snow.

Dude, you haven't heard my ultra low frequency farts! 

id like to think that no one would put themselves in a position where the snowpack is so weak that sound waves could trigger a slide...

that's probably because it'd be lower than the human range of hearing if it were low enough to cause an avalanche ;)


aaaaand pretty much what the guy above me said.

This thread is going around in circles now..

well at least it's not sliding....

haha . this.