Avalanche classes

i would probably go if it was like an 8 hour classroom session and one day or one weekend on the hill but that is way to much driving.

I'll be there.

Thanks for posting this Ben.

There are still two more classes and a field session next week. If you are in the Flathead and headed into the BC often, this makes a ton of sense, and practice never hurts.

Word, I should have went to this.
So can I come to the other two classes Dave or will I be behind? Or does it matter?

damn straight dave, shit went down today. basically the whole south facing slope of the canyon slide with like a 5-6 foot crown fracture, i helped dig the kid out that triggered it, dont kknow if he made it though, he was bleeding pretty bad-got airlifted. and another guy dug himself out and was frantic about his brother inlaw who was later found and didnt make it. i was down below helping look for two other skiers when the brother inlaw was found though. well shit goes down.... so wear your fucking beacon. those ppl would still be alive if they had been wearing beacons.

Was the slide in one of the skook chutes? 

shitty situation

this is all i've heard
anthony coleman(sp) 19 yrs old, and another kid who apparently graduated from flathead 2 years ago named scott were killed in the avalanche.

No, you can totally jump in. Anything that he covers that doesn't make sense I would be happy to explain, or show people the techniques I learned in the pit last Saturday.

Tuesday and Wednesday at the Summit in Kalispell, 6:30 to 9:30 pm. And this Saturday, we'll be doing beacon work and rescue stuff. Yesterday, we loaded at 8:00/8:30 am, so I would imagine that it would be similar.

If you don't mind asking how did you get there so fast? Were you close by?

RIP and best wishes to the families.

ok so yeah sry i didnt really tell more of the story last night, i was exhausted, got off work at 730 and took a nap and then headed up at around 11.

went straight to t-bar and dropped off the switchback into canyon, i was testing out my splitboard for the first time. i was planning to hike from the saddle up above the area that slid. and ride this chute:



yes i was by myself, i had planned to meet up with a kid, but he bailed and i was over-eager..... but i did have my shovel, probe, and beacon on. i would have been right in the middle of the slide, had i not had the snowmobile ride, but i would have had my beacon on....

anyhow, i had just broke down my splitboard and was layering down for the hike when a sled came by so i got a ride to the saddle, he proceeded to pick up two other snowboarders and give them rides with his other snowmobile friend. i think he was looking for a bowl.... but i dont smoke... anyhow...... then the sledders took off and they were chilling in the bottom and i was just starting up from the saddle and there was two other skiers just about to take off down the traverse. and we looked back and saw the powderblast, which occured about 1210

i didnt really hear it or anything, maybe like a wooosh, but it wasnt that loud. so yeah the two skiers took off right away to go check it out and i scrambled down, getting a ride down to the scene by a different sledder- one of my friends who had just gone by.

there was one guy near the top section of the debris- tom- and he was frantic about his brother in law who was supposedly hiking right behind tom when he called out avalanche, and tom last saw him running towards the trees away from the avalanche. tom was buried as well, but he had dug himself out b4 we got there.

so there were probly around 10 ppl on the scene at this time, might have had 4 probes going, tom confirmed that his bro in law was not wearing a beacon.

im not real experienced with probing and everything but i felt like an expert compared to the ppl that were working around me, me and another guy who was on a sled were trying to keep ppl in line to work a grid, but ppl would just start wandering off or stand there saying we should move, or theyd find some blood which turned out to be there own and we break up the line only to discover it was a tree. anyways we were working that for about 15 or so and someone spotted a glove sticking out over near the base of the chutes that slid, myself and i think one or two others went over and uncovered a kid, so he could breath, he was alive and conscious. but bleeding pretty bad, once we got him uncovered we raced back to help search for the brother in law. then we worked that for probly an hour or so and alert arived to take the kid that i helped dig out, but i dont think he made it http://www.missoulian.com/articles/2008/01/14/news/local/news02.txt

after about an hour i think up there probing, the original snowmobiler who gave me a ride was came by and was saying he saw two ppl get burried near the bottom so by that time ski patrol was there and they needed a couple ppl to go down with beacons to check, but apparently they ddint have beacons. either, and the whole beacon thing was redicoulous, we had determined that they didnt have beacons then someone would freek out saying that they got a signal and then we would find out that it was just someone who had walked up with a beacon or turned theres on. after awhile there were some volunteer search and rescue who got the grid going pretty well, and we covered a large area near where the two skiers were thought to be which took quite awhile, because of trees that we dug out.

and there were dogs, but it didnt seem to be too effective, possibly because the amount of ppl around and gear and people would light up a cigarette

while i was working with the lower group the higher group apparently found the brother in law, who from the sounds of the missoulian article would have survived if he had been wearing a beacon so that we could have located him

well after our lower gridline met the end of the debris, we were told that search and rescue would take it from there, and that if you werent planning to stay the night then you should head out. so they kept 7 running and i left the scene around 430. heres a couple pix i snapped on the way out, not very good, but yeah i was exhausted and ready for bed had to work last night too. fun fun.

you can click the pix to go bigger.

I'm really glad you didn't get hit by that Ben.

Sounds sucky for everyone involved.

Anyone know how tall the crown was?

yeah me too.... even though i would have had my beacon on, that doesnt guarantee anything. it looked to me that the crown was around 5-6 feet at a couple points and around 3-4 feet on a lot of it..... anyhow, conditions heres another advisory from bones.This is Stan Bones with a special backcountry avalanche warning issued bythe U.S. Forest Service Glacier Country Avalanche Center at 5:00 AM,Tuesday, January 15th, 2008, for the Glacier Park and Flathead and KootenaiNational Forest areas.|--------------------------------------------------------------------------|| HAZARD ANALYSIS ||--------------------------------------------------------------------------||Because of strong W'erly winds accompanied by variable amounts of new ||snowfall, we are currently rating the avalanche danger as HIGH over all of||the mountain ranges of Northwestern Montana. ||--------------------------------------------------------------------------|Monday night strong, mostly SW'erly winds invaded Northwestern Montana,often accompanied by periods of snow showers. Winds gusting into the 20'sMPH were producing areas of blowing snow. As a vigorous winter storm movesacross Western Montana, heavier snows are further forecasted Tuesday.Local blizzard-like conditions are expected in the mountains as windsgusting to 50 MPH create whiteout conditions in some areas. Tuesday nighttemperatures are forecasted to drop into the single digits or lower as avery robust NW flow develops.Because of strong winds, new snow, and cooling temperatures, unstable slablayers are likely on steep, wind loaded slopes in all of the mountainousareas of Northwestern Montana. Both natural and human triggered avalanchesare likely. Travel in avalanche terrain should be avoided.The weather forecast is for more wind, snow showers, and cold temperaturesthrough at least Wednesday night. Backcountry travelers need to remainalert and avoid travel in avalanche terrain until current weatherconditions abate and snow conditions stabilize.This advisory message will next be updated on Friday, January 18th, 2005. AVALANCHE DANGER RATING KEYLOW DANGER ...snow is generally stable with only isolated areas ofinstability. Natural avalanches are very unlikely, while human triggeredavalanches are unlikely. Backcountry travel is generally safe. Normalcaution is advised.MODERATE DANGER ...unstable slab layers are possibleon steep terrain.Natural avalanches are unlikely, while human triggered avalanches arepossible. Backcountry travelers should use caution in steeper terrain oncertain aspects.CONSIDERABLE DANGER ...unstable slab layers are probableon steep terrain.Natural avalanches are possible, while human triggered avalanches areprobable. Backcountry travelers should be very cautious in steeper terrain.Be aware of potentially dangerous areas of unstable snow.HIGH DANGER ...unstable slab layers are likely on a variety of aspects andslope angles. Both natural and human triggered avalanches are likely.Travel in avalanche terrain is not recommended. Safest travel is onwindward ridges or on lower angle slopes without steeper terrain above.EXTREME DANGER ...extremely unstable slab layers exist on most aspects andslope angles. Widespread natural and human triggered avalanches are certain. Large destructive avalanches are possible. Travel in avalanche terrainshould be avoided and travel confined to low angle terrain well away fromavalanche path runouts.

I heart Stan Bones.

stan bones is the man.