Avalanche San Juans- The Nose

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SkaredShtles
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Re: Avalanche San Juans- The Nose

Post by SkaredShtles »

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... :(
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Re: Avalanche San Juans- The Nose

Post by Carl_Healy »

SkaredShtles wrote: Thu Feb 04, 2021 11:39 am
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...
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Re: Avalanche San Juans- The Nose

Post by SkaredShtles »

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. :shock:

It's definitely humbling and scary...
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Re: Avalanche San Juans- The Nose

Post by Buckie06 »

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.
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Re: Avalanche San Juans- The Nose

Post by SkaredShtles »

Aaand another avy in East Vail just today.

https://www.vaildaily.com/news/one-repo ... east-vail/

++vibes
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Re: Avalanche San Juans- The Nose

Post by curt86iroc »

SkaredShtles wrote: Thu Feb 04, 2021 3:50 pm Aaand another avy in East Vail just today.

https://www.vaildaily.com/news/one-repo ... east-vail/

++vibes
this is so unfortunate.
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Re: Avalanche San Juans- The Nose

Post by ker0uac »

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.
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Re: Avalanche San Juans- The Nose

Post by cottonmountaineering »

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.
we could also try nuking hurricanes
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Re: Avalanche San Juans- The Nose

Post by cottonmountaineering »

but yes, ski resorts use explosives in targeted areas to make them slide
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Re: Avalanche San Juans- The Nose

Post by rijaca »

cottonmountaineering wrote: Thu Feb 04, 2021 4:26 pm but yes, ski resorts use explosives in targeted areas to make them slide
So does CDOT.
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Re: Avalanche San Juans- The Nose

Post by ker0uac »

cottonmountaineering wrote: Thu Feb 04, 2021 4:26 pm but yes, ski resorts use explosives in targeted areas to make them slide
Right, but I was wondering if it would help our current scenario, since it results from multiple deep weak layers dating back to late Fall.
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Re: Avalanche San Juans- The Nose

Post by d_baker »

ker0uac wrote: Thu Feb 04, 2021 4:33 pm
cottonmountaineering wrote: Thu Feb 04, 2021 4:26 pm but yes, ski resorts use explosives in targeted areas to make them slide
Right, but I was wondering if it would help our current scenario, since it results from multiple deep weak layers dating back to late Fall.
Education & avoidance is better.
Are you suggesting blasting all BC areas in the state!? That's a lot of dynamite, or whatever explosive they use.
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