Think you had a close-call in the mountains this weekend? A skier was caught and buried in an avalanche on East Angle Mountain on Togwotee Pass on Saturday. Read about his experience on his blog, Southern Wind River Adventures.
Courtesy: Southern Wind River Adventures
Interestingly enough, the same skier triggered a slide in this same area last year…but didn’t get buried. This weekend, when he got buried, he heard “whoomping” on the skin to the top and saw evidence of an avalanche on a similar aspect on a different slope. Now, I’m not attacking this skier personally (hell, I skinned up some “whoomping” slopes this weekend too), but this case shows that often there are clues to avalanches that we…as humans…don’t choose to actually listen to. Yeah, we often acknowledge their presence, but in the end…we just can’t say no to the lure of untracked powder. It is amazing how powerful it can be. Please…Live to Ski!!!
BTW, I grabbed this image off the Teton Pass Webcam this morning…before sunrise.
Dude…Is that the Aurora Borealis?
Glad those two are alright, but why they even thought about skiing this line this time of year is beyond me. It is a known avi path that should only be considered in the best of times. It would be like dropping into Glory after two to three feet of new snow with a sketchy snowpack. East Angle sits at a lower elevation, has a truer continetal snowpack due to receiving less snow than higher up on the pass, and is rocky, which can grow some nasty depth hoar on this aspect. Shad’s comments about snowmobiles is just plain silly. Make better choices. Glad the mountain God’s were kind to them.
Boy, the monday morning quarterbacking could be thick as fleas on this one. I hope all the self-appointed judges out there just chill and give these lucky blokes a break. The many lessons to learn here are obvious to all, especially to the two in the thick of it. I’m glad they survived and had the courage to share it with the rest of us. Live to ski.
Not that I’m for or against it, but I have to say that keeping snowmobile access open so they could help troubled skiers is a tough argument to swallow.
I’m glad they had the guts to share their experiences with us though…and I thank them for that.
Sharing is a good thing. Try not to ignore your gut feeling sometimes mother nature is good to you and sometimes not. Cats have nine lives hopefully we get as many chances too.