Loveland Pass slide- 2 burials

[cmsummit]

I was up at A-Basin yesterday when this happened and noticed the slide at about 12:45pm. Holy fucking shit these two were lucky.

I couldn't imagine what these two were doing downclimbing the Ironing Board, just south of Dave's Wave. There are much safer routes, to the north and south of this location. Wow.

Neither were carrying the proper backcountry equipment.

Maybe Summit has access to some pics and can post them up?

[TeleHoar]

Hollie from TTips provided this picture;


Not smart!
Glad they are OK...
Lessons learned the hard way.

[smitchell333]

Dumb luck - probably 6" from a double death:

"According to Mike Schmitt, Summit County Search and Rescue public information officer, the father’s hand was the only unburied part of his body. He used that hand to dig his face out, and then the rest of his body. His son made an air pocket around his face during the slide and began yelling for his father. The father dug his son out of the snow after he dug himself out."

[Dromond]

Believe it or not this EC maggot has a snapshot of the slide path. We we're trying to figure out what the $^*# they were doing to make thoe tracks into the slide path. I think these were bonafied idiots my friends!

[smitchell333]

I bet they traveled from Loveland Pass - at their point of descent they would have been facing a hike back up to point 13117, down to the saddle, and back up point 12915, to then hike back down to loveland pass - it would have seemed a lot easier to a rookie to "just" hike down to US 6. that switch back looks so close.

[summit]

I can summarize that entire event with one word: "WHEW!"

Driving up, you could see the slide from miles away and all of the hangfire... there was a lot of hangfire.

These folks were glissaders... they were trying to hike Torreys. They had no snowshoes, skis, snowboards, or even an iceaxe. Obviously, no beacons, shovels, probes. They were very very very very lucky. It could have been a very upleasant day yesterday.

After we found them and the situation was calm, a few snap shots of the slide were grabbed on the way out:


(enhanced to show the snow texture)

[cmsummit]

I can summarize that entire event with one word: "WHEW!"

Driving up, you could see the slide from miles away and all of the hangfire... there was a lot of hangfire.

These folks were glissaders... they were trying to hike Torreys. They had no snowshoes, skis, snowboards, or even an iceaxe. Obviously, no beacons, shovels, probes. They were very very very very lucky. It could have been a very upleasant day yesterday.

I heard yesterday that they were "glissaders" and assumed that they had experience in alpine winter decents, because of the label they were given. Turns out, these guys were just hikers that had no idea what sort of predicament they were getting themselves into. And no equipment taboot! VERY LUCKY!

[summit]

http://www.9news.com/includes/builda...fice11-06b.wmv
They got some very good shots of the slide and the debris field.

The $#&^$ news guy got me in a few shots with my skis, but at least they didn't show my face.

[MadMatt]

I wonder why they didn't just come down the ridge looker's right?

I like how they lined up perfectly with the avalanche path. Brilliant!

[Dside11-11]

Good news. Props to Summit and SAR for doing what they do.

[TeleHoar]

I haven't watched 9News in awhile...
Tell me more about that Carrie McClure!!

[Vicious]

Glad things worked out.

Thumbs up to Summit & SAR!

[Z]

Heard about this yesterday at Loveland, glad everything worked out. Props Summit for putting yourself out there for other people.

So what type of slide was it? Wind slab from the east winds out this upslope?

[HotCarl]

I haven't watched 9News in awhile...
Tell me more about that Carrie McClure!!

7 news has got this real hot piece of ass,i think her name is jessica jamison. She's slutty. And i watch ch2 news every morning cause they got this cute blonde with the biggest fuggin tittyballs. Perfect way to start the day. She's the weathergirl.

Oh,and did anyone tell these jackoffs how stupid they are?

[couloirman]

and some douch bag in a previous thread tried to say Loveland pass was not "backcountry", be safe out there.

[pechelman]

great
now after watching that clip, morons will think they can dig themselves out of avalanches too.

i fucking hate the news

[smmokan]

I saw that when I was at A-Basin today- I was wondering what the hell those tracks were doing in there. Close call.

[JoeStrummer]

I haven't watched 9News in awhile...
Tell me more about that Carrie McClure!!

She isn't bad. But I would gladly perish in an avy if Kathy Sabine were waiting for me in hell wearing nothing but one of her red umbrellas.

Otto Steiner once wrote that anything worth skiing can avalanche. I guess that goes for glissading, too!

[Alpine Dreams]

Good video segment from News 9

She isn't bad. But I would gladly perish in an avy if Kathy Sabine were waiting for me in hell wearing nothing but one of her red umbrellas.

Would you really?

[Blurred]

This makes them ignorant, not stupid. Clueless. Very happy they got out ok.

Summit was first on the scene.

[gbarnum]

She isn't bad. But I would gladly perish in an avy if Kathy Sabine were waiting for me in hell wearing nothing but one of her red umbrellas.

^^^Yup, what he said!

[fortysix&2]

Glad they are OK. I saw that on the way home today, and I had a real hard time believing that someone would do that.

On another note, I saw some questionable ascent tracks/boot packs on BP today, too.

[shera]

Summit was first on the scene.

Seconded!

[uglymoney]

Wow! That is really something, what a close call - phew. What you don't know can hurt you.

[Kya]

Glad they made it out okay!