Humbling experience on the Steep Gullies-Props to A-Basin Patrol!

[skiracer88_00]

I went to A-Basin yesterday with the goal of exploring in the steep gullies, which had just opened a week or so ago for the first time. In the morning, I took a couple of laps on steep gully #2, which was absolutely fantastic. Later in the day, I decided to check out the other gate (accessing gullies #4-8) and found a little side chute that emptied into the apron of gully #4. It looked like it went through cleanly from the top, but once i got down into it i knew I had made a terrible mistake. I was standing on top of this very narrow choke that consisted of a ~10 footer followed immediately by a ~20+ footer onto the steep apron below. I was uncomfortable skiing down this due to the extreme consequence of the terrain. I tried to sidestep back out, but the snowpack was hollow and I wasn't really making any progress. I didn't feel comfortable at all taking off my skis and trying to boot back out...I was stuck. As I thought about what to do, a group of skiers showed up at the top and asked if I needed help. Although I may have been able to make it down in one piece with some luck, I resigned myself to the fact that it would be a better option to call patrol to get some help. Patrol showed up and set a rope off a couple of trees at the top of the gully and were able to put me on belay to lower me down to safety. They were very professional and absolutely fantastic.

I realize that I made a very stupid mistake and I know and am opening myself up to criticism by posting this. I will definitely learn from this experience and will research the terrain better and hopefully ski there with someone knowledgeable of the area when I venture in there again. I wanted to put this out there so that others understand the seriousness and complexity of this new in-bounds terrain. It is unlike anything else I have skied in the front range and the way it is managed is super cool, but is an anomaly for the US. Once you are through the gates, it is all open and there are no signs, ropes, or bamboo to direct you. There are blind rollovers and unmarked mandatory airs. Huge thank you to Devon Haire and Tim Walsh of A-Basin patrol (and the rest of the crew who ran belay from the top) for saving my ass from a very scary situation.

[sb]

Know when to say when.

Live and learn to ski another day.

[Skidog]

so you'd never been in there and didn't have any local knowledge? Wow...

glad you got out ok...but still...

[Kinnikinnick]

Almost like you could have predicted this sort of thing when you open up that kind of terrain to the front range masses.


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[2FUNKY]

Better adorn the flame suit. Takes balls to post this up so props for that. Hopefully you learned a major lesson in the importance of scoping gnarly lines real well before stepping into them.

[fatnslow]

Hope you brought the trollers some beer and a pizza.

[toast2266]

Mistakes were made, but shit happens. I'd be surprised if there was anyone on this board that hasn't, at one point or another, skied themselves into a difficult position. Glad everything worked out in the end.

I'm a bit surprised there's no signage. Obviously every skier is ultimately responsible for what they get themselves into, but if you open up inbounds terrain in the front range that has a bunch of unmarked close out lines, patrol's gonna be wasting a lot of time in there.

[skiracer88_00]

Hope you brought the trollers some beer and a pizza.

No pizza, but I got the beer covered.

[GPP33]

It's cool that they are managing the terrain this way but it'll be interesting to see how long it lasts given it's proximity to such a large pool of people that can't wait to get in over their heads. There are lots of places in the US that manage extreme terrain this way, CB, JHMR and Big Sky to name a few, but they are all a bit more remote. Glad you made it out ok.

[El Chupacabra]

Is that photo looking up at where you descended? (i.e. what you would have had to ski down, had you kept going?)

If so... damn. Surprised that is open inbounds terrain anywhere.

[skiracer88_00]

Is that photo looking up at where you descended? (i.e. what you would have had to ski down, had you kept going?)

If so... damn. Surprised that is open inbounds terrain anywhere.

Yes, that is looking back up at the choke from the apron below.

[El Chupacabra]

Yes, that is looking back up at the choke from the apron below.

You made a wise decision. NFW would I try skiing or downclimbing that.

[raisingarizona13]

It's cool that they are managing the terrain this way but it'll be interesting to see how long it lasts given it's proximity to such a large pool of people that can't wait to get in over their heads. There are lots of places in the US that manage extreme terrain this way, CB, JHMR and Big Sky to name a few, but they are all a bit more remote. Glad you made it out ok.

Yeah, if there are too many incidents like this management might look at the costs of keeping it open and decide it's not worth it any longer which might be a blessing in disguise for some locals.

That feeling you get when you decide to retreat but find yourself swimming in rot, unable to get anywhere is pretty shitty.

[Self Jupiter]

Better adorn the flame suit. Takes balls to post this up so props for that. Hopefully you learned a major lesson in the importance of scoping gnarly lines real well before stepping into them.

X2. Mistakes happen. Sometimes we learn from them. Props to Patrol.

[cmsummit]

Oh man, that's the exact spot I alluded to in the Colorado Weather Discussion thread, when some asked about the Steep Gullies and the entrances into them.

Depending on coverage, there's a mandatory air/straightline into #4 from a secondary entrance a little further down the skier's left ridge than the usual entrance. It's probably an air right now.....straightline when it gets filled in. Coming in hot to what will surely be a steep bump field now, doesn't sound like much fun.

'10/'11 that choke was a mandatory straightline that I hit a couple of times. It's a tricky spot since the choke point is completely blind from the entrance point.

Anyways, glad you got out of there safely! Kudos to ski patrol and the great job they do.

[summit]

Those are some good peeps.

Glad it turned out well.

This won't be the last time either.

CB patrol also does 3rd man pickoffs many times a season.

[~mikey b]

Good on you for posting this. Props to A Basin patrol.

[ffmedic84]

Did you try and enter from the top entrance or just went straight to that one?
Smart decision to bail on the line and not try to down climb into the chute.

[wyeaster]

Hope you brought the trollers some beer and a pizza.

blowjobs before rescue

[TAFKALVS]

Is that photo looking up at where you descended? (i.e. what you would have had to ski down, had you kept going?)

If so... damn. Surprised that is open inbounds terrain anywhere.

Most PNW resorts have terrain like this just behind a gate or soft ropeline.

[ncskier]

Good on you for posting. Low tide snow can make all the difference in the world. I only bootpacked out once in my life and it was in the hobacks of JH. Extreme low tide conditions with literal moguls of granite. Looked at my buddy and my poor soon to be rock skis and we walked back. Ran into a couple of patrollers on the way and they were on the way down to rope it off until more snow. No shame.
Thats some gnarly terrain with the low snow year for sure in that pic.

[Gerome]

Sugar Bowl in Tahoe is another place that has zones that lead people into cliffed out zones. For a mountain with a relatively small total vertical, i've seen a lot of roped rescues and people that fall off cliffs where a couple gullies end in cliffs. Most of the challenging terrain is mid-mountain. Last year during a powder day, on my birthday with the huge snowpack we went towards a mandatory huck, looker's left of Lincoln chair. I found a girl on a snowboard stuck in the worst place to be at the entire ski resort. The snowfield led to a small waterfall with maybe 10 cfs of flow, much more than a trickle of water. It led to vertical frozen ice that may have been 10-15 feet tall, but the water undermined the ice forming a crevasse that when I looked over the cliff may have been 30 or 40 feet deep or better and was at least the width of a person. This snowboarder had slid down to the cliff, had her snowboard over the edge, had water continuously pouring over her board. I skied to her and had her hold my skis. Basically, I was there for moral support for the next hour while ski patrol took their sweet time to get her on belay. I talked with her, made jokes and kept the conversation positive and fun as best I could so she'd keep her strength up. I'm not certain she knew how life threatening that undercut-crevasse-creek was. The ski patrol was aweful and underskilled. They should all be well practiced in roped rescue because of that terrain. When the rescuer finally set up the rope he descended directly above her, kicking snow onto her. When he finally got a harness on her and got her on belay, he wanted to unclip her because the rope was a little twisted. I told him to not take her off belay, but he acted like he knew what he was doing even though he was obviously super rusty with his rope handling skills. He got her up finally, but it took far longer than it should have since I've seen them rescue people several times over the past few year.

Thanks for sharing your story. I don't think you need to get flamed or get shit for making a mistake and sharing your experience. I've skied a few lines including Sugar Bowl and Jackson Hole where people were postholing out while I knew there was a mandatory air. Sounds like you ended up in one where the snow was too rotten to take off your skis. It's a good lesson to know when it's a bad idea to take off your skis.

[simple]

Sidecountry / slackcountry is still backcountry. Skiing in the steep gullies is no joke, advise not to do it alone. Glad they helped you. That rock is rotten.

[summit]

Sidecountry / slackcountry is still backcountry. Skiing in the steep gullies is no joke, advise not to do it alone. Glad they helped you. That rock is rotten.

They are inbounds now.

[GPP33]

Yeah, if there are too many incidents like this management might look at the costs of keeping it open and decide it's not worth it any longer which might be a blessing in disguise for some locals.

That feeling you get when you decide to retreat but find yourself swimming in rot, unable to get anywhere is pretty shitty.

I'm sure they'll keep it open, but if people start getting hurt on the regular or they do too many rescues they'll just rope barrier the shit out of the place and funnel everyone to the lines that are safe for the lowest common denominator. Since you can't see this from in bounds like upper east wall, lake chutes, 6 senses, etc I wonder if an aerial photo map like they do for CB would be a good idea, it'd obviously be a lot smaller but could come in handy for finding lines.