Thanks for sharing. I'm trying to learn as much as possible for future desires to do some backcountry. I'm confused about 3 aspects though on this event: 1st, should the person filming have been directly above the other boarder who triggered the avalanche? 2nd, shouldn't the person filming taken the safe way down via the debris field, as wasn't the area boarded at extreme risk to also release? 3rd, seems the 1st boarder was now below the filmer in a potential avalanche path should it have occurred? Not trying to criticize or 2nd guess anything, but just for my information only.
Hi Keith, Those are all good questions. I will answer them in order. 1) I was not directly above the victim, but above and behind him. This is a trade off between being too close, and not being able to see him in tree covered and hilly terrain. If I had been any further away from him I likely would not have been able to see him within the sliding avalanche, which is critical as that let's us know where to begin a beacon search should he become buried. 2) I did not like being in the debris field for two reasons. First, it was a bit slippery, as you might imagine. Second, there were still chunks of snow sliding downhill below me, and that made me feel unsettled. Additionally, I had dropped down a bit below the crown point, and was on a shallower angle as I regained the top of the ridge line after crossing the slide area. 3) It is hard to see, but the victim actually skied out far to the left, like "I want to be far away from this thing!" left. By the time I was moving again he was already out of my sight, so I posed no danger to him at all.
Hey Brian, glad you're okay! Was quite a scary and possibly dangerous situation you found yourself in! I'm a journalist for Caters News and would love to talk to you about sharing this story. If you could email me on lukekenton@catersnews.com, that would be great! Thank you!
Thanks for sharing. I'm trying to learn as much as possible for future desires to do some backcountry. I'm confused about 3 aspects though on this event: 1st, should the person filming have been directly above the other boarder who triggered the avalanche? 2nd, shouldn't the person filming taken the safe way down via the debris field, as wasn't the area boarded at extreme risk to also release? 3rd, seems the 1st boarder was now below the filmer in a potential avalanche path should it have occurred? Not trying to criticize or 2nd guess anything, but just for my information only.
Hi Keith,
Those are all good questions. I will answer them in order.
1) I was not directly above the victim, but above and behind him. This is a trade off between being too close, and not being able to see him in tree covered and hilly terrain. If I had been any further away from him I likely would not have been able to see him within the sliding avalanche, which is critical as that let's us know where to begin a beacon search should he become buried.
2) I did not like being in the debris field for two reasons. First, it was a bit slippery, as you might imagine. Second, there were still chunks of snow sliding downhill below me, and that made me feel unsettled. Additionally, I had dropped down a bit below the crown point, and was on a shallower angle as I regained the top of the ridge line after crossing the slide area.
3) It is hard to see, but the victim actually skied out far to the left, like "I want to be far away from this thing!" left. By the time I was moving again he was already out of my sight, so I posed no danger to him at all.
thanks for feedback, reviewing the incidents is very informative
Hey Brian, glad you're okay! Was quite a scary and possibly dangerous situation you found yourself in! I'm a journalist for Caters News and would love to talk to you about sharing this story. If you could email me on lukekenton@catersnews.com, that would be great! Thank you!