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'Avalanche rescue for real' - a contrast to some earlier posts

 Poster: A snowHead
Poster: A snowHead
There was a quite a to-do on this forum a couple of weeks ago regarding a 'famous' rescue ... today, after a week on brilliant off-piste Spring snow, I found this..


http://youtube.com/v/F6840kqTk74

It's altogether a very interesting film. Quite a big slip area. Absolutely no clues as to the location of the buried victim. Some luck I think, in that the second transects the slope but not coherently. A shallow burial, which helped a lot.
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 Obviously A snowHead isn't a real person
Obviously A snowHead isn't a real person
As they said, lessons to learn, and food for thought for us all. Having said that, the rescuer remained calm, had the appropriate kit, and used it successfully.

Salutary viewing. Good for them for posting it.
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 Well, the person's real but it's just a made up name, see?
Well, the person's real but it's just a made up name, see?
@valais2, and an interesting and thoughtful format - using the split screen and the all important timer in the rh corner
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@valais2, I've never seen that before, thanks for posting.

First thirty or so secs was very familiar to what happened to me, you think it's just sluff at first and then bang you get taken out, and again like my situation in hindsight ask yourself why there are no trees there, classic little trap!

Luckily I was in maybe steeper terrain and near to the top of the crown that went so the snow fell over me as I was pinned to the tree so was not buried though for twenty secs did think that would be the case.

Think the guy searching knew a fair bit (might have even been a guide / instructor hence the comment about training) but in the heat of the moment naturally emotions take over, but once found he was doing his best to deal with the situation, very thought provoking indeed.

Brings it all back unfortunately Sad
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 Anyway, snowHeads is much more fun if you do.
Anyway, snowHeads is much more fun if you do.
@Weathercam, indeed re careful action of second. My comment was perhaps too critical - by contrast, he put his transceiver to receive immediately, then really hammered down the slope to get there as soon as possible; did not make the mistake of joining the slip area too low, rather he correctly kept high, and transected the slope until he got a ping; he resisted going towards the people who appeared incorrectly to indicate where Dennis was; and kept calling loudly all the time. All good practice.
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My thoughts.
There was a red flag even before he made the big punch that triggered the slide, evidence of spontaneous slides. He hesitated before the major steeping so may have had an idea it was sketchy but jumped on it hard anyway!
In the rescue the cameraman correctly stayed high and kept his skis on, big plus. The others skied straight to the bottom which was a mistake. He correctly zig zaged the slope and found the victim quickly which was good and maybe made all the difference. The probe assembly was slow, from the debris it was likely to be a shallow burial anyway. The shovelling was poor. Mostly with hands, the hand digger was actually in the way of the shoveler. When he finally started with the shovel, there were three watching and one digging even if they hadn't got shovels they should have rotated the digging. At the end they all contributed. He located the victim quickly but lost time getting organised.
My comments are critical, however he was dug out alive, four out of six who's head is buried, even with "kit" aren't.
It's all very easy to be critical watching a vid, actually doing it even in practice is very very different.
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 Then you can post your own questions or snow reports...
Then you can post your own questions or snow reports...
@jbob,
Quote:
evidence of spontaneous slides
Where did you see that?
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 After all it is free Go on u know u want to!
After all it is free Go on u know u want to!
@Steilhang, at 00.13.
With a closer look might be wind damage but also a cause for caution.
I wouldn't criticise the skier, I could have done the same line, maybe not the jump with the big hit on the slope though.
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You'll get to see more forums and be part of the best ski club on the net.
Interesting video. It didn't look like a terribly steep or long run (although GoPro footage seems to make things look less steep) but a surprising volume of snow that slid. I don't think I'd have noticed any lack of trees in that particular spot between other trees, and not sure if that was a factor or not. A long flat runout with no terrain trap was a positive. The rescuer was quite impressive in his clear thinking given the panic he must have felt.
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 Ski the Net with snowHeads
Ski the Net with snowHeads
@jbob, Yes, my 11 year old automatically sucked his teeth when he saw the character of the snow prior to the drop-in, which was interesting - there's clearly a lot of loose on slab - but hell, I've ignored worse. The long treeless runout is salutary - I know an area above Peisey which looks entirely innocuous slope wise, until in the summer you see the vast area of damaged trees which clearly go back centuries, and the houses at the bottom (Granges) are interesting - they have big earth banks on the uphill side. The place is a gentle slope, and lethal.
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 snowHeads are a friendly bunch.
snowHeads are a friendly bunch.
One look at that snowpak & terrain would be a negative for me.

The rescue was executed very well.
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 And love to help out and answer questions and of course, read each other's snow reports.
And love to help out and answer questions and of course, read each other's snow reports.
People do lots of transceiver practice which is good, but seldom do probing or digging practice. I skied with a lad a few years back who had been a ski patroller in Canada. The burials tend to be deeper there, but he was of the opinion that even in Europe efficient probing and digging was vital and needed to be practiced. ARVA training parks don't feature the need for probing and much digging, also they tend to be too flat. It's difficult to easily simulate a buried person i.e. burying a rucksack, without it being totally obvious where it is. I did some training once where the guide set up a real person for us to probe for, so we could learn what a body felt like! We dug a pit 2m deep then excavated sidewards at the bottom, enough for someone to lie there. I didn't volunteer to be the body.

Shovelling

http://www.varsom.no/media/1378/issw_p-052.pdf

Probing

http://schulich.ucalgary.ca/asarc/files/asarc/Probing_Revisited.pdf
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 So if you're just off somewhere snowy come back and post a snow report of your own and we'll all love you very much
So if you're just off somewhere snowy come back and post a snow report of your own and we'll all love you very much
Steilhang wrote:
@jbob,
Quote:
evidence of spontaneous slides
Where did you see that?

This video has been picked apart else where. Some guy knew the area very well and dragged up the avi report for the day. High risk and spontaneous.
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