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Doesn't look steep, or big, or dangerous

 Poster: A snowHead
Poster: A snowHead
Apologies if this has been seen and discussed before but I saw it on a Facebook page this morning and it quite shocked me.

Whenever you look at a slope head on it generally appears a lot steeper than it actually is. So I would guess the slope in this video is not very steep. It also doesn't look very high. It's just the sort of thing I'd trek a few yards off piste to ski down thinking 'It;s hardly off piste.

Needs to be watched in full screen to see it clearly..


http://youtube.com/v/aGUQC5k3dFM
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 Obviously A snowHead isn't a real person
Obviously A snowHead isn't a real person
I think the wide-angle headcam footage distorts the angle - looks steep up top to me...
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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?
Well, there goes one near-Darwin award. Looked pretty darn steep to me.

It's a pity they didn't show the bit before the vid started when he said, "here, hold my beer and watch this".

"Idiot" comes to mind.
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Looks fully off-piste territory to me.
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What an idiot. His friends were quick off the mark. Maybe they'll think twice next time. I imagine a snowmobile is a terrific avalanche-triggering machine. All those vibrations.
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look at the slope when they drive up close at the end. It doesn't look steep at all. and it's the bottom bit where the slap breaks off
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This hill is damn steep. Well it depends what you consider steep, but it is steep Wink
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After all it is free Go on u know u want to!
@pam w, not so much the vibration as the huge amount of weight and the vastly larger amount of terrain you can cover in a given time period on one.

@cameronphillips2000, looking uphill makes most slopes look less steep and through a very wide lens is going to make it seem even less so.
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Call me old fashioned but at 13s the initial fracture is just below the cornice and then propagates all the way across the lower line of outcrops. Post slide a. they drive across the flat run out and b. I think the camera angle gives a poor impression of how steep the slope he was driving up was. It looked very much as though his scooter was struggling to make headway.

If it wasn't steep, by definition there wouldn't be a cornice...

It was certainly steep and he was very, very lucky to survive. I mean, he had his helmet torn off. That's going to ache for a few weeks.
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Maybe this shows just how inexperienced I am. I watched the video on another channel first where the word avalanche was not shown in the title. I was quite shocked when it went. I wasn't expecting it to go.
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Quote:

I'd trek a few yards off piste to ski down thinking 'It;s hardly off piste.


Well, there you go. One of the first big slides I was in was about 100yrds off the side of a piste in my first season and it has given me a healthy respect for the mountains. Trust me, "its hardly off piste" is something you should never say to yourself.
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And love to help out and answer questions and of course, read each other's snow reports.
cameronphillips2000 wrote:
look at the slope when they drive up close at the end. It doesn't look steep at all. and it's the bottom bit where the slap breaks off


GoPro shinkavision makes it look less steep (as everything does in videos), but I'd guess much of it is around 35°. Not gnar steep, but more than steep enough to slide.

Also it doesn't break at the bottom, it cracks around the rocks above him (which are presumably conducting heat into the snowpack).


Last edited by And love to help out and answer questions and of course, read each other's snow reports. on Thu 19-02-15 11:21; edited 1 time in total
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@under a new name,
Quote:

I mean, he had his helmet torn off. That's going to ache for a few weeks.


Hard to see exactly, but I'm pretty sure the helmet stayed on but the first guy on the scene managed to remove it very fast. If it had actually come off I doubt it would have stayed within 6 inches of his head.
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 You know it makes sense.
You know it makes sense.
This moronic activity is called 'High Marking' and is big in the US. It is basically a game of chicken on a snow mobile. The objective is to ride up a steep powder laden slope, as high as you dare and then turn around under control. The 'winner' being the one who leaves the highest mark.

As expected the risk of triggering an avalanche is massively higher due to the weight, speed, noise and the act of returning down a similar path to the way up, so if there was an weakness you greatly increase the risk of triggering it on the way back.

Such is the popularity, that a couple of the avalanche air bag manufacturers make packs just for snow mobile riders.
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 Otherwise you'll just go on seeing the one name:
Otherwise you'll just go on seeing the one name:
Interesting to see, nevertheless. I was quite amazed at how much snow came down off such a small looking slab. He's a lucky man.
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 Poster: A snowHead
Poster: A snowHead
Quote:

but I'd guess much of it is around 35°. Not gnar steep, but more than steep enough to slide.


35° is pretty much optimum for an avalanche, gnar steep is less liekly as it doesn't hold the snow the same.

(I realise you know this but many people reading may think v.steep means avalanche instead of loevely skiing angle means avalanche)
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 Obviously A snowHead isn't a real person
Obviously A snowHead isn't a real person
@foxtrotzulu, yep, you're right. Hope his neck wasn't broken at that stage...

Moronic indeed @PowderAdict plus the risk of getting it ever so slightly wrong on the tumble turn and descending underneath the scooter Shocked which would probably nip a bit.

@cameronphillips2000,
Quote:

such a small looking slab

Puzzled Puzzled it's not small looking at all! although I agree that
Quote:

GoPro shinkavision

is in play
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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?
Even with the Gopro shrinkage I was still pretty amazed at the size and power of it. I'd wrongly assumed you needed things more like this


http://youtube.com/v/dYx9wbCsl14

To get big avis
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Just searched youtube for High Marking Avalanche. Reckless is a massive understatement.
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@cameronphillips2000,

Fantastic video - I suspect avi control got more than they bargained for there! I wonder who had to dig out the buildings which were swamped?
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@Red Leon, apparently mine back and running in a few hours. Looked somewhat overcooked to me... Shocked
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stop this video at about 20 seconds and it gives a great graphic in the snow of what the guy is. I'm not sure if they we're aiming for phallic art complete with projectile from the end but they made a very good job


http://youtube.com/v/MuU-vnh5M9s
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I love how these vids always feature a bunch of the highmarker's buddies all chillin' in the runout zone
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This one's amazing. He actually skis in a loop at the top, effectively cutting out his own slab to fall away.


http://youtube.com/v/EyAeYKTMCJY
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"Freestyle hill climbing" on a snowmobile?? WTF??

I am speechless.

I guess Canada's group IQ is getting better every day faster than most...
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Back country Snow Mobiling is Huge in North America. Avalanches are set off frequently even on low gradients/
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And love to help out and answer questions and of course, read each other's snow reports.
@stanton, have you ever met any snow mobilers?
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Seemed every kid had one in Vermont and Maine when I was there
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 You know it makes sense.
You know it makes sense.
Sledders .... lots of them come down from Alberta (where I believe access is more restricted) into BC. They have huge rigs, lots of gear, maybe not so much safety gear, although that's probably getting better. They have the same rights as everyone to access public land, and modern machines can climb pretty much anything. I think it's easier for people to buy these machines and get into serious terrain than it is with skis. The machines stink and they leave tracks which freeze hard, unlike skiers' tracks which don't set up like that. Overall, I think it's like jet skiers and swimmers at a beach: it takes a while to work out rules so everyone can get along.

I believe that sledder accident stats are worse than skiers, although from memory they're not as bad as you'd expect. They often have no clue, but often you can get away with having no clue, if you see what I mean.

I don't think a well trained sledder is any more at risk than a well trained skier. The whole "let's stand in the run-out zone" thing wasn't invented by sledders.
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 Otherwise you'll just go on seeing the one name:
Otherwise you'll just go on seeing the one name:
Take away the obvious "being buried in an avalanche" risk and this actually looks like seriously good fun.

My mate emigrated to Alberta when we were 16, I went out about a year later to see him and he was showing me the remains of his skidoo, he hit a patch of water and lost it at 70mph on his way to school!.
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 Poster: A snowHead
Poster: A snowHead
The "victim" didn't trigger his ABS either. Maybe his right arm was already occupied.
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 Obviously A snowHead isn't a real person
Obviously A snowHead isn't a real person
"Last year the pack broke at the top, but this year it broke at the bottom and around the tree's???"
WTF, if there ever was a warning not to be attempting something!
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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?
@B1g_browner, Well right the way through the video he's talking about riding up the Avalanche chute... I mean, wtf?
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If you're not going to ride any slope which ever slid, then you may well not get out much.

There was a slide, and people were in it, so reading history backwards gives us all huge moral superiority on that one.
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