 Poster: A snowHead
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Obviously A snowHead isn't a real person
Obviously A snowHead isn't a real person
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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?
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fatbob, Thanks for posting. Some lessons in that for us all.
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You need to Login to know who's really who.
You need to Login to know who's really who.
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What an interesting film from a lucky guy, I watched the whole lot, I think it would do no harm for it to be one those made a 'sticky' as I think it could be a useful reminder from time to time that the mountain only tolerates us when it wants to. If it saves the life of one off-piste skier it would be a good thing and I think it could - the chap has done a brilliant job with the video his camera took hasn't he?
Last edited by You need to Login to know who's really who. on Fri 8-04-11 22:10; edited 1 time in total
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Anyway, snowHeads is much more fun if you do.
Anyway, snowHeads is much more fun if you do.
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I've been thinking about buying one as I seem to spend more time off than on piste these days.
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You'll need to Register first of course.
You'll need to Register first of course.
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barry, My take is the guy acknowledges he screwed up bigtime but the airbag was possibly his winning lottery ticket. It wasn't a magic halo as he still had spinal injuries but at least he was breathing.
Nutty taking that on without spotters though at fullbore.
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good job Norbert!
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Thanks for posting fatbob. Great video.
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You'll get to see more forums and be part of the best ski club on the net.
You'll get to see more forums and be part of the best ski club on the net.
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Thanks fatbob. To my mind his biggest crime was what he mentions from 7:40-8:00 - those small slides the previous day were not just local sluffs under his skis but were extending for 10s of metres around him. I think he was lucky not to be taken out the previous day. In those conditions taking that line (which is knows as very exposed) was madness - even though he's clearly a very competent skier.
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ya fair dinkum fatbob, we've all made the occasional bad choice so no harm to the dude, glad he made it out.
I guess though there's a coupla ways to view those packs - "I'm getting one cos sometimes i just cant resist/dont know any better and these things keep you safe", or "I aint getting one cos I know where and when I'm going and have the skills and the sense to bow out or change my plans & skip along in low angle stuff when the risk is up".
In providing you an extra bit of safety, I'd be all for ABS but if making you braver than your ability and sense can handle then not so much (and the general vibe of the discussions I've seen on these things tends to the latter I'm afraid). Wonder what sales are like for them actually?
Pretty sturdy helmet cam though eh?! 
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snowHeads are a friendly bunch.
snowHeads are a friendly bunch.
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There was a thread on TGR a year or 2 back where a very experienced backcountry skier (as in probably more than any of us could hope to aspire to) tells of his party being caught in a slide. Again he acknowledged screw ups (and complacency because it was a very familiar area to him) but there was also a view that sooner or later with enough days exposure, law of averages says even the most careful can be caught out. I'd like to think this would be the reason for purchase, not to do more stupid stuff. If having a transceiver is now seen as an essential why not an airbag, at the very least it gives the rescue services the chance of finding your corpse near the surface and not 15ft down. I don't have one yet but I'm coming round to the concept.
The risk aversion/compensation argument is trotted out for all safety equipment and I'm just not sure it is measurable.
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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.
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| GrahamN wrote: |
| Thanks fatbob. To my mind his biggest crime was what he mentions from 7:40-8:00 - those small slides the previous day were not just local sluffs under his skis but were extending for 10s of metres around him. I think he was lucky not to be taken out the previous day. In those conditions taking that line (which is knows as very exposed) was madness - even though he's clearly a very competent skier. |
Ding. Ding.
Looks like the guy has learned a valuable lesson. No way would I have skied that line having seen the amount of marbling / fractures on the previous runs.
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not sure of the sooner or later arguement - daily avvy forecasters, MRTs, international guides etc probably at the low end of the curve of numbers of people caught out?? if so why is that?!
interesting to compare the relative merits of the avalung gizmo's too (i guess both might be the ultimate!)
(this is like the thinking man's helmet debate!)
stay safe out there kids 
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You know it makes sense.
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| fatbob wrote: |
| sooner or later with enough days exposure, law of averages says even the most careful can be caught out. |
^^^ wise words
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Otherwise you'll just go on seeing the one name:
Otherwise you'll just go on seeing the one name:
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I'm interested, at what point do you become committed to skiing something that might be better left alone. Would this guy have reached that place, either on the day of the film or the previous day when the smaller falls occurred and then have been committed to finding some way down it regardless of the snow conditions, i.e. could he have backed out and found a safer route, or maybe skied that face in a way that would have been safer. I get the notion that maybe paying attention to warnings he might have been better not going anywhere near the area, but once there was he committed to having to get down it? How many options do you off-piste folks have when it comes to making your decisions on what to ski and what not to ski?
I hope you see what I'm getting at.
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Poster: A snowHead
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| GrahamN wrote: |
| Thanks fatbob. To my mind his biggest crime was what he mentions from 7:40-8:00 - those small slides the previous day were not just local sluffs under his skis but were extending for 10s of metres around him. I think he was lucky not to be taken out the previous day. In those conditions taking that line (which is knows as very exposed) was madness - even though he's clearly a very competent skier. |
Those slides weren't the previous day, they were on the same day!!
He was nuts, plain and simple. As he makes plain, it's not that he didn't have enough knowledge or understanding about slides - he didn't learn any book smarts that day - he just ignored what he knew. He got sucked into the just do it mentality that a lot of these guys have. Most are just lucky and get to brag about their lines after...some aren't. You got kids?
Seems to me from his reflections on what went down and his making this great video (thanks for posting fatbob) his attitude will have changed and in my book, rather than an airbag, that's the big thing that's needed to survive.
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Obviously A snowHead isn't a real person
Obviously A snowHead isn't a real person
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| slikedges wrote: |
| Those slides weren't the previous day, they were on the same day!! |
Ahh, correct - I'd misread that caption as "In runs the previous day"  rather than "In the previous runs that day"
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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?
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Megamum, if he was where I think he was, that run is accessed by doing a bootpack of between 5 and 20mins and then some traversing. it wouldn't have been that difficult to get back to something safe if he'd decided he didn't fancy it
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You need to Login to know who's really who.
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