Avalanches in The East Coast

salomonskiier12

salomonskiier12

Active member
so i'm doin an article for the newspaper, and i need info about avalanches in new england/east coast. i got plenty of info about Mt washington, but any other things i should know?

i know mountains like jay peak sometimes put avalanche warnings into effect, but any other mountains do this?
 
^besides mt. wash, theres really no other avalanches...mayyyybe wildcat, just cuz its right across from wash, but im not sure
 
I know that stowe and mount mansfield had a lot of avalanche warnings lsat year but i never have heard of one occuring.
 
alec stall is the lmost current one on my mind....he was takin off the end of a chute by his own slough so not totally an avy but it still counted as an avalanche death
 
In the high peaks in NY a few years back there were 4 skiers kill in an avi. It was either on mt colden or Giant Mtn. if you search Adirondack avalance or something like that im sure you will be able to find it
 
yeah a couple guys died on algonquin a few years ago too, and i think there were some on haystack as well, the adirondacks are actually pretty prone to avalanches, they just do get as much use as the whites, so therefor they get less publicity
 
In Newfoundland there are actually quite a few. I saw the remains of 3 and heard reports of more. The biggest ones are class 2, because the mountains are relatively small. There is a movie about avalanches in Newfoundland made by a guy named Keith Nicol of the Environmental studies department at Sir Wilfred Grenfell College. That might have some useful information to you, but I can't remember what' it's called at the moment.
 
the Gaspesie!! lots of avalanches... if you go backcountry their you normally take beacons.

and Newfoundland has some.
 
yeah, actually I forgot about that- we use avi info from the gaspe in quebec because Newfoundland doesn't have its own avalanche info system but the conditions are very similar.
 
i think the slides at whiteface are prone to avalanches, but i dont know how much info youll be able to find.
 
there was an avalanche at holiday valley in january 07' on there steepest run "the wall"

how epic is this:http://forums.epicski.com/attachment.php?attachmentid=1216&stc=1&d=1170248258

looks like the snowmaking got a a lil heavy at the top and just broke free, the run is 150 yds. long and about 35 degrees. i skied those woods skiers left btw, pretty sketch. the closest you can get to some steeps with fresh pow unless you get some fresh tracks.

 
So back in late February or early March at Mt. Snow, Vermont we had an avalanche. Nothing too big, noone in it but still spooky because it was a full slab avi. Classic layering conditions on Ripcord( one of the steepest pitches in NE, requires a cable to pull snowcats up for grooming) of an inch of rain frozen into ice and a solid 2 plus feet of powder from a few later storms. Then that afternoon with the heat, corn formed. It was midweek, so not entirely skiied off. Sometimes that night it released, leaving a dramatic field at the bottom. I heard all this from a local patroller and I saw the signs that weekend, so I'm pretty sure no BS. Of course, noone skis Tuckermans in mid-winter beacause of avalanches.
 
Ripcord is crazy, i dont know why they groom it cause it turns into a giant vertical ice rink. Last season I was on it with a bunch of friends and the whole mountain had awesome snow but Ripcord was glare ice and we all slid down at least part way on our asses.

Dont mean to bitch tho cuz thats true East right there
 
heres some pics of the avy at holiday valley...

3xfirst%20slide%20cropped%2Ejpg


3xsecond%20slidecrop%2Ejpg


groomin it up

3xgroomingavycropped%2Ejpg


 
they told me in avi class that the conditions on the east coast are prefect for constant avalanches the slopes just arent big enough usually and the snowfall is rarely adaquit, im sure they happen all the time though, if you go to a college (like i go to CU) we have subscriptions to crazy news article finders and im sure there are tons of articles about east coast avalanches
 
Yeah no shit. Think about it. Without a solid base, snow piles up on wet grass on a slope. Snow melts on a warmer day, compacting and getting heavier. Snow slides right off the grass. Classic slab avie. Impressive pics though.
 
also, soon after that slide, some dick decided to duck the rip cord rope and try ski it. i guess he fell and slid mad far down, fucked himself up pretty badly. no death, just some real bad injurys
 
THE MIDWEST? im from chicago and i cant think of anything around here steep enough to even rip out... i mean i guess it could but it wouldnt have long enough to even really pick up speed...
 
adirondacks: a couple skiers were buried and killed in an avy on the angel slides, which is on the east face of wright peak. im sure theres been deaths on colden also.
 
the bc around stowe slides a lot, someone was killed there a few years agothere's some south chute that's like super long and sick but it slides easily
 
You must log in or register to reply here.
Back
Top