Avi Experience,Tignes France (March 2005)

yoyoho

Member
It was 2.30pm,when lil punk and i decided to head to this unnamed

couloir on the east of rochers de la peitite blame. We toke the les

lanches chair from val claret and once at the top we skied down the

cairn piste to the big rock,then traverised across the long flat

section above the cliffs to the top of the couloir. after traverseing

across the flats for about 5 mis we finaly reached the the top of the

line. after some descushing i decided i would drop in first,the snow in

the couloir was boilrplate on about three inches of fresh snow,so every

turn i made the snow would slouth exposing the boilerplate underneath.

After about 8 mins of turning,side sliping i finely reached the exit of

the couloir,where i traversed to the right to wait for lil punk. 8 or

10 mins later were both standing there descushing,if we should ski

straight down the fall line or travese right

under the toe of the cliff as we never seen any obvious signs that

the slope would slide,so 30 secs later,i was like fuck it,i`m going

right and traverse under the cliff where the snow looks better. So i

started to traverse above a small rock,where i paused for about 2 secs

to have a look at the slope i was about to ski. 1 sec later the radio

crackles,5 4 3 2 1 droping. I pushed off,one turn,two turns. i notised

the snow has went from boilerplate to chockie powee. i was like

fuck,this is not good,them it happened the whole slope i was skiing

slide. The fracture was about 1ft above me and maybe about 25ft wide (i

think). the slide started of slow,then started picking up some speed as

it hit the steeper part of the slope,them every thing whent white

for,what felt like a long time. I got buried under the snow,lost my

left ski as i was geting takeing down,then managed to get back to the

surface of the slide agine. When the avi finaly stoped i ripped my

gloves of and cleared the snow from my nose and the back of my throat.

By the time lil punk got to me i allready bug my partially buried right

leg out and had all my shit together. On the way out the ski patrol

turned up and ask some questions to make sure i was ok.

 
shit dude you're fucking luckyya a ton of people really don't understand the dangers of avi's/how to tell when they're about to go off but still hit the bc anyway, super dangerous
 
Just cause you have avy gear doesn't mean you are gonna be safe.

This isn't directed at the OP, but I am sick of all these kids who get their parents to buy them the latest avy gear and then never actually learn how to use to stuff and then venture into the BC and put not only themself but anyone else skiing in the same area in danger.

Read every snow science book you can get your hands on, take at least an AVY 1 course, and go into the BC with people who know what they are doing and dig pits and really learn something about the snow.

Also, do beacon practice a few times a season.

Hopefully the OP had done all this before JONGING it up in France.
 
haha, you sound like your straight outta the tgr forums. But you've gotta a really good point. I'm getting ayg gear this year and have already started reading about it a whole lot and plan on practicing with my beacon as much as possible. I'll also take an avy class as soon as I can, but seeing as I live in Michigan it probably won't be any time soon... But having avy gear without knowing how to properly use it is more dangerous then not haveing it at all, people will be counting on you being able to find them... But the best knowlege of all is being able to evaluate the situation and avoid avalanches all together.
 
i`ve had some clueless little kids following us. who clearly didn`t

have avi gear and asking silly questions about the slope we were about

to ski.

kid: whats the snow like.

me: dose it look like it`s been skied.

kid: no

me: any way,we where up here 2 weeks ago,but me turned back.

kid: why?

me: we had a bad feeling about the slope,so we never skied it.

kid: did you hike back down the ridge.

me: no,we skied down the windward side of the slope.

kid: windward,whats that?

me: maybe you should hike back down the ridge,and go ski the park.

kid: huh

me: bye bye,you fucking retard.

doing beacon practice few times a season is no good, you should

really practice with your beacon at least 1 to 2 days a week at the

most over the winter.
 
avi location

1224973207-643277-422x285-1224973114aaa_avi_111_tignes_05.jpg

 
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