Be Humble (Big Mtn riders.)

AwR

AwR

Active member
Yesterday January 13, 2008 a dear friend of mine was taken from me. He was buried in an avalanche that took place in the canyon creek area.

I'm sure more than half the skiers on this site that ski at Big Mountain have skied the Canyon. I made this thread to remind people to be aware of the idea of avalanches, for your luck can change so fast on a mtn.

 
sorry to hear that man vibes ur way. ya dude its scary a couple of my friends were skiing up there and if my family was up there my dad would have been skiing that
 
Luck has very little to do with it.

If you are prepared and have a solid knowledge base about reading snow layers and how they interact with terrain and weather, you can minimize the risks of the backcountry.

If any of those killed had worn a beacon, they would probably still be with us.

RIP Anthony, I only hope that others can learn from the price you paid.
 
Indeed, I skied that stuff just before new years, during the mad dump and none of us had beacons, or probes, only one of us had a shovel too. This whole incident has opened my eyes and I'm going to be more responsible about skiing avalance prone areas not just there but everywhere.
 
RIP, thats so terrible. but i don't know who would have wanted to be in the canyon anyways in that wet/heavy/sketchy snow...
 
Actually, I am wrong in this case.

I was going on the info I had at the time, which said that Anthony was dug out an hour and a half after the slide. This is not true, as verified by several eye witnesses, as it seems he was dug out rather quickly (This is correct, right Ben?).

So a beacon would have done nothing for him.

I'm sorry, I don't mean to be judgmental or come off as uncaring. My reaction to this by and large has been anger that this happened, and that it happened to as awesome a kid as Anthony.

It might be more personal frustration too. I don't want to see my friends and acquaintances putting themselves at the mercy of unnecessary risk when it is avoidable or possible to reduce the risk. I wish I could give everyone headed out of bounds a beacon, so they would have that at least. I wish I could make people act more knowledgeably about going into the backcountry, but I can't force people to do anything, and my anger comes out when someone has to die for people to take notice of the risks.
 
yeah, i was the first one to start digging and i think like one or two others helped me, we had his face and most of his body uncovered when i went back to help look for others.... we didnt want to pull him out cuz he was bleeding pretty bad, he was still conscious though while i was there..... but yeah... rip.
 
Fuck, that is crazy, Im sorry to hear about a fellow local skier die. I do not think I knew who this guy was, but more than likely I saw him up here alot.. Someone should post a picture of him in his gear or his face, then maybe I will recognize him.
Let it be known that at least he died doing something he loved, he was probably getting ridiculous face shots, and props for skiing that shit, its steep, takes balls, supposedly he took two turns. I have never skied that line, but I understand why this guy did, because it just looks like the shit.

It seems like the Avalanche warnings came to late from Stan Bones, perhaps if people knew of the danger quicker, they may have not even went in there or Big Mtn should have closed off some shit and had people stand there and check them for all gear and ask where they are going or perhaps even bomb that slope alot to make it slide. Who knows. Things could have went better obviously in many ways.

Remember that having a beacon does not make you invincible. Hitting trees is probably my biggest fear, they are so hard it is ridiculous.
Its crazy, I've hiked up that road before and also have driven snowmobiles right up that road and just looked up at that chute and you just feel like it could slide any minute. Im definitely going to rethink going deep down into the canyon from now on. And if im on a sled, im going to be booking it past that chute.
 
All in all, the worst part about all of this is that a few other people got caught in the avalanche, they probably didnt even know someone was up there skiing that area or werent even thinking about avalanches because the conditions seemed ok for the most part.
 
1200534565l_1d8832feed681438eb9879648785851a.jpg


Anthony on one of the more epic days a few years ago. The kid loved and lived to ski.

I sadly dont know who took this picture of him, but i give Spencer Roloson (sp) credit. Anthony could have been seen on the mountain wearing headphones and rocking the hell bents.

R.I.P. Old friend.

 
Awwww, bummer. I sort of knew who Anthony was, but I never knew him personally. I did, however, see a kid up on the mountain (Anthony) frequently rocking hellbents, and as he was the only other person i saw up there besides myself with these skis, i noticed him everywhere. This info hits me a lot more closely than the fact that some random person got caught.

Anthony, hope you got some sweet turns on those skis, for I'll miss seeing a fellow hellbent rider on the mountain. RIP
 
just to say this ahead of time, im not trying to offend anyone or judge anyones actions.

stan bones puts out an avalanche advisory, this is an advisory, you cant rely on what others tell you, different aspects on different slopes can provide different conditions. it is up to the individual to determine how safe the conditions are for themselves, and even then a pit can look good in one spot and be totally different a little ways away.

big mtn is in no way responsible for the slide, it is forest service ground. there are signs at the boundary advising the use of avalanche gear and precaution.

having a beacon does not make you invincible, but it can increase your chance for survival. the other victim which was found was buried under 3 ft of snow, with no apparent trauma. it was very frustrating probing for someone who might have still been alive, knowing that with each second there was a smaller chance.

 
Amen.

It is not the responsibility of Big Mtn or Stan Bones to close areas that could be unstable. The backcountry is wild, and should be left as such. The biggest responsibility lies with the user, though if they want to put someone at the gate to make sure that each user has a beacon, probe, shovel, buddy, and some decent knowledge of the conditions, I wouldn't be against that.
 
Sorry about your bro man, its hard but you cant change it now.

The lesson here: wear your beeps and dig your pits, but even then you cant predict everything
 
That's the risk that everybody takes though, we all understand that we can die easily from skiing but we still take that risk. Everybody has a different reason for doing it, but mostly it's passion for that deep turn and the feeling you get from it. I'm sure that before he got caught, he was trully and fully alive.
 
I had a friend go head first into a tree well when bridger had the 100 inch weekend. It took me 5 minutes to clear enough snow to find his head. That was in bounds. That was one of the most horrific experiences of my life, and obviously his. These tradgedies are horrible, my condolences to his friends and family, and those that were there and tried their best to save him. Sometimes we're helpless. Hopefully his memory will be a reminder to everyone else to stay safe and do their best to prevent this from happeneing to themselves or their friends. Its nature though, you can't predict 100% of the time, and you can almost never control it. I hope he lived his life well and left a lot of friends that will cherish their memories if him.

Don't blame yourselves. You don't need to carry that kind of pain with you. 2 Years ago my best friend died after falling off a cliff by St. Andrews the night before he was to play it for the first time (it was on his list of things to do before he died). He was on holiday with some of the other students at the school in Italy he was on echange too. My other friend and I had the same thought: if we had been there he wouldn't have fallen. For a couple weeks that thought tore at us, it hurt. But we realized we weren't there, we couldn't have been there and thus there was nothing we could have done. I still miss him a lot, that will never fade unfortunately. But the pain will ease with time. I wish you guys well, I know how it feels and I feel for ya guys. My best wishes.
 
You must log in or register to reply here.
Back
Top