Have you ever got lost?

CaptainGaper

CaptainGaper

Member
Aight boys and ladies. I am midwest shredder, and for SB17 I went out west to go ski some pow. I went out to mammoth with some fellow hype beasts. While we were there we were searching for them pow runs that weren't real runs, we got lost. Honestly was one of the scariest times of my life. P.S to make it worst, I had to squeeze one in between the cheeks. Anyways we were back in some tree runs and had some really rough terrain to ski. There were moments where we had to walk down the hill and jump into powder. At the end of the day my 3Gs ran out of battery because of the cold so I couldn't film, but we had to walk a couple miles in the harsh cold to get back to the resort. Comment your best getting lost story.
 
That sucks. If you're planning on doing that stuff and hitting glades on the edge of resorts, it's always smart to bring some stuff with you in case you make a wrong turn and get truly lost and have to spend a night out there. These are mostly all very cheap and don't take up much space in your backpack--> For example, a knife, magnesium fire starter, compass, space blanket (amazon sells for cheap), snow shovel (which you should already have to dig your buddy out if that tree well), water (either bottle or bladder). I've found that putting your phone in a thick sock when in your coat helps keep it from freezing and draining the battery. A 2-way radio wont hurt either since they usually have 10+ mile ranges and there's usually someone at the resort on a channel.

Just some thoughts. I've never gotten lost, but it wouldn't be too hard to do if you took a wrong turn. Trees look the same in all directions if you're unfamiliar with places.
 
I have not personally but I had an idiot friend with headphones on go way out of bounds and end up a couple miles from the base because he didn't hear us yelling at him to go the other direction. Fucking pay attention to where you are.
 
So now that you are back at the resort and have your phone charged do you realize that you were never actually lost. If you were lost you never would have found your way back to the lodge. You didn't even lose your phone OP.
 
not really "lost" since I knew where I was the whole time but at Sugarloaf last season I basically ended up in a very flat area of logging roads with waist deep pow to get through and no tracks. Not sure I would have made it out before night if I was a snowboarder and couldn't unbuckle my full tilts to use as sketchy nordic skis. Took me about 2-3 hours to travel what would take about 20 minutes in hard packed terrain.
 
How do you get "lost" in bounds?

And if you're ducking ropes beyond the boundary at a ski area in a range/drainage/peak whatever you aren't familiar with and haven't looked at topo maps or figured out an egress plan beforehand you're either a gaper, a moron, or both.

No I've never been lost because i have a compass, a cell phone, a plan, and competence. Is this a troll thread?

People doing this kind of shit end up dead every year. Go on avalanche.org and skim through accident reports over the last decade. It's full of people that have no experience or skills exiting boundaries at ski areas they don't know, into terrain they don't know, with no rescue equipment or plan that end up dead or getting a bailed out by patrol or SAR.

I'm sorry to be the token curmudgeon and scolder in this thread, but cmon y'all. If you're capable of logging into NS and posting in this thread, you're capable of googling topo maps and trip reports and whatnot that pertain to the terrain you plan on skiing outside the blundary of wherever you're at. I don't really recommend dipping OB in general without a local guide that really knows the lay of the land, but if you and some friends insist, do it the right way. Exit through a back country access point, and have a plan and route ahead of time and the necessary gear and skill to pull it off. You just don't score any cool points for blowing it when the consequences are what they are, not only for you, but for anyone that is tasked with potentially coming to help you or retrieve your body.
 
Upon reread, this is clearly a troll thread and I got trolled hard. Well played and carry on.
 
A friend and I cut into some aspens in Vail's back bowls. Its a rope cutter run that we've done many times. But you gotta cut hard left at a certain point in order to get back to the lift.

We took the run too deep down the hillside and ended up bottomed out in a gulch. We weren't lost per se, but it was a bout a mile in either direction to get to a lift. So we spent the entire afternoon wading through waist deep powder just to get back to the lift. Sweaty, uncomfortable, a little bit humorous.
 
13849365:casual said:
How do you get "lost" in bounds?

And if you're ducking ropes beyond the boundary at a ski area in a range/drainage/peak whatever you aren't familiar with and haven't looked at topo maps or figured out an egress plan beforehand you're either a gaper, a moron, or both.

No I've never been lost because i have a compass, a cell phone, a plan, and competence. Is this a troll thread?

People doing this kind of shit end up dead every year. Go on avalanche.org and skim through accident reports over the last decade. It's full of people that have no experience or skills exiting boundaries at ski areas they don't know, into terrain they don't know, with no rescue equipment or plan that end up dead or getting a bailed out by patrol or SAR.

I'm sorry to be the token curmudgeon and scolder in this thread, but cmon y'all. If you're capable of logging into NS and posting in this thread, you're capable of googling topo maps and trip reports and whatnot that pertain to the terrain you plan on skiing outside the blundary of wherever you're at. I don't really recommend dipping OB in general without a local guide that really knows the lay of the land, but if you and some friends insist, do it the right way. Exit through a back country access point, and have a plan and route ahead of time and the necessary gear and skill to pull it off. You just don't score any cool points for blowing it when the consequences are what they are, not only for you, but for anyone that is tasked with potentially coming to help you or retrieve your body.
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Actually, you are an idiot. It is incredibly easy to get lost in the mountains even if you have all the gear and have massive amounts of backcountry experience. All it takes is one wrong turn or a quick change of weather and anyone could easily think they are miles from where they actually are. You evidently do not venture far from your comfort zone or you ski with gps installed in your goggles because even the most experienced backcountry professionals will tell you you are wrong and have a serious lack of understanding of the dangers of the mountains.
 
This thread is a troll.

13849382:mattybaums said:
Actually, you are an idiot. It is incredibly easy to get lost in the mountains even if you have all the gear and have massive amounts of backcountry experience. All it takes is one wrong turn or a quick change of weather and anyone could easily think they are miles from where they actually are. You evidently do not venture far from your comfort zone or you ski with gps installed in your goggles because even the most experienced backcountry professionals will tell you you are wrong and have a serious lack of understanding of the dangers of the mountains.
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He's talking about in bounds at a resort where at least in the U.S. you have to duck some ropes to get truly lost in which case you're an idiot.
 
13849388:oxiclean said:
This thread is a troll.

He's talking about in bounds at a resort where at least in the U.S. you have to duck some ropes to get truly lost in which case you're an idiot.
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I have only ever skied backcountry in Europe lol
 
13849400:oxiclean said:
Lol ok Mr. Briar Woods High School
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Actually, I grew up in the UK skiing backcountry with my dad in Switzerland. Its only recently we moved to the US. Thanks for your snark though
 
One time I was driving through Montezuma in summit county and there were some skiers hitchhiking on the side of the road in basically the middle of nowhere. I picked them up and it turned out they had somehow managed to ski all the way from the Abasin back bowl to about five miles away from Keystone.... They were very lost
 
13849382:mattybaums said:
Actually, you are an idiot. It is incredibly easy to get lost in the mountains even if you have all the gear and have massive amounts of backcountry experience. All it takes is one wrong turn or a quick change of weather and anyone could easily think they are miles from where they actually are. You evidently do not venture far from your comfort zone or you ski with gps installed in your goggles because even the most experienced backcountry professionals will tell you you are wrong and have a serious lack of understanding of the dangers of the mountains.
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He's talking about within the boundaries of a ski area or in the inmediate surrounding side country, you clearly haven't read anyone's post, and certainly not mine.

Of course people can get lost dummy.

But if you get lost after ducking a boundary at a ski area you don't know, into a zone you don't know, without any preparation, yes you're an idiot.

And despite your sarcasm and condescending tone, I do ski with gps, maps, compass, etc. and a competent partner. And when I venture into unfamiliar terrain for the first time, I go with someone who is familiar, so no, I've not gotten lost. My risk tolerance isn't huge so I don't just go wing it into complicated and consequential terrain, if you do, good for you, but your reply to my first post had nothing to do with what I said, or the topic of the thread so I guess whatever.
 
13849403:mattybaums said:
Actually, I grew up in the UK skiing backcountry with my dad in Switzerland. Its only recently we moved to the US. Thanks for your snark though
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So you're a highschool kid in the U.K. Who takes ski trips with daddy to Switzerland a couple times a year and you're telling me about my lack of knowledge about the consequences of the mountains. LOL. Now I've seen it all.

Have you ever even planned a trip? Do you have any formal avalanche or mountain travel training? Maybe I'm lame for engaging in an online pissing contest with a high school kid, but Jesus, gimme a break.

The point of my original post was solely to say you're blowing it big time if you manage to get "lost" in the confines of a ski area, or if you're reckless enough to duck boundary ropes when you have no idea where you're at or where you're going, you're an idiot, and I definitely stand by that.

Of course mountaineers get lost and run into trouble, and no they're not idiots and I wasn't saying they were.
 
topic:CaptainGaper said:
At the end of the day my 3Gs ran out of battery because of the cold so I couldn't film, but we had to walk a couple miles in the harsh cold to get back to the resort. Comment your best getting lost story.
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3gs? what the fuck. Isnt that like 10 years old?
 
Mammoth and june have a no boundaries policy so anything the lift can acces is technically fair game. That being said, it is very easy to get yourself above an area you souldnt be, if you wonder around. I have definitely lost myself trying find a line i have scoped out. Gotta be carefull out there. This is one of those spicy zones lol.

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In 4th grade I was at Gunstock on a snowy day with family and friends. 4 runs into the day my brothers friend who was kinda the douchey group leader kid led us into a fresh glade he found. It was pretty nice until it started to go uphill again, and the kid thought he knew where we were having hiked Gunstock before. Eventually we ended up on a different mountains summit, looked across a solid distance to see the lift house on the mountain, luckily it had a fire tower we broke into and our parents had the fire department call it and ski patrol found us. If you’re ever there look left going up the summit for the fire tower on a separate peak. Downloaded the chair hours after closing, thanks for ruining a pow day, Kyle.

Some kid walked passed us at the tower with his skis (some OG k2 park skis if I recall correctly) and said he was walking straight toward the lifthouse wonder if he ever made it back.
 
The wind was ferocious, it was foggy, cold and snowing.

At some point along the way I got disoriented, making a slight navigation error.

I got LOST.

I had to phone Mountain Rescue.

**This post was edited on Oct 29th 2017 at 2:48:34pm
 
I was at whistler with my family, and my brother was sick one morning when my dad and I did fresh tracks. Basically you pay 10 bucks to go up like 2hrs early and get breakfast then get to ski 2 runs or so before lifts really start turning. There was like 6in of fresh and this big opening off a trail we were on to some woods (just a blue around creekside gondy/big red) and I told my dad I'd just cut out quick and meet him a bit further down.

Anyways, get in these woods and ski a bit and it becomes apparent nobody comes through here, much deeper snow, trees getting very dense to the point I'm just pulling myself through the trees. I had skied quite aways through the woods so wasn't going to hike out in knee deep. Get to these small cliff bands and have to jump off, no problem. Leads to another , larger set (about 20ft?), and I have to jump again. Both of these are pretty much to flat. I lose a ski this time and am neck deep in a tree well. Just chilled for 20 min to get my shit together and pulled myself out by the tree.

When I get out I can nearly see the trail but of course there's a 3rd cliff about the same size. Can't get my ski on due to the deep pow so end jup unclicking the other and throwing the skis off then jumping off and landing on my back in the snow. Thankfully no rocks but that was some of the scariest shit that's ever happened. My phone wasn't working so I get to the gondola and find this couple and call my dad an hour later. The couple told me about a week before another guy got stuck and a tree well and was found frozen. Met up with my dad and rode the rest of the day.

I'd been through plenty of trees and am comfortable but this was the first time I felt legitimately lost, and I was alone. I know its my responsibility to know where I'm going, but this was wide open off a high traffic blue run in a somewhat "family area". I think that this area would've (or should've) been roped off during normal operating hours.

TL;DR - Got lost at whistler in an area before mountain really opened and ended up alone in a tree well. Scary shit.

**This post was edited on Oct 29th 2017 at 3:27:06pm
 
This thread disappoints me. I expected everyone to be telling stories about wandering around ikea for hours and stuff :(
 
I didn't mean for this to be a troll thread. I just wanted to add some humor. I actually did get lost though, and appreciate the couple of stories some of you guys have provided
 
Well it wasn't really a troll thread until Oxiclean, who seems to be a quite gifted troll, said it was a troll thread....
 
One time I got so lost in the sauce that I couldn't even tell what was sauce and not sauce. Needless to say, I had to lay off the sauce for a bit.

Don't be a fucking idiot /thread
 
Where I live there's a ghetto local kind of ma and pop hill that's pretty bad, and at night they only have lights on half the resort so most lifts you have to get off half way if you're night skiing. Me and some buddies went up with a group and somehow we got to the top. It was so frickin dark and we couldn't get down for like 2 hours. One of my buddies jacked up his leg on a tree too. Rough night.
 
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