Inbounds Avalanche at Copper

A snowboarder died last weekend in the backcountry out of a gate at PC (9900 gate) not very far from the gate either, like 300-400 meters away, same exactly zone that people have died before, notability 2012 and 2005. Its definitely unstable out there, you'd hope people going into the backcountry would read the forecast, but this guy likely saw the gate was open and assumed it was fine. Just because a gate is open does not mean it is safe.
 
14089680:eheath said:
A snowboarder died last weekend in the backcountry out of a gate at PC (9900 gate) not very far from the gate either, like 300-400 meters away, same exactly zone that people have died before, notability 2012 and 2005. Its definitely unstable out there, you'd hope people going into the backcountry would read the forecast, but this guy likely saw the gate was open and assumed it was fine. Just because a gate is open does not mean it is safe.
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I saw that but didn't realize it was so close to the resort. Slack country can definitely give you a false sense of security which unfortunately leads to bad decisions. I use an app that lets me see what the conditions are generally like https://apps.apple.com/us/app/avalanche-forecasts/id501231389 if its green I feel pretty comfortable going out. Yellow I am a lot more aware of my surroundings and who I am going with and conservative with what I ski. Orange and up I don't go out. It also gives a bit more detail on what aspects should be safer than others. I'd recommend that anyone that has any desire to ski outside the resort get it.
 
14089736:Craw_Daddy said:
I saw that but didn't realize it was so close to the resort. Slack country can definitely give you a false sense of security which unfortunately leads to bad decisions. I use an app that lets me see what the conditions are generally like https://apps.apple.com/us/app/avalanche-forecasts/id501231389 if its green I feel pretty comfortable going out. Yellow I am a lot more aware of my surroundings and who I am going with and conservative with what I ski. Orange and up I don't go out. It also gives a bit more detail on what aspects should be safer than others. I'd recommend that anyone that has any desire to ski outside the resort get it.
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That link doesn’t work and idk what app that is. But I’m sure not letting some color coated app make my decision about where I go
 
14089755:SkiBum. said:
That link doesn’t work and idk what app that is. But I’m sure not letting some color coated app make my decision about where I go
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weird it works for me. the name of the app is Avalanche Forecasts. It just summarizes the avalanche forecast data that is put out by all of the avalanche centers in North America. They all use that color system to show the risk of avalanches occurring. for instance, you can go to the Colorado avalanche information center website and see all of our mountains are yellow right now. The system rates the risk on a scale of 1 to 5 with 1 being green, 2 being yellow, 3 being orange, 4 being red, and 5 being black. Avalanche centers only publish general forecasts so you still need to use your best judgment and be aware of the conditions locally. but pretty much anyone who is serious about backcountry has this app. I had to download it as part of my aiare 1 course.
 
14089736:Craw_Daddy said:
I saw that but didn't realize it was so close to the resort. Slack country can definitely give you a false sense of security which unfortunately leads to bad decisions. I use an app that lets me see what the conditions are generally like https://apps.apple.com/us/app/avalanche-forecasts/id501231389 if its green I feel pretty comfortable going out. Yellow I am a lot more aware of my surroundings and who I am going with and conservative with what I ski. Orange and up I don't go out. It also gives a bit more detail on what aspects should be safer than others. I'd recommend that anyone that has any desire to ski outside the resort get it.
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Yeah it was in an area called dutch draw

from UAC

path.jpg


Full report w/ decent video too:

https://utahavalanchecenter.org/avalanche/48937

**This post was edited on Dec 20th 2019 at 12:08:38am
 
14089773:eheath said:
Yeah it was in an area called dutch draw

from UAC

path.jpg


Full report w/ decent video too:

https://utahavalanchecenter.org/avalanche/48937

**This post was edited on Dec 20th 2019 at 12:08:38am
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Granted it’s been forever since I’ve skied that cluster fuck of a ski area, but the people I have seen walking out that gate and skiing over there is terrifying. I’m sure it’s even worse now with Vail. Assholes in cowboy hats and Bluetooth speakers skiing shit that is one wrong turn from ripping to the ground. That’s like me going to Texas and trying to pet Ferrell hogs with a bratwurst hanging out my pocket.
 
14089843:PeppermillReno said:
Surprised that gate is open open snow says PC/Canyons are only 50% open.
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The 50% open is because they “say” they have like 300 trails. And a lot of the lower mountain snowmaking only trails are not open. Idk if you can even ski down to canyons base yet - that side blows. Upper mountain is decent coverage - good start to season. But rest of Utah ski areas are like 80-100% open. Thanks Vail.
 
14089680:eheath said:
Just because a gate is open does not mean it is safe.
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Yes, I 100% agree even if you have the best ski patrol in the world, shit happens. Some random person just dropped the rope last year at alta which lead to 20-30 people unknowingly thinking the terrain was open and skiing it. Ski patrol shut it down but yeah it was never meant to have been opened. That asshole could have just ducked the rope and, for the most part, only put himself at risk.
 
14089769:Craw_Daddy said:
weird it works for me. the name of the app is Avalanche Forecasts. It just summarizes the avalanche forecast data that is put out by all of the avalanche centers in North America. They all use that color system to show the risk of avalanches occurring. for instance, you can go to the Colorado avalanche information center website and see all of our mountains are yellow right now. The system rates the risk on a scale of 1 to 5 with 1 being green, 2 being yellow, 3 being orange, 4 being red, and 5 being black. Avalanche centers only publish general forecasts so you still need to use your best judgment and be aware of the conditions locally. but pretty much anyone who is serious about backcountry has this app. I had to download it as part of my aiare 1 course.
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Just to clarify this:

Avalanche Forecasts is a cool app that just combines the data and forecasts from a bunch of avy centers onto a geotagged map. So you can get a general idea of the avy hazard in a bunch of areas without having to navigate to their specific websites.

But that color-coded Low-Extreme spectrum is really just the tiniest part of the overall report. Please, please, please use that as a starting point, but also read the entire report for the area you're looking at. Avy hazard changes with aspect and elevation. Reading the full report will give you a better idea of what problems you're dealing with, and where they're most likely to be found.

In addition, try to read that report every day. Keep up with what's going on with the snowpack, knowing that history is invaluable for decision making.

I'm sure that's all stuff you guys have heard before, but you really don't want folks going "Oh look, the app says where I am is yellow, it's good to go!" without consuming more information.
 
14089900:cydwhit said:
Just to clarify this:

Avalanche Forecasts is a cool app that just combines the data and forecasts from a bunch of avy centers onto a geotagged map. So you can get a general idea of the avy hazard in a bunch of areas without having to navigate to their specific websites.

But that color-coded Low-Extreme spectrum is really just the tiniest part of the overall report. Please, please, please use that as a starting point, but also read the entire report for the area you're looking at. Avy hazard changes with aspect and elevation. Reading the full report will give you a better idea of what problems you're dealing with, and where they're most likely to be found.

In addition, try to read that report every day. Keep up with what's going on with the snowpack, knowing that history is invaluable for decision making.

I'm sure that's all stuff you guys have heard before, but you really don't want folks going "Oh look, the app says where I am is yellow, it's good to go!" without consuming more information.
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Absolutely this. I appreciate you adding clarification.
 
14089914:Emma_Watson said:
i've seen so many people without proper avy equipment, even some rental setups, go through that gate while previous slides were still visible. dumb
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Was one of the first people to hike jupe peak this season and when i went back for seconds i was walking along the ridge behind like 7 jerrys some maybe like 13, clearly on rentals and ski one week a year, patrol was all over there so i didnt bother telling them they fucked up, maybe when they saw some big wind slaps coming off the surface in some zones they realized to turn tf around. I use to ski some stupid things without safety gear but im gonna be wearing my beacon inbounds on deep days from now on, the canyons death is fucked to think about.
 
14089919:SuckleBrick said:
I feel as if there should be more ways to keep skiers safe
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theres just so many fuckin people now skiing and especially tons of people that show up on powdays and when terrain is getting opened up after storms. Control work makes things very safe and fun for us to ski which im thankful for but ive always thought its a scary situation seeing like 50-70+ people dropping in all at once on freshly-opened terrain. More crowd control imo, like limit the amount of people that are gonna drop on something that just opened idk.
 
14089962:DeebieSkeebies said:
theres just so many fuckin people now skiing and especially tons of people that show up on powdays and when terrain is getting opened up after storms. Control work makes things very safe and fun for us to ski which im thankful for but ive always thought its a scary situation seeing like 50-70+ people dropping in all at once on freshly-opened terrain. More crowd control imo, like limit the amount of people that are gonna drop on something that just opened idk.
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Definitely should restrict people every few minutes or something to keep people away from each other, kinda sucks cause some zones in UT at least are open gates all season. Last season going up 9990s hike i was behind probably 20 people and this was before i really knew about avy danger so i assumed being out there with others who may or may not have a beacon was chill. Luckily for me i had some great turns and made it back to work, then i was told by my work that that areas fucking dangerous.
 
I dug a pit on Cameron Pass two weeks ago and shit was lookin real sketchy. We had a couple of early storms this season followed by a few high pressure systems which where a lot of the rotten snow seems to have originated. The bottom few layers were basically ball bearings on top of ice. A day later a woman was killed in an avalanche up there ?.

Stay safe friends. A day of pit digging and no skiing is still a great day in backcountry!
 
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