NYT on last years Stevens Pass Avy Accident

Wow, that really just opens your eyes to how quick stuff can go wrong on the mountain. Scary story.
 
What a great article!! One question though.

"Intermediate powder skiers have been turned into expert ones thanks to fatter skis and the “rocker” shape of their tips — design advances borrowed from snowboarding."

I thought rocker was taken from skiing and used in snowboards, is this not true? I have seen pictures of old wooden skis that were totally rockered out, that must have been before snowboarding. Can anyone enlighten me?
 
THIS ^ Everyone thinking about going outside the ropes should read this. Such a sad and scary story reported in detail that I have never seen before. R.I.P
 
"It might take a million snowflakes for a skier to notice the difference. It might take just one for a mountain to move."
Really makes you think.
 
This. Shane pretty much used the designs from water skis, then the Spatula was born. Anybody remember the footage of Shane skiing on water skis in Bella Coola?

That article was extremely well written and put together, great read.
 
just goes to show how terribly written skiing articles are. no wonder magazines suck ass. enjoyed grately the article for its content though how terrible the situation was.
 
everyone needs to read this. very tragic and eye-opening. im not going to lie i got choked up reading that. i didnt know any of the victims but a lot of my frieneds did. i remember getting that phone call at work. my girlfriends little brother was out of bounds near where the slide happened. didnt hear from him for an hour until he turned up later in the parking lot. very scary situation.

go with your gut. if you have a bad feeling about something, dont hesitate to speak out about it.
 
Read it on the way to Stevens this morning, started sobbing in the car. Couldn't get it off my mind all day. Still cant. My brother and some friends were in the same area that day, and I couldn't get a hold of them when I got a text about the slide. Thankful that they made it out, still hurting for those that didnt.

This is a must read. Must.
 
Probably one of the best articles i've ever read. Really well written, and really powerful. Everyone should read this article.
 
There's a lot going on there: vivid personal details, a very well constructed narrative, accessibility to people who don't ski or those who do but don't venture into the backcountry.
My favorite part is that they pull no punches--there's no conclusive paragraph stating how they went wrong or trying to armchair quarterback the situation in light of hindsight. This is excellent journalism.
Got to get Radder than ever. Thanks for the inspiration, Rudolph.
 
A really outstanding article, I still haven't watched the associated videos yet, but it really does get into the errors of judgement made by the people involved, without pinning blame on any one person.

Everyone was experienced, an expert, but once you put them all together under the circumstances, it led to lapses of judgement or a lack of willingness to share doubts, that proved fatal.

 
Probably the best overall piece of journalism I've ever read. Absolutely compelling article. Every skier needs to read this.
 
A terrible tragedy, beautifully reconstructed and presented in an unique multimedia format. This is the future of journalism. I cannot wait to see more articles in this style.

With that being said, it was difficult to not become emotional during parts of this story and the interviews were absolutely gut wrenching. I wonder how much gopro footage was not shown in respect to those lost. In fact, I don't even want to know. I found it interesting that the "least experienced" person, the lifty, went off on her own because she trusted her gut despite the expert group. It also seems odd that there was no plan for the decent. Something like, "Okay everybody, you need to make a hard left about 700 feet down so you don't get caught in the gully...". I thought this would be the first thing discussed, especially with bringing so many new people to the area.

I also encourage you to read through the comments on the NYT website. Comments from non-skiers really makes you think about how lucky we are to experience nature in such an intimate manner and how what we do is considered "extreme" to the majority of the world. What other activity lets you experience nature so closely? Surfing?...

Being a novice backcountry skier, I always try to remind myself that the mountains do not care about my skiing skill level, amount of safety equipment, my partners, the weather report, etc. It's quite humbling and this article has made me think about consequences and safety even more.

RIP to those lost and thanks to the survivors and NYT for sharing this tragic story.

I hope everyone has a safe, powder-filled winter.
 
Finally had the time to read this in full last night. Sat here for 30 minutes in stunned silence. I'd read about what happened in the days following the slide, but this article- from the way it was written to the, to the visuals, to the 911 audio, was nothing short of chilling.

I attended a year in review session put on by the Utah Avalanche Center a couple months ago and couldn't help but be reminded of one of the guys who spoke- he was part of the touring party that claimed his friends life on Kessler last year. This story as well as his had a big common denominator- they got on top and some of the party members weren't comfortable with what they were on top of. It's so easy to get summit fever and ignore obvious warning signs, especially if it's a familiar zone to you. Despite all the avy/terrain knowledge you accumulate touring, the hardest part can be checking your ego when it's time to drop.
 
You must log in or register to reply here.
Back
Top