R.I.P. Jeff Miller 1/19/10

.nasty

.nasty

Active member
Buried below the fingers on berthoud pass since monday afternoon. S&R found him this morning, but not his dog. hopefully the dog turns up. He did not have avy equipment and suffered the ultimate consequence because of it. please let this remind everyone that proper decision making and proper equipment is CRUCIAL.

Jeff was an awesome dude full of excitement and happiness. I hope his family/friends is okay... this sucks hardcore...
 
RIP....sorry for your loss buddy.

Just a quick reminder that just because you can access something doesn't mean you should ski it. Berthoud has claimed the lives of at least 2-3 individuals over the last 2 ski seasons as its an easy to access and evidently popular backcountry spot.

I've spent many days up there, including some without beacons and others with people who ride without beacons, and certainly respect the seriousness of it.

Don't be skiing avy prone terrain if you don't have a beacon, buddy, probe, shovel and the necessary experience to make all those work.

 
Horrible news. RIP. Everyone makes mistakes in th BC, I know I have, its downright horrible when they pan out like this.
 
It should be illegal to ski anything out of bounds without a beacon. If you cant afford approx. $500 for all the equipment and a class (at retail...), then you have NO BUSINESS being out there.
This is really sad news, but I really don't feel bad for the guy who got buried, I feel much worse for his family and friends.
 
I think its a little harsh not feeling bad for someone who just died. Obviously he messed up, but even people who know how to use their beacons really really well and know avalanche safety really really well get caught and killed. In all honesty someone wearing a beacon who doesn't have avalanche education is probably riskier than someone with no beacon on. The thing is its unlikely just wearing a beacon would have saved him, since from what I understand, his friend didn't know where he was, or even that he was caught in an avalanche. Even if he had been wearing a beacon, his friend wouldn't have known where to look.

 
^ that's why i included a class into the $500 or so needed for half way decent safety, along with a beacon/probe/shovel.
And if his friend didnt even see him get caught, they likely werent using any sort of safe procedures (one at time, stopping in safe zones as the next goes). I dont know, after taking a class, my eyes have been opened and if you use even a little bit of good judgement of your surroundings you should be fine in the backcountry.
Stuff like this happens, and will continue to, and the sad thing is it can be almost 99% preventable by not being stupid.
 
R.I.P. Jeff. Jeff was a good guy, but definitely should have known what he was doing. Always have the proper equipment and safe skiing and good route finding. In an article about this, search and rescue found his dog within in touching distance of each other. They were found together. R.I.P. Jeff and Beau
 
No, people should be free to do what they want in life but be held personally responsible for negative consequence resulting from their actions.
 
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