This Is Why You Dont Duck Ropes!

Ben.

Ben.

Active member
Idiots

Skier-triggered slide traps patroller at Highlands

Aspen Daily News Staff Report

Monday, February 22, 2010

A pair of skiers triggered a slide in a permanently closed area at Aspen Highlands, partially burying a ski patroller, on Sunday morning.

At about 11:45 a.m., the two male skiers ducked a rope to cross into the closed area, skier’s right of Hyde Park. They set off the avalanche in what’s known as Y11, between Hyde Park and the open runs in Highland Bowl. A patroller who got trapped by the slide was able to extricate himself and was fine, but the culprits had gotten away.

Patrollers put out a call to look out for the two men, and stationed themselves in places like the top of the Deep Temerity lift to watch for skiers coming off the chair. One was wearing a green jack and green pants; the other had a blue helmet and a red jacket with a white stripe, patrol were telling people. The men were not found by the end of the day.

Well over a foot of snow had fallen over the weekend in some areas, including Highland Bowl.

“There’s a lot of snow out there; stay out of closed areas because you’re putting other people at risk besides yourself,” said Aspen Skiing Co. spokesman Jeff Hanle.
 
Indeed, I doubt most people realize it's not always about whether you're willing to take the risk for yourself, but are you willing to fuck up whatever is below you?
 
While I completely agree with everything you posted about these people being idiots, I am waiting for some dumb east coast kid to come on here and say I duck ropes all the time or FUCK ski patrol.
 
Highland Bowl is sick. I am surprised they didn't catch them, it takes forever to ride back up the lift at the bottom of the bowl to Loge Peak, and then have to ski all the way back down to the base.
 
Glad patrol is ok.

Hope the morons who set the slide off aren't on here.

Ropes are there for reasons, whether it be the east coast or west coast. Shit isn't just closed for the hell of it.
 
True, but the seriousness of why they are closed is so different between the East and West coast. On the east coast if you duck a rope you might get a few bad dings in your skis; on the west coast if you duck a rope you might die or kill someone else.
 
but on the east coast you have a lot more of things like power lines under the snow. thatll kill you really fast
 
Absolutely valid point.

But as far as the putting others at risk goes, story time.

I fucked up last year myself. I ducked a rope at a major east coast resort during the middle of the season with good snow depths. It looked like fresh snow all the way down. 3 turns in it turned to bulletproof ice. Lost my edge at speed, and tumbled. Dislocated my shoulder severely. Tried to get myself out under my own power, but was unable to.

I needed to be carted out. My getting injured on a steep, icy hil that was closed because of bulletproof ice put the patrollers at risk themselves while trying to sideslip down a super sketch run while controlling a heavy sled.

I made a mistake. I paid the consequences (painful injury, financial implications of the injury, and my pass was revoked for the entirety of the season). Luckily noone else was injured as a result of my negligence, but the risk was certainly there.

As a result of my experience, I understand the risks that closed runs present and that they are closed for valid reasons.
 
True, obviously your own judgement must be used. It's definitely easy to hit snowmaking tubes as well when you duck on the east coast early season. That shit sucks. Nothing worse than skiing a long a good pace and then coming to a dead stop and thinking both your ankles are broken because you ran into a snowmaking tube just below your knees. Also hidden trees are something you gotta watch out for as well for the same reason. I was not trying to imply that nothing can happen on the east coast when you duck ropes, but generally there are less risks involved.
 
i am absolutely terrified of snow. i only duck ropes to get to shacks and shit. even if i was educated on snow science i still dont think i would go out anywhere. not worth it. in bounds at resorts are good enough.
 
even on the east coast you need to be careful about ducking ropes especially at mountains that try to load the slopes with huge amounts of manmade snow after freezing rain or warm conditions. on two occasions I can remember (not witnessed but seen the deposits) massive slabs and in one case an entire blower whaleback that have slid on slopes being blasted with manmade. if you think getting hit with a western avy would suck imagine getting buried in pieces of solid ice the size of coffe tables.

on a seperate note, with all the snow PA has gotten we have had people actually ducking ropes and getting stuck in the snow because they fall and can't get up because they can't manage to get off their rental skis. fucking idiots
 
Am I missing something? Sounds like the patroller was on an open run when he got buried, which begs the question: why didn't patrol bomb an easily triggered avi path that runs into an open run?
 
maybe at a janky ass resort on the east coast ive looked at many roped off areas in the summer while mountain biking and most are just a little sketchy no power lines
 
Thats a valid point considering I probably get more days in colorado than you do on your New york hill, so yeah I know nothing about avalanche dangers, especially since colorado has the best snowpack of anywhere, better than MINNESOTA!!!!!!!!!! you're right sorry for being ignorant
 
youre an idiot. we all hate you nebraskans. and i doubt you get more days than him skiing mainly weekends or holidays...

plus the CO pack this season sucks!
 
Doug Coombs at Jackson, they kicked him out even though he probably was smarter about skiing then most of the ski patrol.
 
When they kicked Coombs out, he was just an up-and-coming local pro.

And from what I've heard from my parents who knew Coombs at the time, was that he was given numerous closure violation warnings, and the problem was that average weekend warriors were starting to ski

Coombs' lines through the permanently closed areas.
 
damn that sucks, it's to bad that it takes experiences like that to open ppls eyes and really understand what can go wrong. I mean, i had a similar experience but somehow didn't get injured. just looking back on it, I think, holy shit i couldn't have been any more oblivious.

On another note.... Imagine if those 2 guys caused this...
1260073437avalanche-canada.jpg
 
Well thanks I would agree with you hating the carhart wearing midwesterners but I would also say that your sarcasm meter is turned off
 
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