Decision Making in Avalanche Terrain: Dangerous Assumptions We’ve all had those bluebird days of touring when every turn you make is in deep blower pow; nothing beats it. Turn after turn throws cold smoke in your face, and your hand aches at the end of the day from the endless high-fives. Often, however, these days come with a less-than-stable snowpack. It is easy to let your adrenaline overcome your better judgment, which can often inhibit decision-making. More times than not, you will get away with that sick powder run on these sorts of days, but you shouldn’t let this influence your decision making process in the future. […] Avalanche Keegan Kliman | December 2, 2014 1 Comment
LEARN: 1st Avalanche Death of 2014/15 Video Analysis & Report This past Wednesday, November 26th, 2014, the USA sadly experienced its first avalanche fatality of the 2014/15 winter season. We’d like to make it our last. The best way to learn about avalanches is to learn from avalanche accidents. When we analyze avalanche accidents, we can learn what went wrong and why. Armed with this knowledge, we can potentially avoid avalanche hazards in our own lives moving forward. This video analyzes […] Avalanche SnowBrains | November 30, 2014 0 Comments
Avalanche Death in Montana Yesterday | NOAA “Avalanche Warning” in MT Today: A snowmobiler died in an avalanche in the Cooke City, Montana area at about 1:30pm yesterday, November 26th, 2014. The exact location was on the southwest side of Henderson Mountain in the Miller Creek drainage. The victim was a 31-year-old from North Dakota. The victim and his partner both were carry avalanche equipment. The victim was buried over 5-deep in the avalanche debris. His partner made an impressive effort and had the victim’s head out of the snow in 20-minutes. CPR was performed on the victim without result. […] Avalanche SnowBrains | November 27, 2014 0 Comments
One Airbag Feature You Need To Use That You Probably Don’t A case study from the fall edition of the Canadian Avalanche Association’s publication The Avalanche Journal details the death of a skier in Revelstoke and brings light to one feature on many airbag backpack systems you might not have even heard about: the crotch strap. The author, a key analyst of the incident for CAA and aid for both the RCMP and BC Corners Service, noted that the failure to use the crotch strap while in avalanche […] Avalanche Eric Behn | November 14, 2014 10 Comments
5 New Avalanche Statistics You Need To Know: Bruce Temper, Director of the Utah Avalanche Center, recently cited this avalanche information resulting from new research into avalanche accidents. These numbers are heavy, shocking, and crucial. Please read them all, let them soak in, and use this information when you are in avalanche terrain. 1. 47% of avalanche deaths occur when conditions are reported as “considerable.” […] Avalanche SnowBrains | November 12, 2014 31 Comments
“How Avalanches Kill People” | by National Geographic Cartoon avalanches start with a snowball merrily rolling downhill, picking up more snow as it travels. That’s not how it really works, say avalanche experts, which explains the deadly results of recent avalanches that caught hikers off guard in Nepal. “Avalanches are a crazy thing,” says Karl Birkeland, director of the U.S. Forest Service National Avalanche Center in Bozeman, Montana. “They are natural disasters that we can trigger ourselves.” In Nepal, blizzard-driven avalanches have been blamed for the death of hikers on the […] Avalanche SnowBrains | October 30, 2014 1 Comment
California Avalanche Workshop | Oct. 18th, 9am-5pm, Be There. Finally, California has a pre-season avalanche workshop for all ability levels to get our skills sharpened up before the season starts. This workshop will be fantastic with many interesting presenters, crucial information, and jaw dropping stories. If you plan on being in the backcountry at all this year, go to this workshop. You will not regret it. This all-day workshop is intended for all backcountry snow traveling enthusiasts who spend time in or around avalanche terrain, whether just beginning or seasoned veterans. The presentations and panel topics will include recent updates to avalanche forecasting and […] SnowBrains | October 13, 2014 2 Comments
Take This Avalanche Terrain Crash Course Now: Outside Magazine just published this great avalanche terrain map. The text below corresponds to the numbers and locations in the image above and helps to identify hazards and safe zones in avalanche terrain. The image, numbers, and text together create a great crash course in how to ascend and descend avalanche terrain. ENTER AT YOUR OWN RISK by Outside Magazine 1. Wind can displace tremendous amounts of snow, in some cases affecting the nature of the snowpack much more than a new storm. Wind-loaded slopes can be dangerous, while wind-eroded slopes are […] Avalanche SnowBrains | October 10, 2014 0 Comments
VIDEO: How Avalanche Dogs Save Lives We all know that avalanche dogs are key. They can sniff you, find you, and dig you out of an avalanche, right? Well, it’s not quite that simple. There are a major interactions between the dog handler, the dog, the wind, the debris, the mountain, and more. This video is a great explanation of how the entire process works and what the dogs do to find people. For the dog, it’s really just all a fun game. For us, it can be life or death. As long as the avalanche debris site isn’t contaminated with human scent (non-buried humans) a well trained avalanche dog is […] Avalanche SnowBrains | October 6, 2014 3 Comments
Inbounds Avalanche in Antillanca, Chile Almost Takes Out Lift After a large storm followed by warm weather, an inbounds avalanche in Antillanca Ski Area almost took out a lift tower. The slide likely occurred during the first warmup on September 29th after a storm from September 26th – 28th. Antillanca is a small, locals ski hill, about 100km from the city of Osorno in Chile. It is unknown if the slide was intentionally triggered by avalanche control work or released naturally. The slope aspect was SE. Upon […] Avalanche Aaron Rice | October 2, 2014 0 Comments
JP Auclair and Andreas Fransson Killed in Avalanche in Chile JP Auclair and Andreas Fransson are being reported dead in an avalanche in Chile by the National Office of Emergency of the Interior Ministry of Chile. They had been missing since Monday afternoon before they were found lifeless this afternoon by Chilean police forces. They went missing while climbing, skiing, and filming on 12,159-foot Mt. San Lorenzo (2nd highest peak in Patagonia) near the city of Cochrane in the Aysen area. This is an remote area in Chilean Patagonia (far south Chile). […] Avalanche SnowBrains | September 30, 2014 17 Comments
Avalanche Kills Three Climbers in Kamchatka, Russia Last Friday, a group of 10 climbers were ascending the north face of the 15,042-foot Kamen (stone) volcano in Kamchatka when an avalanche came down on them. Two of the climbers were killed, one is still missing, and 7 survived the avalanche. Of the survivors, four were injured and three were hospitalized. “According to the surviving tourists from the group of 10 people, on Friday morning they decided to climb the Kamen volcano from […] Avalanche SnowBrains | August 10, 2014 1 Comment
Skier Triggered Avalanche at Catedral Ski Resort in Bariloche, Argentina Today: A 20 minute hike from the Del Bosque chair at Catedral ski resort in Bariloche, Argentina brings you to La Laguna. La Laguna is the backcountry. No avalanche control, no patrollers, no medical equipment, no nothing. Today, there was a skier triggered avalanche at the top of La Laguna. A skier skied into this line and triggered the avalanche. He fortunately didn’t get caught in the slide. He was lucky. About 90% of the humans who hike into La Laguna have no backpacks, no […] Avalanche Miles Clark | August 7, 2014 4 Comments
Avalanche Warning Issued for Australia Today: Just yesterday, the New South Wales National Parks and WIldlife Service in Australia issued an avalanche warning for the Kosciuszko National Park (which holds Australia’s highest peak, Mt. Kosciuszko, at 7,310 ft). Avalanches are more rare in Australia than in Europe and North America, but not unheard of. Two snowboarders lost their lives in an avalanche in Australia earlier this month. We’ve never seen an avalanche warning issued, so things must […] Avalanche SnowBrains | July 23, 2014 0 Comments
Two Snowboarders Killed In Australian Avalanche Two snowboarders (32 and 33-years-old) have died in an avalanche in the remote 6,516-foot Mount Bogong are of Australia’s Victoria Provence’s Alpine National Park. The first snowboarder’s body was found on Monday via his avalanche beacon’s signal. He was buried 15 feet deep. The second snowboarder was found today at 10:30am […] Avalanche SnowBrains | July 15, 2014 2 Comments
Montana Skier Buried by Avalanche Digs Himself Out But Dies of Injures A 46-year-old male teacher from Anaconda High School in southwestern Montana was caught in an avalanche on Saturday while backcountry skiing. He was skiing on top of Olson Gultch near Anaconda, Montana when the avalanche struck. He was able to dig himself out of the avalanche debris and call for help but died at the scene due to injuries […] Avalanche SnowBrains | May 5, 2014 0 Comments
Most Sherpa Decide to Leave Mt. Everest for the Season A guide on Everest is reporting that many Sherpa have decided to leave the mountain for the 2014 climbing season. “It is just impossible for many of us to continue climbing. While there are three of our friends buried in the snow, I can’t imagine stepping over them. We want to honor the members we lost and out of respect for them we just can’t continue.” – Dorje Sherpa, Everest guide […] SnowBrains | April 22, 2014 5 Comments
Avalanche in Norway Kills Four Backcountry Skiers According to Norwegian police, search and rescue teams have found the bodies of four skiers who were killed in an avalanche yesterday in Norway. These four men were part of a party of 6 that split up. The two surviving members notified rescuers when the other four did not return from their tour on time. […] Avalanche SnowBrains | April 17, 2014 0 Comments
Crystal Mountain’s Chair 6 To Be Replaced After Being Destroyed by Avalanche in March On March 10th, 2014 an avalanche triggered by explosives came crashing down at Crystal Mountain, WA and destroyed the legendary Chair 6. Chair 6 was ranked the #1 chairlift in the Northwest and provided access to some terrific terrain. Crystal Mountain vowed to replace Chair 6 with a better chair and now, Kim Kricher lets us know exactly what this new chair will be like. New Chair 6 Details: – Fixed grip double chair, just like the old one – Chair will be twice as […] SnowBrains | April 15, 2014 0 Comments
35 Skiers Caught in Avalanche in French Alps Sunday An avalanche that occurred in an off-piste area of the French ski resort of La Clusaz caught 35 backcountry skiers at exactly 11:11am Sunday morning. Why 35 backcountry skiers were skiing the same slope, no one can say just yet. The avalanche was a wet slide that began at 2,400 meters came down and swept up all 35 skiers who were in the couloir where the avy came down. […] Avalanche SnowBrains | April 15, 2014 0 Comments
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