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Avalanche at Loveland Pass Colorado. `

16K views 104 replies 38 participants last post by  linvillegorge 
#1 · (Edited)
Authorities: 5 people buried in Colorado avalanche - CNN.com


Cnn just posted this but 5 people are buried. Rescue crews are on their way.
I hope everyone makes it out ok. Sending positive vibes and well wishes.



Edited to add: I hope that no one from this board were out there:(


There is already a thread in Backcountry travel. Mods can you merge the 2 or how do I delete this one?
 
#94 ·
As critical as it was, it seemed to be pretty sympathetic. It is so easy to make small mistakes and have just 1 kill you. I feel that the blogger was trying to not allow sympathy to affect his objective study of the event, which was really comprehensive imo. :dunno:
 
#96 ·
Quite frankly I think Lou was being abrasive, condescending, and a bit of an asshole with this one. He certainly was not that judgmental of the Stevens Pass or Steve Romeo incidents. The big difference? Skiers is those accidents. Granted Lou considered Steve Romeo a peer.

I respect Lou and he has been doing the backcountry game for longer than just about anyone I know. I have one partner who has maybe been around as long as Lou. Lou also has a dream tick list of descents he has done. I was glad for analysis, but I also find that a lot of it is maybe not so spot on. The so called safe path. Not 100% sure of that. Not sure on being in danger right out the car door either. S&R used that same route in mass for the rescue. S&R generally does not expose their team members to dangerous situations.

There is no question that going out on that ridge was a bad choice. I am stumped by it myself. Before this event happened I was super wary of getting on terrain near and above treeline with large consequence. Made the call a week earlier to not go for the Silver on Buffalo because of snow fall and consequence. Then Harrison went huge, then the Vail pass accident. Certainly the warning was there that we were back to mid winter and lines that could big were going big. So no idea why a terrain trap like that would be chosen, and I think that has stumped Lou too. It just seems like a bit of that snowboarder contempt from the old days seeped through on two of his blogs. Maybe it is just frustration from so many horrible accidents that were completely avoidable in the last two seasons.

Yes there is a lot to be learned from his posts. I just really wish he had of done a classier job presenting this. Lou is better than this.
 
#97 ·
I was hoping for your input on this one as I'm pretty removed from the real players in the game. Still this happens within view of my local and all of this CO and UT tragedy lately....is just FUCK!

I spent about an hour reading through all the comments and his replies and didn't get through it all.

ty sir.
 
#98 ·
I was kind of scratching my head about his "safe route" too. He certainly knows better than me, but he's still pretty damned exposed where he's exiting the trees and as to his route across the slope...

All I know is that if you told me that slope was gonna be bombed and you asked me if I felt safe standing there, not sure I'd be so confident about my choice at that time.
 
#99 ·
One of the things I do know is that spot might be about the only one that makes sense to skin in from. Most of the terrain on that side of the pass is better traveled to by booting it. You have to go way out and drop a line that would require you to skin back out to get to the pass proper. Such as Grizzly Gulch. For a splitfest, it just doesn't help. Dry Gulch and Herman Gulch are better touring spots but they have their problems too.

A big problem is that the forest service won't let you run something like that on their land. So by using the closed ski area lot they were able to bypass problems with the fs of having tables and logos out. Otherwise this could of been held at a place like Bert. While people still get killed there, it is much harder to set off a slide of this magnitude and you would have to try really hard to expose 6 to that sort of danger on the up. I really wish the fs would change their rules a bit so that a free event like this could happen.
 
#100 · (Edited)
I really wish the fs would change their rules a bit so that a free event like this could happen.
but all the hippies in boulder would get upset:dunno:

Backcountry travel is such an issue in teh state to be fair tho, and the number of people heading out is just increasing constantly. Many people just don't give a fuck and can't wait to get out there and trash everything. Regardless of the special interest tree huggers and whatnot, its gotta be a real tightrope for the FS. Not to mention our ecosystem as a whole seems pretty fragile lately between beetlekill and drought (goddamn mountain lions and bears seem to be doing fine :laugh:).
 
#101 ·
Oh if you have a permit, then you have none of those issues. You can get people together, but if you have so much as a vehicle with the company emblem on it in the parking lot, you are running afoul of forest service rules. They rarely enforce that but when it's convenient for them they do.
 
#103 ·
IMO, one of the scariest and most sobering parts of this story is the fact that two of the deceased were only buried 2-3 feet deep and the survivor, though not fully buried, was unable to self extract.

This really hammers home the point that self rescue simply cannot be considered as a possibility when considering avalanches. These poor guys were only buried in the neighborhood of 2 feet deep and they were absolutely helpless.
 
#104 ·
Having read this entire thread and all of the similar material relating to the Tunnel Creek tragedy, none of us is in a position to answer the question "why?"

There is a survivor from this horrific event and only he can provide some insight into the "why?" of what they did. Perhaps in time he will have the confidence to shed light on the incident, but no doubt he is fully aware of the scrutiny he is / will be under. This man is going to need a lot of love and support to work his way through this experience.

As a child, my father would often ask me this question;

"If I do this, what could possibly happen?

We do not need to be looking for the perfect line for a potentially fatal event. Maybe you were on a groomer run and was hoping for a speed run. Did you check to make sure all was clear before hitting that kicker? Should I be pushing that very yellow, now red light? Six beers later, should I be behind the wheel? Will the next car see me if I step out from in front of this bus?

One does not need be on a mountain side for tragedy to pay a visit.

We should strive to live life to the fullest each and every day for ourselves, our loved ones and all of those around us. As a group of enthusiasts, we need to be diligent every time we encounter a situation that has potentially dire results.

My condolences to the family and friends of the deceased. May your loved ones rest in peace.
 
#105 ·
We make decisions everyday that could potentially kill us. People make far dumber decisions in the backcountry time and time again and not only live to tell about it but don't even realize that what they're doing is stupid.

It only takes one mistake. Not just in the backcountry, but in many situations we find ourselves in everyday - like your yellow light example.
 
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