Avalanche Fatality at White Pass WA

A real bummer. This guy was a true fanatic... he was killed on 12/28 in an avalanche in the White Pass BC. RIP

Gypsy Wagon from WWU-Digital Media in Journalism on Vimeo.

Another great piece from Jason Hummel with Adam Roberts as one of the Stars

Makin' Bacon - Ski Traverse from Blum to Bacon Peak from Jason Hummel on Vimeo.

Story From Bellingham Herald

Be careful... know your limits... this guy was an experienced backcountry enthusiast.

I've been following this one since it happened.  White Pass is on Nanches, just a few miles from Crystal.  Being familiar with the Crystal area backcountry I've taken to reading incident reports, past and present, for the area (and the PNW in general).  It's good to know where bad things have happened, and are likely to happen.  It's kind of freaky reading incident reports where people were killed or seriously injured in avalanches on slopes/routes I have actually skied.  Some of it I know was steep, other places to me seemed mellow.  Yet people died there.  Just emphasizes the importance of knowledge and decision making in the backcountry.

By all accounts Adam was a passionate, dedicated, knowledgeable skier.  He also seemed like a genuine character, and part of the PNW backcountry community that I've come to appreciate in my lurking on TAY.  Losing a young, vibrant member of the community is no doubt a tragedy, and I feel and pray for his family and friends.  RIP Adam.

That said, I wonder why there hasn't been more discussion of this on TAY.  Nobody will ever know exactly what happened out there, or what precautions Adam took, or how he approached his tour.  However, the preliminary incident report is posted, and I think it gives some good things to talk about in terms safety in the backcountry.  I guess I'm ok being the dick looking for the takeaways from a tragedy like this.  There is always something we can learn, stark reminders of the things we SHOULD be thinking about in the backcountry.....lessons that might save our life some day.  I think Adam would appreciate that.

In this case Adam was skiing alone.  The avalanche danger that day was rated High, as there had been recent significant new snow, as well as a Solstice/rain crust from the week before.  He was found below a 45-50 slope in an extreme terrain trap.  At the Grand Couloir on White Pass you have steep (45 to 50 degree) slopes on both flanks, terminating in a 20 foot wide creek bed.  Alone, on high angle avalanche terrain on a High Risk day, in a terrain trap feature that offers no runout if there is an avalanche.  

Yes, by all accounts Adam was an experienced, knowledgeable backcountry skier.  However, there are numerous red flags all over this incident.  Just a reminder that knowledgeable backcountry enthusiasts have to exercise caution, too.  Did he know the terrain well, did he become complacent as a result, was he just reckless?? Don't know, but the result is just a good warning to anyone venturing into the backcountry.....be careful, be cautious when conditions warrant, and take the best steps you can to live to ski another day.

Sad. He died too young.

Right on JTG.  I'm not sure what to add to the discussion.  I think your head is completely in the right place.  I just came across this today, as I have been spending time with family on the East coast over the past 2 weeks.  I did not know Adam, but I have seen his performances many times as I am obviously an online video Junkie.  There have been a couple of tragedies over the past few years in the PNW that have really made me an ultra cautious backcountry enthusiast in general.  There is a certain level of risk that everyone has to accept when enjoying backcountry recreation during all seasons.  Some have a higher tolerance than others.... Adam's risk tolerance was obviously pretty high.

Reading incident reports is a great way to keep your risk tolerance in check.  The AIRE courses I took also consisted of a segment where we watched a video of a burial where the person was wearing a helmet cam.  The thought of this video, to this day, has made my risk tolerance quite low.  Having a good connection with your partners is also very important.  Initially, I was going out with anyone who would allow me to go along with their group.  Often times I found myself working with guys that were much younger, and had risk tolerances beyond my comfort zone.  It took a while for me, but I think I have connected with the "right" group of partners.  I have a couple of groups along with my wife that I go out with on regular basis. We are all about the same in terms of risk tolerance.  I have always felt like we are on the same page when it comes to terrain and risk evaluation.  I still consider myself to be inexperienced, but have been lucky to find an "Old Head" who has taken some time to pass some of his wisdom my way.  I would not even consider being out of bounds on a High risk day regardless of slope angle.  That's my tolerance point... I even get nervous on days of "Considerable" risk.  The fact is most tragedies occur during days where levels are described as considerable.  I would assume the frequency of tragedies increases because more people go out on these days, and tend to let their guard down so-to-speak.

The mountains don't give a shit about our objectives, itineraries, or skill levels.

I toured the last two days and I'm stoked to say that both days we decided to back off what we wanted to do and went with safer options. I think it's important to not become too dead set on your goal or desires, the group I like to roll with generally has a "well lets just look and see" attitude. The human brain is a funny thing and can trick us to make really bad decisions (see green lights) even though the red flags are right there in front of our faces.

If I'm uncomfortable with anything I'm more than happy to call it a day or ski some safe low angle pitch and make some hippy turns. The thought of being buried in a slide scares the crap out of me now. People often say "well he/she died doing what they love" and I say bullshit. No one loves being in an avalanche. It's a horrific way to die.

A couple of photos from the last two tours.

From the skin track out of the area to the low saddle.


Ken in the pit.


This last weeks snow and wind transported snow from the 65+ mph wind gusts during the last 48 hours created some nice slab that was failing easily on the Christmas storm layer and possibly surface hoar crystals.


Care to poke the dragon?


We backed off the Cirque and skied Allison Clay instead.

raisingarizona wrote

 

If I'm uncomfortable with anything I'm more than happy to call it a day or ski some safe low angle pitch and make some hippy turns. The thought of being buried in a slide scares the crap out of me now. People often say "well he/she died doing what they love" and I say bullshit. No one loves being in an avalanche. It's a horrific way to die.

I dig your style RA

hippy turns

campgottagopee wrote

I dig your style RA

hippy turns

Haha! Thanks Camp. The last few years I've learned to really embrace the hippy turn run. Sometimes it just feels right.

I'm a huge fan of "Hippy Pow Trips".... I often tour with a dude in his late 60's... he was a super hippy back in the day.

Whenever I feel my balls starting to outgrow my Jockstrap, I watch something like this...

Unfortunately, I think the advent of the Balloon Pack technology has made lots of Jockstraps bigger than they really should be

Burial should scare the shit out of everyone. The fact is, even with the best training in companion rescue, successful rescues are pretty rare.

Holy anxiety attack. Dang Nepa, I watched your posted vid and I'm going to have nightmares now.

I really don't want to experience a full burial ever. I've been in a few small slides, one of which really throttled me and tossed me off a 30 footer and grinded me against a tower of rock mid flight, ripping my right ski off. I fought as hard as I could after landing as my left ski still attached to my boot was yanking me downward in the moving snow. I had some green spring binding with the din set on 16 or 17 but luckily they were the old Markers with the shitty toe pieces so I was able to twist out of it. and then I came to rest with both my arms free, upright, and snow up to my chest but I was able to dig myself out. It wasn't a huge pocket that ripped on me, maybe only 100 feet by 70 feet or so but it was a full climax slide and it's power and force was unbelievable. I was also exposed with a cliff and trees below, luckily it lost it's energy before I was dragged through the trees. My body was so worked I basically just stayed in bed for a week too sore to barely move.

That was a hell of lesson on patience and to not fuck with the San Juans.

I just watched that first video and even without sound wow.

I have a potentially stupid question(s):

If you do a test slope in one spot, on one aspect of one mountain how projectable are those results?

How many pits should you do and how far apart etc should they be?

raisingarizona wrote

Holy anxiety attack. Dang Nepa, I watched your posted vid and I'm going to have nightmares now.

You've got way more experience, so I'm certain your gut is much more trustworthy than mine.  I can certainly say, I did not  have the correct level of respect for the burial when I first started walking around in the BC.  It's videos like this that have truly enhanced my respect for the power of the mountain.  

Yeah... not trying to bug anyone out or kill the stoke, but a healthy dose of fear can really help with more effective risk evaluation and decision making.

Harvey wrote

I just watched that first video and even without sound wow.

I have a potentially stupid question(s):

If you do a test slope in one spot, on one aspect of one mountain how projectable are those results?

How many pits should you do and how far apart etc should they be?

My answer to both would be: It depends on the snowpack.

As I understand it (and I am by no means an authority) Spatial variation is always a problem.  The pit is only one component of the risk evaluation toolkit.  While in the pit, compression test results are critical.  We often agree to red-flag, if we see early reaction from a compression test.  You never can be too sure... there lot's of variables that can change things in a relatively small space.    

Most of the Cascades are considered a Maritime snowpack.  This year has been an anomaly so far... we have had lot's of hoar issues in between snowfalls because it has been abnormally cold for the past several weeks.  Typically, in normal conditions, things settle pretty quickly.  You don't run into persistent weak layers too often in a maritime snowpack.  With a Continental snowpack it's very different.

The groups I roll with don't go pit crazy, but we always take the time to get in the hole and take a look.  It provides a good opportunity to make sure everyone's on the same page... also provides an opportunity to slow your head, and rest your legs.

Not stupid questions at all Harv. Those are the kinds of questions I love to hear from newbies tagging along, it means they respect the mountain and are eager to learn!

Nepa basically nails it with the classic avie instructor answer.....it depends.

I'll add that when it's your home turf you generally have a good understanding of the pack and it's behavior. You watch the wind, the reports when you aren't on the hill, the temps, snowfall etc. and continue throughout the season making mental files of data. I used to never dig pits but we have been thrown a few curve balls the last few years with serious rain events and layers that we haven't ever really dealt with so we are trying to learn and also relay some info back to the local avie awareness group.

Over the past two weeks we have probably gotten around 60 or so inches of snow. That's with some rain and then Monday Tuesday the winds were cranking at 65+ mph over the ridges creating a shit ton of slab in the steep starting zones of some of our favorite lines. If that two week set up doesn't raise up some red flags for someone they should probably choose a different activity! We dug our pit in an area that was representative of the slopes we were most concerned about and interested in crossing. After seeing the results we could make decisions on other slopes just by looking at load, steepness, and wind direction. So ya, it depends. :)