Early season avi in Chamonix

To tamper the stoke

Heck of a ski cut -- glad the skier didn't get taken with it!!!

Textbook.

Textbook example of a sketchy ski cut????

....any constructive comments on the ski cut technique ? Positive or negative ? Would you have done the same or something different ?

I would've tried to end up higher on the subtle ridge, in a safer spot. I can't really think of what else would've made it less dangerous. It looks sketchy to me because the slab broke right under their feet after the ski cutter stopped moving. What do you all think?

I'm by no means an expert, but that seems like an awfully high consequence slope to ski cut (under those conditions). If I had any idea it was going to slide that big, I'd want a larger safety net than that. Would a belayed ski cut have a place here? Getting raked into those crevasses doesn't look like a good time...

It looks like they thought or knew skiers right side was loaded so he cut along just below the top of the rib on that side. What he did looked pretty appropriate to the terrain, making a few turns to stay where it seemed a slide might break, and powering into his right turns. If the loading was thought to be more uniform a cut lower across the gut would be reassuring, maybe the guy shooting video planned to do that after.

I've been taught to come in with some speed and apply pressure where you think the tension zone is where a crown might break. If it's a pretty uniform slope then pumping a bit while cutting across aiming toward someplace I think is safe to stop. If there are obvious tension zones or convexities, powering into short turns there.

I certainly wouldn't want to rely on ski cutting to stabilize a high consequence slope I thought was unstable, but I like it for testing slopes that I believe are OK to ski already. Can't argue against a belay in a high consequence situation but seems impractical except for small starting zones. Checking the snow profile while on belay and using that info to decide whether to retreat or ski test seems sensible.

This is an example of applying the wrong technique to the terrain.

1) Likelihood v Consequence: Regardless of how certain the skier was that he/she would cause an avalanche, the consequence of getting caught in that terrain is almost certainly death if you go into those very deep terrain traps (crevasses).

2) Terrain Configuration: Generally, you only want to ski cut one starting zone at a time that you can get into and out of with momentum. This person was basically skiing through multiple starting zones, and clearly hadn't reached a safe zone when they stopped.

The person was probably surprised at the size of slide they caused. To the comment of stopping and digging a snow profile mid-slope: I'm guessing you weren't suggesting that you do this mid ski-cut? You want to have a well informed opinion of what the snow profile is going to look like before you put yourself in the terrain, created by the many moving observations you've made along the way. It's hard to tell exactly what the crown depth is in this instance, but it's well within the range of questionable in terms of a slab that you would attempt to intentionally trigger.

hefe, good conclusions

My reply was made in the context of the decision to ski test being made already. The consequences of being caught in a slide on that slope are entirely obvious (or should be). Agree they were probably surprised and must have thought it was stable or not quite so loaded. Then again, I hear people are prone to taking risks in Chamonix.

I can't fault their applied technique given their decision to "do something". I wouldn't consider the terrain crossed to be multiple starting zones, so we can disagree on that. No point stopping and starting again in that particular situation, IMO. Standing on the rib where he stopped was about as safe a place to stop as could have been chosen. Would it be wise to find a safer spot? Yes. But there wasn't one available. He was wise to stop above the convexity along the crest of the rib IMO. Basically I think what they did was quite dangerous but perhaps more thoughtful than it first appears.

No, don't stop in the middle of a ski cut to dig a pit. Dig a pit on a questionable high consequence slope with a belay.

Would I have done what they did? No, they were playing with fire big time, I expect they have a very high risk tolerance, didn't know any better, or are simply still in their twenties.

The gentleman who did the ski cut is I think, Tof Henry... a Chamonix native and pro-skier.

Highly respected I believe.

He has a facebook page and features in a lot of videos.

www.unfilteredskiing.com/video/e03-backyard

Looks to me like he knew exactly what he was doing.

A few quotes I loved from that first video in Scotsmans link:

"Doesn't matter if you are a pro skier or a big name, it's just the same for us, we see the guy who loves skiing"
"Everyone is seeing all this rad stuff from Chamonix, but actually what we do 90% of the time is ski powder with no one around"

Sounds like a good guy & no doubt he understands the risks.

A good discussion to be sure. I think a distinction should be made between a pro-skier in his home terrain with a high risk tolerance, and claiming that this is a textbook example of how to perform ski cuts.

We all have the spots that we visit frequently that we're comfortable ski cutting in a variety of conditions. But, if the question is "Was this a good/safe ski cut", and/or an example of a technique that inexperienced folks should emulate in similar terrain, in my opinion the answer is no.

Thanks for the discussion everyone. I think we brought up a lot of good aspects. My personal feeling is that even if someone is a pro, we should still make judgements for ourselves as if they're just another human. We all are.

My observations:
There is a break in the video. He ended his ski cut slightly higher than where the video resumes. He is actually coming back and is making a new track about 3-ft downslope from the initial ski cut. When it releases, he takes a couple quick side steps uphill. The release occurred along his initial ski cut mostly from the middle to lower arcs and did not release at the upper arcs. The area immediately below him fractures but does not release.

Conclusions:
There was a delay (maybe a minute or more?) between his ski cut and the fracture/release.
It he had cut 20-ft higher, the slope would not have released.
If he had cut 20-ft lower, he would have been in the upper part of the slide.

Speechless! Elite
One fall line turn from eternity 8-|