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12/15/07 Top Secret Clandestine Cascades Location

12/15/07
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Posted by jasonsalvo on 12/15/07 11:13am
Sometimes, the camera makes an average day look much much better than it really was. Skiing where we, apparently, weren't supposed to, Anthony and I found about 18" of unconsolidated snow that we could see moving underneath us as we climbed. We chose to remain in treed areas to minimize the danger of those 18" coming unstuck and sending us atumble.
Did the clandestine area staff ask you to yield for control work or something similar? I am considering a similar plan for tomorrow.

Edit - I just saw the related post from Gib in Random Tracks. I've got the heads up.

Thx

contrary to popular belief, there is no safety in trees. 

amen save gondor, amen!

author=savegondor link=topic=8500.msg34054#msg34054 date=1197786999]
contrary to popular belief, there is no safety in trees. 


But if you read closely, I wrote "to minimize danger" not "to avoid it completely." Smaller faces, shorter aspects, less snow, more wind protection - all those things minimize danger. And the snow we observed while climbing was ready to go.

Beyond that, though, good point.

and in some cases it doesn't minimize the danger it can increase it.  trees can be an anti-anchor.  they emit heat...not much, but sometimes enough to cause a temperature differential thus creating a release point.  i'd say that usually this would only be the case with old growth, i.e. alpental. 

I find safety in trees all the time.

I have to admit that I usually feel safer in trees as well. 

However, I balance that with the fact that one of two avalanche releases I've been close to or a part of was in a heavily forested slope.  Snowpit data derived from a pit dug on that aspect (in the trees) had confirmed the danger.  We skied it anyway, and my buddy was carried 60 feet before it ran out.  Had we been on a sustained slope or had he been caught in a terrain trap he could be dead.  This small slab avalanche released among multiple low cover anchors. 

The moral of this story:  always dig your pit on a similar aspect as to the one you are going to ski.  AND LISTEN TO THE FREAKING DATA YOU GET FROM IT. 

As if trees are safe anyway...

On that note, how many of you all wear a helmet among those soft furry suckers? 

Oh ya?  Neither do I.  And yet they seem to have thus far been my only source of trauma. 

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