Skyward Slab Avalanche

[highpeaksdrifter]

Actually there where 3. First one was a 60 foot slab. A patroller told me one went right by him. They closed Skyward for a couple of hours.

[tjf67]

SOD any I got up to the top just as they were dropping the rope. Well letting people around.

[Snowballs]

WOW !!! imagine that passing you.

was there a pack of Lifties riding snow shovels chasing after it for " clean up, aisle 10" ? those shovel surfers always crack my kids up.

remember the one that fell down Gore's Rumor a few years back ? a big chunk the size of your living room made it to the bottom intact. looked like a parked iceberg for awhile.

[oldskibum]

I can remember back in the late 80's, I think, there was a good sized slide on cloudspin, in the snowfields. Slid down into the trees at the bottom, where you bear left to go to niagara. Pretty impressive, as I recall.

[Snowballs]

Actually there where 3. First one was a 60 foot slab. A patroller told me one went right by him. They closed Skyward for a couple of hours.

wait a minute. now Gore's Rumor has a slide today. hope this isn't a pattern for the year. avies flourish when there's different layers of snow types. Face and Gore, on the trails that slid, both had the light, soft fluffies first and now the hard, dense heavy man made on top - and they both slide within a day of each other.

it's not like slides are a common occurrence at our mtns.

just an observation,

PATROL TAKE NOTE.

[Ullr]

Actually there where 3. First one was a 60 foot slab. A patroller told me one went right by him. They closed Skyward for a couple of hours.

It's amazing that a slab could slide on a designated trail. That's why they make snow cats. It's truely incredible how unaware Mt. management is most of the time.

[highpeaksdrifter]

Actually there where 3. First one was a 60 foot slab. A patroller told me one went right by him. They closed Skyward for a couple of hours.

It's amazing that a slab could slide on a designated trail. That's why they make snow cats. It's truely incredible how unaware Mt. management is most of the time.

It happened before it opened when Ski Patrol was doing doing their pre-opening check. They shut it right down so the public was never in any danger. Its my understanding its happened at Gore on Rumor several times. Stuff can happen on steep terrain.

When it comes to public safty I think WF is very conserative when it comes to opening a trail.

[tjf67]

Actually there where 3. First one was a 60 foot slab. A patroller told me one went right by him. They closed Skyward for a couple of hours.

It's amazing that a slab could slide on a designated trail. That's why they make snow cats. It's truely incredible how unaware Mt. management is most of the time.


Slabs slide on man made snow every year. Its got nothing to do with not paying attentions. JEEZ

[Son of Drifter]

Actually there where 3. First one was a 60 foot slab. A patroller told me one went right by him. They closed Skyward for a couple of hours.

It's amazing that a slab could slide on a designated trail. That's why they make snow cats. It's truely incredible how unaware Mt. management is most of the time.

It happened before it opened when Ski Patrol was doing doing their pre-opening check. They shut it right down so the public was never in any danger. Its my understanding its happened at Gore on Rumor several times. Stuff can happen on steep terrain.

When it comes to public safty I think WF is very conserative when it comes to opening a trail.

Conserative is a freaking understatement. How many times are the Slides skiable yet closed because SP is worried Joe Blue Square will kill themselves if they ski it?

[CUskibum]

I'm not trying to start a fight here, but does anyone know if Eastern patrollers have any sort of avalanche training? From what people are saying about this past weekend, I would seem to think they don't. I would also think that Eastern Resorts are not equipped (dynamite, rescue dogs, etc) to handle avalanches.

Can anyone offer any insight to this? Thanks...

[Xtremeskiier]

I believe they do, but usually you don't dynamite unless there is a lot of deep snow. They should have pushed it around with the cats first, someone was not thinking right. my guess is there was really powdery snow and the really really cold temps allowed for dry bulb snow and then it warmed up making heavy snow causing a man made slide.

[NPN]

I'm not trying to start a fight here, but does anyone know if Eastern patrollers have any sort of avalanche training? From what people are saying about this past weekend, I would seem to think they don't. I would also think that Eastern Resorts are not equipped (dynamite, rescue dogs, etc) to handle avalanches.

The fact that there is accessable terrain such as the Slides guarantees that this type of skill is required.

If you look at the different levels of Slides openning requirements, that alone shows the level of concern before allowing the public to access such terrain, and, as a result, the abilities of Patrol to back up those requirements.

I worked a season at the 'Bird fresh out of college, and still own two condos there. I was lucky enough to spend some time with their Patrol, and, have some point of referrence to say that although Whiteface doesn't need to throw out canister rounds after every dump, they are well aware of the conditions at all times, and dealt with this situation perfectly.

[highpeaksdrifter]

They do this every year. These are pics from 2005.

http://www.nspeast.org/html/avaliipics.htm

[CUskibum]

I made this comment to because I wanted to know if Whiteface had patrolers that were trained, thats all. As it is obvious by my information I attend Clarkson University. I also hold a season pass. This means I ski at Whiteface upwards of over 30 times per year. I am not directly local, but I ski there more often then a lot of people. The avalanche on upper skyward makes it evident to all that the ski patrol should be trained in avalanche prevention. The purpose of my original post was to make it clear that I thought, with good reason, that the ski patrol might lack this required skill, or was not putting this skill into practice. The slide on upper skyward should have been set off intentionally by ski patrol to reduce the risk to skiers, but it was not. This is a reasonable expectation of ski patrol. I think a lot of people would ask questions if an in-bounds avalanche occurred that was not triggered by ski patrol.

[NPN]

I made this comment to because I wanted to know if Whiteface had patrolers that were trained, thats all. As it is obvious by my information I attend Clarkson University. I also hold a season pass. This means I ski at Whiteface upwards of over 30 times per year. I am not directly local, but I ski there more often then a lot of people. The avalanche on upper skyward makes it evident to all that the ski patrol should be trained in avalanche prevention. The purpose of my original post was to make it clear that I thought, with good reason, that the ski patrol might lack this required skill, or was not putting this skill into practice. The slide on upper skyward should have been set off intentionally by ski patrol to reduce the risk to skiers, but it was not. This is a reasonable expectation of ski patrol. I think a lot of people would ask questions if an in-bounds avalanche occurred that was not triggered by ski patrol.

Maybe you aren't aware, but the slide happened forty minutes before the Summit Quad was open to the general public.

I'm glad that you are so concerned about the skill level of the Patrol, but, rest assured, you're safety is their foremost priority.

[Snowballs]

They do this every year. These are pics from 2005.

http://www.nspeast.org/html/avaliipics.htm

now that was very interesting, informative and waaaay cool.

you do a good job, HPD.

GO BADGER !

[highpeaksdrifter]

The slide on upper skyward should have been set off intentionally by ski patrol to reduce the risk to skiers, but it was not. .

CU, I'm not trying to pile on here, but a patroller told me it was set by a patroller. He was checking for stability when it let go well before it was going to open to the public. What else could you ask for?

Glad to here you ski WF so much. If you ever want t hook up for some runs PM me.

[CUskibum]

That answered my question HPD. Thanks.

I wasn't looking to start anything, or piss anyone off.

I'm just looking forward to getting out there this weekend.