Tuesday, November 4

Out of Bounds

By Loren Schwartz
EXPN.com

By noon the mountain is tracked out. All the freshies have been had. It's that time of day that the little rope that separates you from out of bounds looks like an easy ollie. The benefits of riding out of bounds or the backcountry are obvious - deep fluffy pow with steeps, chutes and cliffs. The risks of riding the backcountry are not. Most snowboarders I ride with are more concerned about getting their ticket clipped (or in some states getting arrested) when they duck the rope than they are about getting buried in 20 feet of snow.

Kind of tough to ignore this sign.

This concern, or lack thereof, for backcountry safety prevailed when I decided to take an avalanche awareness course at Mt. Baker in Washington. I could only get one of my riding buddies to take the class with me. In the interest of motivating you and more of my friends to bone up on avalanche safety, I've decided to pass along a story told by a classmate. Maybe, this will be enough to scare you straight into an avalanche awareness course of your own.

Rod is a 46-year-old skier who skis (don't hold that against him) twelve months a year. He had skied the out of bounds run he took April 1, 2000, hundreds of times.

The day went like this, at 2:30 pm the sky was clear and Rod and his partner decided to go for a backcountry run. They chose an out of bounds area at Mt. Baker known as Blueberry chutes that is easily accessible from the ski area. As they stepped through the gates into the out of bounds area they could see the first couple of chutes were tracked out but the far chute was still fresh. They slowly post-holed their way to the chutes. On the way, Rod pointed out the first chute as they passed it. Then the fog rolled in.

Bootpack to Blueberry chutes.

When Rod's partner asked if they'd gone far enough, Rod volunteered to go ahead and take a look. Being familiar with the slope Rod knew exactly what he was looking for. The chute he wanted to ski had a couple of trees at the bottom but due to fog and terrain he still couldn't see the trees. He took a few steps while his partner waited. Then another few steps. When he still couldn't see he advised his partner he'd take two more steps, return and they'd decide what to do. One. Two. On his second step he heard a loud, "Crack!" Rod looked down and saw a large crack open about a yard in front of him. He turned to go back but it was too late. Before he knew it he was on his back sliding down the hill headfirst. "I didn't go that far and I started to slow down and just about came to a stop. I thought, wow that's pretty lucky", said Rod. He was at the top of a ledge when suddenly he began sliding again. Rod went over the drop but somehow stayed on top of the snow. "As I'm going down I could feel the snow trying to suck me under … then all of a sudden it was like my skis (in his backpack) would be skiing and it would spit me out. It was kind of like doing turns down a run", he said. Rod glanced off a tree before stopping at the bottom of the hill on the surface of the snow. Again his first thoughts were how lucky he was not to be buried.

He now lay on the snow facing up the hill. Before he could get up, he felt pressure on his legs and he saw snow start to cover his legs. As the snow came over his head he put his arms up and bent his elbows in front of his face to create some breathing space. "The snow came over and just kept coming over and over like a waterfall", he said. When it stopped Rod was completely buried in snow. His heart was racing, and he was breathing hard. He knew he had to calm himself to conserve energy and air. As his thoughts settled, he contemplated his life, family and friends. As he came to peace with his fate his breathing slowed. Just as he began to nod off Rod felt something hit his foot. He heard a woman's voice, "I thought it was an angel". The angel turned out to be one of four cross-country skiers that happened upon the scene and helped Rod's partner dig him out. Rod sustained no injuries and four days later he was skiing again.

Rod was rescued in 8 minutes. Statistics show if you are recovered at 15 minutes of being buried the odds of your survival are not quite 90%. If you are recovered at 30 minutes your odds of survival slip to 50%. After 30 minutes your odds of survival drop precipitously.

Rod had been buried 10 feet deep. According to statistics gathered by the Colorado Avalanche Information Center from the years 1950-2000 when recovered at a depth of 7 feet or more, 0% in the sample group survived.

Reason to live #1: Stick around to ride more backcountry. Mike McPhee releases some steam in Hemispheres with Mt. Baker looming in the background.

Rod's survival was exceptional but without the right equipment and training he never stood a chance. As my instructor, Josh Evans, Mt. Baker Pro Patroller, responsible for Safety and Training pointed out, "(Avalanches) kill more than any other type of natural disaster (in the US) and we put so much emphasis on disaster management as far as hurricanes, tornadoes, earthquakes . . .are concerned, why not invest in and gain some knowledge in avalanches, especially if you travel in avalanche terrain."

Hopefully Rod's story is enough to make you think twice about taking an avalanche course. If not consider Josh's insight, "You've got hundreds, maybe thousands of good days left in your life to ride, but one mistake and you lose them all".

Related Photos:
Mt. Baker Backcountry