# NARSID Chilling!



## killclimbz (Aug 10, 2007)

This was on Sierra a couple of months back. Creek beds are just as bad as tree wells,especially in deep snow. That and these guys had no backcountry gear what so ever and obviously no avy sense. Dude is super lucky his friends that his friends did have sense enough to know he was in deep shit. 

Anytime you are riding around a creek bed, this should be a worry.


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## baldylox (Dec 27, 2007)

Thanks for posting. Scary stuff.


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## snowvols (Apr 16, 2008)

While watching this I was amazed no one had a shovel. I am unsure if they were out of bounds but stupid to ride out of bounds w/o proper gear.


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## killclimbz (Aug 10, 2007)

Supposedly the person caught in this posted this video at Sierra or I guess it's Trusnow now. He stated that he was riding in the bc with his friends. So that is the only reason I say that.


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## tekniq33 (Mar 18, 2009)

Holy hell. He had to have seen his life flash before his eyes. He was in there for a while.


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## ryannorthcott (Dec 17, 2010)

that's crazy. a skier was just found dead head first in a tree well at my home mountain and now this. i'm really starting to think twice about riding in the back country even in bounds. i always ride backcountry with a partner but i don't have any avy gear like shovels and radios and such, kinda freaks me out cause i've fallen feet first into a few tree wells....


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## killclimbz (Aug 10, 2007)

ryannorthcott said:


> that's crazy. a skier was just found dead head first in a tree well at my home mountain and now this. i'm really starting to think twice about riding in the back country even in bounds. i always ride backcountry with a partner but i don't have any avy gear like shovels and radios and such, kinda freaks me out cause i've fallen feet first into a few tree wells....


A partner is not going to do you much good if you guys don't have the gear and knowledge to go with it. About all one of you can do is call for search and rescue which means you are retrieving a body. No live rescues in that scenario. Ever. So if this scares you that's good.

Plenty of resources to get you started, and I would recommend quitting your bc riding habits until you have at least taken a basic avy awareness course. There are just too many traps out there for the untrained eye. Fortunately they are easy to avoid, but if you don't know you don't know.


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## neednsnow (Nov 30, 2007)

I didn't realize this was a creekbed, you definately need to be careful of that because there isn't a true base. The post said they were BC and yes, IDIOTIC if you're riding without a shovel. I must say, I may start riding with my pack and shovel nonstop, for practice and for pratical purpose.


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## ryannorthcott (Dec 17, 2010)

killclimbz said:


> A partner is not going to do you much good if you guys don't have the gear and knowledge to go with it. About all one of you can do is call for search and rescue which means you are retrieving a body. No live rescues in that scenario. Ever. So if this scares you that's good.
> 
> Plenty of resources to get you started, and I would recommend quitting your bc riding habits until you have at least taken a basic avy awareness course. There are just too many traps out there for the untrained eye. Fortunately they are easy to avoid, but if you don't know you don't know.


yeah i think this is a good wake up call for me, i don't consider the riding i do dangerous, it is in bounds and mostly already tracked out, but there are certain precautions that must be taken if the unthinkable happens. i like to think i have a good sense of danger but events like this put it into question and make me think what if...

http://www.castanet.net/news/Kelowna/60969/Dead-skier-identified


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## ryannorthcott (Dec 17, 2010)

Snowolf said:


> While this is a good wake up call and Killclimbz is passing on golden advice, do not over react and be fearful beyond reason. Having too much fear in any activity is just as potentially dangerous as being oblivious. I ride solo back country all of the time and it can be safe if you manage risk and make sound decisions regarding route and terrain selection. Respect the back country but don`t fear it.....:thumbsup:


no i understand. i will respect the backcountry now much more. 
fearful beyond reason is when i can't bear to attempt a BS boardslide on a 2 ft box.


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## bamfb2 (Mar 16, 2011)

killclimbz said:


> This was on Sierra a couple of months back. Creek beds are just as bad as tree wells,especially in deep snow. That and these guys had no backcountry gear what so ever and obviously no avy sense. Dude is super lucky his friends that his friends did have sense enough to know he was in deep shit.
> 
> Anytime you are riding around a creek bed, this should be a worry.



How do you know this is a creek bed (and not something like a tree well)? I'm having difficulty seeing the terrain on my computer. Is it quite noticeable? My computer blows, so it is difficult to tell.

Cheers.


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## AcroPhile (Dec 3, 2010)

It's not just back country that you have to watch out for. Any sc or hike-to terrain can be just as bad especially in regards to tree wells and creek beds. I had a very scary experience at Keystone this past March while riding alone through some woods that required a hike through a gate into the SC. Long story short, it was a weekday morning after a pretty good snow storm. Great riding, absolutely no one around and I was was by myself. At one point, I must have clipped something with the nose of my board and did a cartwheel right into a tree well! I ended up upside down at about a 45-55 degree angle covered in snow almost to my knee! For the first 30 seconds to a minute I thought I was going to die. Luckily, the way I landed i had plenty of room around my face to breath and after a minute later I realized there wasn't immediate danger of suffocating and was able to calm myself down enough to try get myself out. It felt like almost a half hour of struggling before I was able to get myself out although in reality it was probably around 5-10 minutes. I'm sure if I fell in completely upside down at a 90 degree angle that there would be NO way I could have dug myself out and wouldn't be here to write this today. Falling into shit upside down when there is no one around is probably one of the most dangerous accidents (other than high speed collisions) that you can encounter while riding at resort.


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## linvillegorge (Jul 6, 2009)

There seems to be a thorough misunderstanding on his thread (and in general) about what "backcountry" is. If you're in bounds, you're not in the BC. Period. That doesn't mean there aren't concerns. Tree wells can happen anywhere, but there's a big distinction between BC and hike to in bounds terrain in terms of avalanche danger. Sidecountry is just a term for backcountry accessed via gates at the resort. Sidecountry is just as dangerous as any other BC terrain.


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## MistahTaki (Apr 24, 2010)

Snowolf said:


> I don't see the misunderstanding that you elude to. The guy prefaced his post saying that it isn't just back country that can get you. Your point is valid and I don't want to discount it in any way, but from what I read, I don't see any misunderstanding; perhaps I am missing something that you picked up on though.


i think he is refering to this post.



ryannorthcott said:


> yeah i think this is a good wake up call for me, i don't consider the riding i do dangerous, it is in bounds and mostly already tracked out, but there are certain precautions that must be taken if the unthinkable happens. i like to think i have a good sense of danger but events like this put it into question and make me think what if...
> 
> Dead skier identified - Kelowna News - Castanet.net


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## linvillegorge (Jul 6, 2009)

^^^^
Yep, that's the one.


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## linvillegorge (Jul 6, 2009)

Yeah, I just see it happen a lot. There's a lot of people that think the hike-to areas of resorts are "backcountry". Hell, I've heard people refer to basically anything that isn't groomed to hell as "backcountry".


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