Jon takes a ride (Avalanche Safety)

This is a tale about a great day of UpSkiing, and "fresh wind-drifted areas".

On April 11th the wind forecast looked great for the experienced UpSkier, strong S-SW winds (20-30 MPH with gusts to 60 MPH on the high ridges). Jon Harrington and I head up I-70 to the Eisenhower Tunnel, eight miles East of Silverthorne, Colorado. A small valley runs North from the West Portal (11,100') to the peaks about one and a quarter miles North. The snow surface ranges from granular to soft corn. The wind is, as forecast, strong, very strong.

As usual we carry avalanche beacons, shovels and cell phones. The cell phones are for emergency use, keeping track of the other UpSkiers is accomplished visually. Since speeds can be quite high the usual caution in high winds is to maintain distance. When physical distance grows too great, one UpSkier or the other will close toward their partner while being careful to keep clear of the terrain immediately above or below.

UpSkiers ride up windward areas and therefore avoid most wind loaded terrain, however, backcountry terrain offers a variety of aspects. After several great runs, ripping up and down a thousand vertical feet each way, Jon decides to attempt a never before upskied point high on the west facing wall. It is a steep chute which terminates near the highest terrain available in that bowl, at just over 13,000 feet.

The wind is gusting hard and Jon ascends with breathtaking speed. He rockets up the chute, carving left and right. This speed and ease are hard to understand, after all, he is going almost straight up a slope which is steeper than any resort ski run in Colorado. After making it look easy, Jon daisy-chains his canopy and traverses South. This might have been a sign that he had an equipment malfunction since the UpSki is usually trailed behind, ready to go, during the descent. Jon exits the chute and stops at a rock wall near the 12,600 level. It is my turn and the climb is as advertised, with almost a floating sensation as the 60 MPH winds rage, unobstructed, into the 600 square foot UpSki. The terrain begins to blur as the bowl, rocks, snow all vanish and more blue sky appears. A few quick turns in what is, to my surprise, powder snow. It is a time to vent.

Stopping near the summit on a 40 degree slope I gain control over my canopy and plan my descent. Suddenly lateral fractures (four or five foot propagation) edge out away from my skis, like jagged lighting graphics. Hmmmm, time to exit, Jon is still outside of the chute, safely sitting on a boulder, working on his canopy. My quickest out is North, away from Jon. I want to communicate this little snow study experience to him. In conditions like this day, a thousand foot descent, re-inflate the UpSki and a thousand foot ascent to a position near his perch will take under five minutes. In a few moments I ascend to an area beneath a large outcrop of rock. The snow in this area is excellent, firm, without any deposited snow. Jon looks like he plans to board this good snow so I wait for him beneath the boulders with my "digital brownie" camera at the ready.

Jon rode out across a small face toward another rock outcropping, This smaller patch of rocks faced more north-northwest. The surface of the snow, however, did not look to be any different from the stable west facing snowfield where I was standing. In retrospect, the slight north aspect had kept that pocket of snow, at the 12,400 foot level, from bonding. The snow collapsed, Jon immediately yelled and sat down, I snapped a picture from about about 30 yards away.

Very quickly, almost instantly, the snow under Jon flushes down the steep face. Jon spins sideways and struggles to get his 180cm board below him as he shoots down hill. Another picture is snapped which, while blurry, shows Jon ripping past my position. Two things are obvious at this point. There was never a chance to have ridden out of the slide and the UpSki, even if it had not been daisy-chained, was moving downhill on top of the snow and would not have inflated. Jon decides not to cut the canopy away since it is floating beside him and might later mark his location.

Compression waves, from the force of the snow riding up on itself, began to bounce Jon as he gains speed. He is visible and looks like he is riding a waterfall. Only his head and part of the canopy are visible now as the snowy torrent rages downslope. Jon begins a swimming motion (a kind of backstroke). This action moves him higher in the slide. I snap another picture but Jon is now only a speck near the bottom of the slide path.

I ski down, Jon is standing in waist-deep snow. His swimming motion and perhaps the pressure of the snowboard left him above the deeper debris field. He slides out of the chunks of snow and I snap a final picture of Jon's Ride.

Jon and I, among others, have been actively UpSkiing for more than 15 years, and this was Jon's first ride, hopefully his last, and as crazy as our sport may seem -we would rather not participate in excitement of an avalanche sort. We generally stay off of steep terrain during peak avalanche season. Strong winds, which we like, can rapidly increase the level of danger and present us with surprises in the "safer" spring season. One change this event inspired is the future use of the personal radio, Motorola or Kenwood, with ear phone and mike. If I had been able to relay my experience with the snowpack to Jon he would have been on better alert while descending.

Watch yourselves out there!