RIP Jamie Pierre

[Admin]

I can't imagine that he would've ignored the avy forecast if he had had proper training, or even if he really knew his stuff.

A whole slew of people ignored it on Sunday. That was shocking to me. Even if you hadn't read Sunday's avalanche report, however, the signs were readily available all around to anyone with any mountain sense whatsoever. That to me is even more shocking.

You don't need formal training to be capable of looking around you and having a sense of situational awareness. Sadly, not many people in upper LCC used that on Sunday. It's imperative that anyone who uses the backcountry in winter understand their surroundings and exercise good judgment to protect not only themselves, but also those who they might place in danger as a result of their actions.

The slide that killed Pierre occurred in a funnel shaped bowl and rescuers who responded faced a very real danger of additional slides relaxing from elsewhere in the bowl. While rescuers were tending to the victim of the Gunsight slide at Alta, other morons were kicking down additional slides from above. There is just no excuse for that kind of cluelessness.

The more I learn about Sunday's incidents, and the more I think about them, the angrier and more frustrated I become.

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[baldyskier]

I can't imagine that he would've ignored the avy forecast if he had had proper training, or even if he really knew his stuff.

A whole slew of people ignored it on Sunday. That was shocking to me. Even if you hadn't read Sunday's avalanche report, however, the signs were readily available all around to anyone with any mountain sense whatsoever. That to me is even more shocking.

You don't need formal training to be capable of looking around you and having a sense of situational awareness. Sadly, not many people in upper LCC used that on Sunday. It's imperative that anyone who uses the backcountry in winter understand their surroundings and exercise good judgment to protect not only themselves, but also those who they might place in danger as a result of their actions.

The slide that killed Pierre occurred in a funnel shaped bowl and rescuers who responded faced a very real danger of additional slides relaxing from elsewhere in the bowl. While rescuers were tending to the victim of the Gunsight slide at Alta, other morons were kicking down additional slides from above. There is just no excuse for that kind of cluelessness.

The more I learn about Sunday's incidents, and the more I think about them, the angrier and more frustrated I become.

Sent from my Android device using Tapatalk

I wonder how much of the irresponsible behavior on Sunday was due to the fact that people were skiing in a normally in-bounds area and were not seeing it as a backcountry excursion requiring heightened awareness and caution.

 

[Bobby Danger]

the majority of people i saw in collins gulch on sunday had no respect for the mtn. or the conditions at the time . when i was ascending to collins summit i didn't travel the normal way as to say with the rest of the crowd . i made my ascent up through the spring valley scenic byway , alot of people had already laid in a skin trail there . as i was approaching the southern end of spring valley - hence just under freds trees the summer road takes a left turn there and heads east for 150 yards now every thing above you is freds trees --- two females were decending freds trees neither from my observations had the needed skills to ski that run especially this time of year --- never mind the skills to read the snow pack , both set off slides above me that stopped on what is left of the summer road , by this point of course i had gotten the hell out of the way -- neither slide was of any major depth or any real speed but some time , especially early like this they can carry alot of junk ,where as a person may not die from being buried but from impact trauma . i do most of my back country alone have for over twenty years when one does not respect the mtn . and do at a minimum the basics in testing the snow pack --a ski cut on the run your going to ski -- aleast one pit it becomes a game of roulette . i listed the conditions on my sat . report from peruvian gulch as sympathetic -- meaning one could expect a slide anywhere any time in the unexpected place and i witnessed some after and before the cat driver departed upper peruvian gulch . to bad he let his guard down we would have many more years of ski films from him he was young.

 

[kingslug]

One of the things the instructors stressed in the Level 1 I took was the "expert" aspect. The more experience one has can sometimes lead to bad decisions and other people following along..because the "expert" made the decision..so it must be a good one...I still can't judge someone like him as he had far more experience out there then I will ever have...

 

[Tony Crocker]

I have had no avalanche training, but after a week at ISSW last year I wouldn´t go anywhere with a rating of "Considerable."

Also, we have had discussions here before about how these early October storms leave a dangerous weak layer and there tends to be a lot of avy activity when the first big storms land on that layer several weeks later.

I agree with the posters who said there may have been a false sense of security because it was "inbounds terrain," even though it was uncontrolled.