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 #50 Re: Ever been caught in a whiteout? 11/09/2008 @ 12:34:43 |
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| In reply to post #49 ... |
Got caught on Whister Peak Bowl quite a while back with 3 buds. Dropped into a total whiteout in a foot of fresh. Had no clue which way was up or down. It was getting late and know there were no cliffs we decided to spread out slightly and try and make our way down. Took a half hour to do what would usually take 2 mins.
You'd be going along and all of a sudden stop as you were trying to turn uphill!! I felt sick afterwards. Wierd!!  |
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| #49 Re: Ever been caught in a whiteout? 11/09/2008 @ 12:23:56 |
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| In reply to post #48 ... |
Had a great whiteout in Meribel last Feb, me and another guy riding a slope we'd been on the last few days side by side taking it easy through the powder and falling snow.
Total inside of a ping pong ball vis.
Getting a bit concerned thinking we'd been going for too long and not encountered the lift at the bottom when the mist cleared slightly and we discovered to our mirth that we'd been standing still for at least two minutes!  |
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| #48 Re: Ever been caught in a whiteout? 11/09/2008 @ 09:50:49 |
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| In reply to post #47 ... |
| I'd say only slightly out. I looked at my folks house on satellite view with it and it at least pinpointed me to the house. |
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| #47 Re: Ever been caught in a whiteout? 11/09/2008 @ 02:10:14 |
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| In reply to post #46 ... |
QUOTE (fatbob - 10/09/2008 @ 22:38:19) My new mobile has GPS with google maps. Could this be used?
I suppose so, it'd be hard to follow perhaps if the google maps has the terrain feature you could at least figure out heights. But even still i dont know how accurate those phones are at pin-pointing your location they could be a couple of metres off which still could see you falling off a cliff.
There are a few people putting up kmz files of piste maps. Anyone with a gps, this guy wrote a cool script to convert gpx files to kmz which outputs stats for google earth.
http://www.chuffnuts.com/pistemaps/ |
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| #46 Re: Ever been caught in a whiteout? 10/09/2008 @ 22:38:19 |
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| In reply to post #45 ... |
QUOTE (philw - 10/09/2008 @ 19:06:10) GPS:Any GPS with a decent screen should do. It's easy to crate your own trail map - just ride the trails with it switched on for a while. Probably you can get KMZ files from google earth by now; I have some for various resorts I ride. But I can't conceive of trying to "follow" one in a white out really - if there's really no visibility then you really can't move at all outside of pistes/ tracks etc.
My new mobile has GPS with google maps. Could this be used? |
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| #45 Re: Ever been caught in a whiteout? 10/09/2008 @ 19:06:10 |
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| In reply to post #44 ... |
Mostly you'll experience that at a resort, where you just need to stop and wait a bit, or find the piste markers, or use your friends as markers. It's hard to stand up, but not really dangerous. You can usually kind of see the weather coming, so if you're in it, you generally know what you're doing.
Off piste... same deal really, you'd need to avoid being in a bad place in a white out. If you're riding guided stuff (eg Cat/ Heli) then you can ride in all except really stupid stuff because your guide will know precisely where you are and you've only the one track to follow. In "true" back country... well that's out of my area.
GPS:
Any GPS with a decent screen should do. It's easy to crate your own trail map - just ride the trails with it switched on for a while. Probably you can get KMZ files from google earth by now; I have some for various resorts I ride. But I can't conceive of trying to "follow" one in a white out really - if there's really no visibility then you really can't move at all outside of pistes/ tracks etc. |
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| #44 Re: Ever been caught in a whiteout? 10/09/2008 @ 15:35:48 |
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| Revision #1 (Last edited: 10/09/2008 @ 16:24:36) |
| In reply to post #40 ... |
Dunno to be honest. I was staying with a couple of ski instructors, and they said it's pretty easy to get lost where he was. You think you're in one valley but you're in another... And of course the lake was covered in snow and in the back country, so no signs to say it was there...
In a white-out (as mentioned below) you lose all sense of direction, speed, pitch, etc. So even if you know the mountain like the back of your hand you can make mistakes. A compass will only help if you know exactly where you are to start with, maintain a good sense of how far you've gone, have a map (or excellent memory) to guide you... and don't make any mistakes along the way. You'd be amazed how easy it is to match what you see to where you think you are, if visibility is poor, then discover that you were somewhere else entirely...
The only thing I can think of that might help is a GPS, preferably with built-in trail map. They do exist (e.g. Garmin in the USA, SatSki in Europe) but are pretty pricey. I think you can rent the SatSki in some European resorts though. Haven't used one myself, but they look like they should do the job. (*UPDATE: Both now claim to cover Europe & the USA.*)
Failing that, keep your eyes and ears open, take no chances, make no assumptions, and if you lose your buddies try to hook up with someone else until you're out of the soup. |
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| #43 Re: Ever been caught in a whiteout? 10/09/2008 @ 15:00:08 |
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Whiteout ?? Whiteroom ?? Oh yeah !
One of the best in Courch.. riding marker to marker down side of run and one slash too many took me over 10ft cliff, into nose plant+ front flip to land next to some Frenchie ski instuctor 
Motive of story always take care when slashing on mountain !!  |
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| #42 Re: Ever been caught in a whiteout? 10/09/2008 @ 14:50:16 |
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| In reply to post #41 ... |
Fair point
... he could have atleast taken a rocket pack!  |
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| #41 Re: Ever been caught in a whiteout? 10/09/2008 @ 14:07:28 |
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| In reply to post #40 ... |
QUOTE (Slick Silver - 10/09/2008 @ 13:51:05) So what appart from not being alone could he have done to prevent this? 
well, that's kind of the point - being alone in the backcountry is unwise at best... |
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| #40 Re: Ever been caught in a whiteout? 10/09/2008 @ 13:51:05 |
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| In reply to post #39 ... |
| So what appart from not being alone could he have done to prevent this? |
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| #39 Re: Ever been caught in a whiteout? 08/09/2008 @ 10:43:32 |
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| In reply to post #37 ... |
I was at Whistler a couple of years back when they found a guy dead in the backcountry. They reckon he got lost in a white-out and went straight into a lake. He managed to haul himself out but was on his own, with no means of communication, and died of hypothermia in the night.  Be careful people! And stick together in a white-out. |
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| It's not just a sport, it's a way of life. |
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| #38 Re: Ever been caught in a whiteout? 07/09/2008 @ 22:20:19 |
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| In reply to post #37 ... |
QUOTE (fatbob - 06/09/2008 @ 20:31:48) Chewitt - Moosewirt and Krazy Kangaroo in St Anton aren't way up the mountain, they're less than half way up the home run. People have died coming down from there drunk. A season worker used her board as a tobaggon the other year and went straight into the road. 
You have to allow me a small bit of embellishment for the sake of the Story 
Yeah the state I saw some people trying to get down from those bars was stupid and dangerous |
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BRING ON THE SNOW!!!!!!!!!!!
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| #37 Re: Ever been caught in a whiteout? 06/09/2008 @ 20:31:48 |
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| #36 Re: Ever been caught in a whiteout? 06/09/2008 @ 16:52:23 |
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| In reply to post #33 ... |
QUOTE (foxc_uk - 05/09/2008 @ 16:32:06) boarding using the force...  this was in Fernie this year, when we got back to the bottom we got the map out and realised we'd just missed a sheer cliff to our left... it doesn't look to bad in the photo, but visibility was much worse than this in patches....300m further down it cleared
Thats not a white out, those people are at least thirty metres away and you can still see them! |
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