SOBREVIVIO A LA AVALANCHA

In April of 2008 I drove from Lake Tahoe to Haines, Alaska up the Al-Can highway through British Columbia and the Yukon with an enclosed 4-snowmobile trailer and a ton of gear. I told myself the year before after a few years of getting shut out that other than for a surgical strike, last minute type of spot open for the weekend or something....that I'd only come up with sleds from now on instead of sitting around drinking myself into oblivion on a "down day."

Well thank God we did that because we definitely had down days again right from the get-go. The sledding up at Haines Pass is out of control good. Even staying closer to town like below Old Faithful is great. Can't say enough about how much fun it is to ride snowmobiles up there with no trees.

So the first legit day after that main snow storm cycle, we still went out snowmobiling one more time wanting to let the snow set up a bit more....while another part of our group went up in the bird. Actually two groups went up in the bird, and the first group did all the normal day-after-storm-cycle snow pit and snow quality tests.

The first group decided that while the dangers remained elevated, that it was good to go. They all made some of the sickest pow turns in their lives I was told. The next group then - a couple hundred meters or so over - set up for their descent.

The guy in the video was the first one to drop from their group and while not a guide, he had a lot of Utah and AK backcountry experience. He had a Black Diamond Avalung on, but as you can tell from the video while he's talking as he's dropping in, it wasn't in his mouth to start. He tried to shove it in the instant of starting to get sucked down, but it didn't stay. It was just off to the corner of his mouth he said, and he definitely got snow / ice build up as you'll see on the second sweep of the mouth by the guide after they get to him.

So as he drops in you can also see the sluff to the skier's right immediately start building....and that's actually the chute that was the intended route down. For whatever reason - well pure, unadulterated powder will do it to you - he didn't go make some strong "skier cuts" into the upper pack to do one final snow check as instructed by the main guide who was doing the "tail gunner" work.

Instead he just sent it. And it didn't take more than a few turns out on this big shoulder above this cliff band to break loose.

This was a decent sized avalanche. 1,500 feet the dude fell in a little over 20 seconds. The crown was about 1 - 1.5m. The chute that he got sucked through to the skier's right was flanked on either side by cliff bands that were about 30m tall. He luckily didn't break any bones and obviously didn't hit anything on the run out.

He was only buried for 4 and a half minutes which is incredibly short. I cannot stress these next sentences enough; that in and of itself to be unburied in ONLY 4:28 is miraculous if you have any understanding of being caught in an avalanche and what it takes to be found. It could literally be some kind of "world record" just on how good the guide and supporting cast of other skiers was in getting to him. It also shows why you should ALWAYS be going with people trained in avalanche rescue / first aid....as well as why you'd want to be going with a guided heli operation. Sure this was terrifying for him, but he would've probably been dead if not for going with a guide.

He also got very lucky to be honest. In the time that he's buried, you can hear his breathing already accelerate. The ruffling noise back and forth is his chest rising and falling and the noise that his jacket makes. The intermittent whimpering noise you hear is him trying to swallow and get some air since the avalung wasn't fully in his mouth and instead just to the corner of his mouth. Still sends chills up the back of my neck. Oh...the luck? They located him so fast because his right glove came off just before he came completley to rest and there was an excellent visual of course.

And then the digging out is utterly amazing. I don't think that you could've paid a Hollywood crew to stage something better. The fact that he could've been facing any 360 direction and yet he's looking right up into the sun-filled blue sky with that first full scoop away of the shovel is borderline spiritual.

This is simply a very sobering and unbelievable video. However, you should take away from this video all the positive things that you can learn from it. Yes there are risks to the backcountry - but with proper gear, training, and guide(s) with avalanche and EMT training - you can greatly lower your chances of getting caught in an avalanche in the first place.....and coming back alive if you ever were to get caught in a slide.

Respect Mother Nature for sure. Learn from this. But just like a Craig Kelly in the snowboard world or a Shane McConkey in the ski world who died out in the backcountry (Craig via avalanche and Shane via ski B.A.S.E. jumping), they left this earth while doing the things that they were truly passionate about. And while they would stress the need for the proper gear and training....neither one would want backcountry enthusiasts to curtail their adventures because of their accidents....or this video.

Please check with your local resort for classes on backcountry training, or try starting with a place like AIARE - the American Institute for Avalanche Research and Training. Their website is avtraining.org.

La Ruta Quetzal homenajea a Juan Fernández

Los jóvenes expedicionarios de 53 países ha conocido la historia y los lugares más significativos de la ciudad natal del marino e investigador cartagenero

Domingo 12 Julio 2009

Los 270 jóvenes procedentes 53 países que integran la Ruta Quetzal BBVA llegaron el domingo 12 de julio,a Cartagena a bordo del buque de la Armada Galicia para visitar la ciudad natal de Juan Fernández, el marino cartagenero que descubrió el archipiélago chileno que lleva su nombre.
La expedición que lidera el periodista y aventurero Miguel de la Quadra-Salcedo, tiene este año como nombre "Rumbo a la Isla de Robinson Crusoe. La Tierra de Juan Fernández en Chile", ya que en una de sus islas se produjo el naufragio que inspiró la novela de Daniel Deföe.
Los expedicionarios han sido invitados por el Ayuntamiento a conocer los principales lugares históricos de Cartagena y, a lo largo de la mañana del domingo, han recorrido el Teatro Romano y su museo, el Centro de Interpretación de la Ciudad en el Castillo de la Concepción, los refugios de la Guerra Civil y el Museo Nacional de Arqueología Subacuática.
El itinerario se inició sobre las nueve de la mañana en el la plaza del Ayuntamiento, a los pies del palacio Consistorial, donde los recibió la alcaldesa, Pilar Barreiro, y recibieron la primera charla arqueológica e histórica a cargo de la directora del Museo del Teatro Romano, Elena Ruiz.

HOMENAJE A JUAN FERNÁNDEZ

El plato fuerte de la expedición a su paso por Cartagena ha sido la inauguración de un monolito en homenaje a Juan Fernández en la calle que lleva su nombre. El monumento recuerda el descubrimiento del archipiélago por parte del marino cartagenero y hace alusión a su posible participación en el primer contacto de marinos occidentales con Australia y Nueva Zelanda.
El monumento se ha emplazado provisionalmente en los jardines situados en la confluencia de las calles Juan Fernández y Jorge Juan, hasta su instalación definitiva una vez concluyan las obras de remodelación de la calle.El acto ha estado presidido por la alcaldesa, Pilar Barreiro, junto a Miguel de la Quadra-Salcedo, y los abanderados de los países participantes. En su locución la alcaldesa ha tenido palabras de agradecimiento a Ruta Quetzal por recalar un año más en Cartagena y ha subrayado la importancia de Juan Fernández en el descubrimiento del nuevo mundo.
Por su parte Miguel de la Quadra Salcedo ha explicado el origen del trozo de palmera endémica de las Islas de Juan Fernández, Juania Australis, que se ha depositado en el interior del monolito, y ha agradecido la colaboración en esta edición de la Armada y de Repsol que han facilitados los barcos y combustible para el viaje.

ESPAÑA Y CHILE

La vigésimo cuarta edición de Ruta Quetzal BBVA comenzó el martes en Madrid. El miércoles serán recibidos en audiencia por los Príncipes de Asturias en el Palacio del Pardo. Visitarán Valencia y desde allí viajarán a Cartagena a bordo del Galicia para posteriormente visitar Málaga y Cádiz. Tras una breve parada en la ciudad de Sevilla, continuarán su camino por las comunidades de Castilla y León y La Rioja, antes de regresar a Madrid.
Unos meses después, en la segunda parte del programa en diciembre, la expedición 2009 viajará a Chile por primera vez en sus 24 ediciones, y allí durante casi tres semanas, entre otras actividades, rememorarán la aventura del marinero escocés Alexander Selkirk, el náufrago que inspiró el personaje de Robinson Crusoe al novelista Daniel Defoe.
Selkirk vivió en una isla desierta desde el año 1704, cuando fue abandonado por el galeón Cinque Ports, hasta 1709, al ser rescatado por el Duke que le llevó de regreso a Reino Unido.
La parte chilena del viaje, que iba a ser el indicio de la expedición, se ha trasladado a diciembre para evitar la exposición de los expedicionarios a la Gripe A.