[lagerstarfish]

I've had another fantastic week in Jasna.
I'll write more when I get some time.
In the meantime, it looks like the Freeride event is going ahead later this week. This should give people a good idea of what is on offer there. The event takes place on the most accessible face - there are plenty of other slopes available.

https://www.jasnaadrenalin.sk/en/

cancelled due to coronavirus

[lagerstarfish]

Jasna have now closed the resort. Season over for people relying on using the lifts.
Great opportunity for ski tourers and split boarders.

[Muenchener]

Tyrol announced last night that they're closing all lifts & tourist accommodation after this weekend. They already had a big corona outbreak in Ischgl and a confirmed case in Kitzbühel. Other Austrian states expected to follow suit soon.

[SA Chris]

France and Switzerland too.

Glenshee was good fun Friday, not sure how long before they get shut down too. Touring time.

[Muenchener]

Party's over. On Friday the message from Tyrol was "ski season ends this weekend, normal service until Sunday". I had arranged to go skiing with a friend I hadn't seen for a while; we decided to wash our hands and carry on.

On Sunday morning the message was suddenly VISITORS OUT, LOCALS IN LOCKDOWN, NOW !!!!

Dunno what the Austrian government's medical advisers told them between Friday and Sunday, but whatever it was it appears to have scared the shit out of them.

Bavaria declared a state of emergency this morning.

Otoh I went up on the last lift at Sölden yesterday. There must be worse ways to flee the apocalypse than down a deserted piste on immaculate snow in glorious sunshine.

[lagerstarfish]

Jasna have left some of their webcams switched on, so the rest of us can watch locals touring

[SA Chris]

Travis Rice's new film Dark Matter is free to watch on Prime at the moment. only about half an hour, mostly insanely great big mountain riding footage, and not much flying to crag.

[lagerstarfish]

I'm not feeling optimistic about this winter.

Even if it does snow in Scotland, it might not be appropriate to drive up there.

I'd appreciate it if someone could sort out a few weeks of decent snow in the Peak District this winter.

Thanks

[petejh]

I was looking forward to going ski-touring in France. That plan's just been scuppered by the Welsh lockdown and partner unwilling to break the rules to escape (fair enough). Seemed like maybe the only time in our lives we'd experience all French resorts shut but loads of people out touring - lots of uptracks in the back country, and relatively quiet pistes to enjoy.

[SA Chris]

I saw one forecast for Snowmageddon for Wales, not sure I believe it though.

I've seen some sketchy clips of people touring who normally don't in the Alps and skiing slopes that are normally pisted, or at least controlled, and getting into a lot of trouble. Not saying you will, just I wouldn't want to be near them!

[petejh]

I'd love to be in a position to be getting into trouble on some slopes in the alps but Covid looks to have put our plans to the sword.

I can imagine plnty of folk will be spannering themselves touring in the alps this winter. Backcountry avalanches aren't a forgiving mistress. I lived in Canadian rockies for 4 years and ski-toured each winter. The snowpack there is the sketchiest for avy hazard I've encountered anywhere from NZ-Alps-N.America-Scotland. Every winter seemed to start off with a thaw-freeze event that would leave long-lasting weak layer/s deep in the snowpack. So many slide occurrences for so few people out in the backcountry. The carnage in Canada would be eye-popping if they had the numbers touring there that there are in the alps.

[SA Chris]

Colorado has the sketchiest pack I've seen, I'm quite glad I never had touring kit when I worked there, or I expect I would have got into a lot of trouble.


https://avalanche.org/avalanche-accidents/ so far however, the season there hasn't deviated from the norm much.

[petejh]

That just from Colorado, or whole of US?

Yeah it’s grim stats from skiing/boarding/snow-mobiling. Seems the activities get more and more popular and the deaths happen every year despite all the improvements in information and technology.
Makes dieting for 9b look safe...

[Fultonius]

That just from Colorado, or whole of US?

Yeah it’s grim stats from skiing/boarding/snow-mobiling. Seems the activities get more and more popular and the deaths happen every year despite all the improvements in information and technology.
Makes dieting for 9b look safe...

There was an interesting stat I saw a couple of years ago (presume it still holds true) - but the gist of it was:  "better equipment, education, understanding and training (drills etc.) do not correlate with less deaths"

i.e. the more we know, the more we push and the closer to the danger zone we tread. Certainly tied in with my experience living in the alps.

Man I miss skiing....

[petejh]

Yeah I can see that being the mindset. Backcountry skiing/boarding not being an activity that people do because they’re allergic to adrenaline or the lure of travelling into very cool places that are are also objectively hazardous. Could probably observe something similar in many risky activities that get more popular where the tech improves and allows more people to push their limits. Climbing. Paragliding.

I’d be interested to see the stats on how many times people get pulled out alive after using a rebreather, or after deploying an airbag. To see if they’ve made much difference to survivability overall.

[teestub]

Always seems to be difficult to find death stats for climbing, but it seems like very few people are dying outside of Himalayan and Alpine settings, and even there I would assume there I would assume the death rate has decreased as participation had increased?

Would be interesting to know if there were actually more deaths overall in snow sports, or just an increase in line with participation.

[SA Chris]

That just from Colorado, or whole of US?

Whole US; locations in Alaska, Washington, California listed, but disproportionate amount in Colorado.

[galpinos]

Would be interesting to know if there were actually more deaths overall in snow sports, or just an increase in line with participation.

The easiest stats to look at is the US, as you can cover a lot of resorts/areas thought one data source, be it avalanche deaths or in resort deaths, via the NSSA

The latest NSSA stats show the rate of catastrophic injury* is less than one for every 1 million skier visits.

I don't know if this still holds true but in 2017:

The average skier death in CO is a thirty-seven years old experienced male skier wearing a helmet who loses control on an intermediate, groomed run and hits a tree. The majority of deaths — 54 percent — occurred on blue, groomed runs, while 31 percent were on expert trails. The increase in the number of people who wear helmets hasn’t resulted in fewer fatalities.

Take off that helmet and stay off the blues folks. (Also, be a woman and snowboard).


*“significant neurological trauma, major head injuries, spinal cord injuries resulting in full or partial paralysis and injuries resulting in the loss of a limb.”

[SA Chris]

I was about 35 when I hit a tree on the side on a groomed blue run in Colorado. I wasn't wearing a helmet though!

(In my defence there was a foot of powder hiding a section of hard ice).

[Plattsy]

I'm imagining speed was a major factor here. Blue groomed means "let's go fast and push our limits". The boy racer mentality comes out (I'm talking about the stats not your specific accident Chris). 
Of which I've been guilty of many times before and after I started wearing a helmet.
Luckily as a snowboarder fear kicks in at lower speeds than it would if I was skiing.

Hitting a tree hurts.

[SA Chris]

For sure. Also the nature of many Colorado / US resorts is the runs cut into the trees, which delineate the edge of the run, so plenty of static objects to hit, whereas a lot of Alpine ski terrain is above tree line, with pistes just groomed into the mountainside.

[SA Chris]

Re : tree wells, they are less of an issue in the Alps due to a) the nature of the snowfall - very little dry powder of the type you  get in N America, and b) very little "tree skiing" like you get there; as per above, a lot of the skiing is above the tree line, and that which is below, the trees are normally too dense for people to bother, so they stick to the pistes. I have been caught in them a couple of times, and can confirm it is bloody scary, can see why if you were not fit or unused to effor at altitude you would really struggle.

[lagerstarfish]

Pictures not showing for me.
Possibly a phone issue on my end?

[lagerstarfish]

Fantastic 

[SA Chris]

And also know the "full history" of the snowpack. There was a similar issue with snowpack the year we were in Whistler, which resulted in an in bounds avalanche death earlier in the season.

There are similar issued with the snowpack in Scotland, due to milder spells, but not as significant due, I think, to lower overall volume of snow.