45 replies to this topic

[Mr Wiggles]

It's been on the news that there was an avi earlier today at Raichozawa. The area only opened yesterday. One dead, two injured according to the report.

http://headlines.yahoo.co.jp/hl?a=20070418-00000411-yom-soci

[Fattwins]

At raicho which is the most traveled are too. with the weather holding the same pattern and more new snow on the way i will not be heading up there this weekend

[Kumapix]

Just finished reading the newspaper article on this. The boarder who died worked in a hotel in Hakuba. He was in a group of 6. It seems like the avalanche was started by skiers coming down after them. One of the 2 skiers caught said that as he was skiing down he saw an avy starting on his left and he went to go the other way but got hit by the avy right then. He was buried but managed to make an airhole with his hand and call for help. He was buried about 30 mins. They said that there were 50-60 skiers in the area and people were using their ski poles to probe. One of the skiers has a broken leg. No mention of beacons...

[dizzy]

sad. one avie-aware person in tateyama is saying, if i'm getting the japanese correctly, that foehn winds winds may have caused a steep temperature gradient on the 13th and created the weak layer(s) that went yesterday.

http://www2.knb.ne.jp/news/20070418_11048.htm

[dizzy]

does this mean beacon: 電波発信装置? i think so

Out of the older group, 2 of 4 had them, and 1 had a shovel.

didn't say if anyone in the 34-year-old's group of 6 had beacons...so are we to assume that they didn't have them?

http://www2.knb.ne.jp/news/20070418_11043.htm

20 cms of fresh fell on the 17th which apparently slid.

kuma, which article did you read?

[Kumapix]

i read the newspaper. I think it said there was a metre of fresh (maybe over the past week)

are u back dizzy?

[SerreChe]

Did not realize so many peeps went out without gear on tat. Too bad. Those without gear that got caught made the wrong bet that day. Smallish probabilities but huge consequences.

[Fattwins]

That is Tat SerreChe

[dizzy]

yeah i'm back

[SerreChe]

Still surprising FT, would have thought peeps heading out there would be on average more equipped than those skimming the edge of ski slopes in resorts.

[dizzy]

Here's a pic of it on raichozawa:

[rach]

Whens that photo from dizzy? Looks really nice.

[dizzy]

it was taken a day or two after the avalanche.
(raicho is the slope with the slide on the left.)

looks like there was another slide on the next slope over, but no reports of any injuries on that one

[Fattwins]

fark me thats a big size really and it wouldve been near white out.

[dizzy]

yeah both of those crowns are huge

[SerreChe]

These are huge! I had not seen the one on the right side of the screen originally.

[Fattwins]

Ive skied both of those lines before.

[SerreChe]

Including into the "narrow" valley that funneled the debris from the 1st slide? You sure have to make sure you have good conditions or it certainly looks like a nice trap.

[dizzy]

fifty-twelve billion people ski that valley on the left, raicho, during GW, serreche. it's a typical tats line

[SerreChe]

Interesting, having never ridden Tats it seems like a very nice line but not the safest.