TDawg
Well-known member
Hi all,
Saturday I hiked up to the summit with my roommate to enjoy some record temps at the summit, it hit 56 at 6288ft.. The East Snowfields were buttery soft and untracked lines were plentiful. Traversed over to The Bowl, hiked up a bit to get over to Center Headwall. Took the line between two boulders and I started hammering turns down at a pretty good speed, snow was fairly smooth still so things seemed easy. I made it to below the rocks before my routine run changed...
At this point I felt the whole slope give way and start groaning underneath me. I realized quickly I had just touched off an avy and my first instinct was, "Oh $h*t, just point it." I was able to stay on my feet for a hundred feet or so as the snow was breaking all around me thinking I might beat it. But it had me and soon I was on my ass "paddling" back, just focusing on keeping my board downhill and myself on top of everything, then back on my feet before falling right at the end. At a certain point before coming to rest, I realized I would end up OK and actually started to enjoy it a bit, crazy, I know. At the time of the slide, I was riding with a foam big hand on, which also ended up safe on top. The Lunch Rocks erupted into a cheer, hopefully a once in a lifetime experience for me. Fortunately it was a pretty shallow fracture, only 8-12 inches maybe tops and the runout was clear of rocks and cliffs. Here's what I looked at just after coming to rest below. A number of people in the rocks told me I was the highlight of the day, I told them, "I planned the whole thing." Yea right....
Turns out somebody had a camera rolling and caught it on tape, unbelievable...
The rest of the day was enjoyed with my buddies hangin out, enjoying a few beers, watching people get WORKED, tumbling like ragdolls down the Bowl. Most casualties were coming out of the Chute it seemed. One guy literally fell off the cliff between The Chute proper and it's northern variations, at least 30 feet onto his side. I caught this guy on camera setting off the 3rd avy of the day, then biting it off an icefall. Classic.
On the way out I hiked over to the Lower Snowfields instead of hiking back down to Hojos, nice turns over there out of the sun. The Sherby was open about 2/3rds the way down, had to take off and put back on once before all was said and done. Great day.
And oh yea, I did see one woman wearing a white VFTT t-shirt. I think I remember her having red hair? You out there?
Rest of the Pics from Saturday 4/25
Saturday I hiked up to the summit with my roommate to enjoy some record temps at the summit, it hit 56 at 6288ft.. The East Snowfields were buttery soft and untracked lines were plentiful. Traversed over to The Bowl, hiked up a bit to get over to Center Headwall. Took the line between two boulders and I started hammering turns down at a pretty good speed, snow was fairly smooth still so things seemed easy. I made it to below the rocks before my routine run changed...
At this point I felt the whole slope give way and start groaning underneath me. I realized quickly I had just touched off an avy and my first instinct was, "Oh $h*t, just point it." I was able to stay on my feet for a hundred feet or so as the snow was breaking all around me thinking I might beat it. But it had me and soon I was on my ass "paddling" back, just focusing on keeping my board downhill and myself on top of everything, then back on my feet before falling right at the end. At a certain point before coming to rest, I realized I would end up OK and actually started to enjoy it a bit, crazy, I know. At the time of the slide, I was riding with a foam big hand on, which also ended up safe on top. The Lunch Rocks erupted into a cheer, hopefully a once in a lifetime experience for me. Fortunately it was a pretty shallow fracture, only 8-12 inches maybe tops and the runout was clear of rocks and cliffs. Here's what I looked at just after coming to rest below. A number of people in the rocks told me I was the highlight of the day, I told them, "I planned the whole thing." Yea right....
Turns out somebody had a camera rolling and caught it on tape, unbelievable...
The rest of the day was enjoyed with my buddies hangin out, enjoying a few beers, watching people get WORKED, tumbling like ragdolls down the Bowl. Most casualties were coming out of the Chute it seemed. One guy literally fell off the cliff between The Chute proper and it's northern variations, at least 30 feet onto his side. I caught this guy on camera setting off the 3rd avy of the day, then biting it off an icefall. Classic.
On the way out I hiked over to the Lower Snowfields instead of hiking back down to Hojos, nice turns over there out of the sun. The Sherby was open about 2/3rds the way down, had to take off and put back on once before all was said and done. Great day.
And oh yea, I did see one woman wearing a white VFTT t-shirt. I think I remember her having red hair? You out there?
Rest of the Pics from Saturday 4/25
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