ErnieW
Trail Wise!
I want to backpack
Posts: 9,918 
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Post by ErnieW on Mar 1, 2024 5:47:22 GMT -8
Ages ago I had this almost happen to me in the Adirondacks. I was skiing with a full pack coming down from Avalanche Lake and lost control. I went about ten feet off the packed trail and sat down intentionally to stop. The snow off the trail was very deep powder. My skis had buoyancy and I found myself hanging upside down by my skis in the deep powder. I was able to pull myself up and release my bindings, get out of my pack and get my head out of the snow. It was scary. I thought it was a freak thing but evidently not.
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Post by Coolkat on Mar 1, 2024 7:41:18 GMT -8
You mean like this???
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ErnieW
Trail Wise!
I want to backpack
Posts: 9,918
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Post by ErnieW on Mar 1, 2024 9:04:50 GMT -8
Wow. Scary to think that if he skied down like 50 feet further he might not been able to get back up to his friend in time in that snow.
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Post by georgeofthej on Mar 4, 2024 7:22:53 GMT -8
Although not anywhere near as bad as the other incidents in this thread, I almost got trapped while snowshoeing years ago. It was in an area with a lot of other snowshoers, but I had wandered away from the beaten paths and was alone. There was a fallen tree, and I walked near the root system. A crust layer gave way and one of my feet dropped into a void about 2 feet deep. I wasn't injured, but if I had been, I might have been stuck. I could not reach down to unstrap my snowshoe. I was barely able to get out.
If I would not have been able to get out, I probably would have been able to get help, because I did have a cell phone and a whistle. The immediate danger would have been hypothermia if I were stuck there overnight.
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ErnieW
Trail Wise!
I want to backpack
Posts: 9,918
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Post by ErnieW on Mar 4, 2024 9:25:43 GMT -8
A crust layer gave way and one of my feet dropped into a void about 2 feet deep I believe that is called a spruce trap. It is not uncommon particularly as you go through the transition zone from trees to above treeline. As the trees get smaller at some point they are covered in snow and you don't know where they are. Although not usually immediately life threatening they can be a real pain to get out of. |
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bcpete
Trail Wise!
There's cool, and then there's me.
Posts: 489
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Post by bcpete on Mar 7, 2024 14:52:31 GMT -8
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Post by absarokanaut on Mar 10, 2024 18:57:52 GMT -8
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