Can We Learn From Others Mistakes ???

Scotford

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First off I do not know if this is a smart idea to post this because of the backlash and the negativity that I will probably get back on here but after this past weekends incident in Boulder with the two young guys missing and reading all the posts on facebook and S&M about it a lot of peeps are asking for the whole story so other peeps can learn from it. So maybe if I start this thread some peeps would be willing to share they mishaps so others can learn from it...

Here is one of mine :

This recent Christmas spent it with my sister and brother in law in Revy at Full Speed Rentals cabins, from Dec 21 too 27th. me and the brother in law sledded pretty much everyday day up in boulder riding up right from the cabins. Dec 24th ride we headed up for another days ride, stopped at the cabin and came with the plan, another cold day,but clear blue skies so we wanted to take shaddy lane so we could make another track on our GPS to tie into the lake. Made our way around and got into superbowl, climbed up and the clouds were rolling is we figured we would back track and play in the trees. found our way back to where we came out at and started back tracking towards the cabin playing as we went.

before i go any further me and the brother in law are both experienced riders, i ride a turboed axys and he rides a turboed bike, both with training, both with inreach and a sat phone, both pack enough to spend the night, but i have not riden in boulder since 2010 so things change.

as i was following the trailback i took a right instead of staying left and all of a sudden we were at the radio towers, no big deal we just have to work our way back NW, followed this set of tracks which i assumed were going the right way but when we dropped down the first 50' drop i knew i made a mistake. soon as we dropped down my memory from riding back in 2010 from a good bud who told me that you do not drop down behind the towers unless you know how to get back out kicked in, **** i said to my brother in law i made a mistake and this was at 2:30 in the afternoon, so we followed these tracks for a bit but they just kept dropping and not headed back up towards shaddy lane, we stopped assessed the situation and figured in stead of following these tracks and dropping down more we should turn around and head back to where we dropped in and try climb back upto the towers, second mistake we made, it was a bitch just climbing back to that point, conditions down there were untouched tit deep powder with tight trees and crazy terrain, we got back to where we dropped in and now its dark, thankfully we both pack our helmet lights with us cause they sure came in handy, we search and found line we figure my turbo would climb up, nope no base and tit deep we tried and it was just to steep. so we sent messages down to the girls that we will be late and to follow are tracks we are in a bind. looked at our fuel and both said either we get ready to spend the night or we go back and follow these tracks down cause hopefully they lead out cause there is no way these guys came back up, we both agreed and i told my brother in law that this is far out of my comfort zone and way past my riding talent to get through this **** down here, so we agreed to take our time. got back to where we first turned around and found their tracks, that's when the fun started as the next drop was down this crazy steep creek and at the bottom you could see with our lights they had too make some crazy turns down there, before we dropped we texted the girls our plan an told them to track our progress, then i also remembered that my sled had the gps mapping so i turned my screen to that and said here goes nothing.. after dropping you could feel we were starting to climb back up slowly through some very tough terrain to get through at night not being able too see, we finally got to a point we needed to stop and rest .... looked at my gps track and seen we were headed in the right direction, we battled on and finally came to an opening where we knew where we were, we both had huge smiles on our faces and headed for the cabin to warm up and thaw out our helmets for the ride down and let the girls know we were okay. we got to the cabin at 8:30pm.... took us 6 hrs to get out of that situation.

Things we learnt :
1- thank fully we always pack everything we need
2 - NEVER go some where you are unsure of even if you see tracks and lots of tempting fresh
3 - have communications always
4 - have the balls enough to admit to your riding buddies you fawked up and this is way past your riding ability
5 - remember to use all your tools in your toolbox
6 - **** HAPPENS -- stay calm and think through it
7 - thankful we both had turboed equipment or we would have had no choice but to call for help

sorry this was long winded, but maybe there is a couple things someone else can learn from this !!!
 

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Lund

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No critic here, loved your adventure. I actually know the exact place and trek you did as i did it a few years back.
Yes i recall the creek at the bottom and tight trees all in a very steep terrain. Once across the creek which posed its own challenge to drop into it was easy go after.
That trek is a one way only, i did it with a local rider going by the name of Carbondaddy and glad he knew where he was going cause i sure didn't.
Thanks for sharing.
 

fnDan

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It's hard to tell your buddies you're not comfortable with where the group is going or tell them you don't think you can handle the terrain but...
I would rather say something instead of finding myself in a much worse/challenging situation knowing I could have changed our path earlier in the day.

Riding with a great group of people makes speaking up much much easier.
 

Scotford

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No critic here, loved your adventure. I actually know the exact place and trek you did as i did it a few years back.
Yes i recall the creek at the bottom and tight trees all in a very steep terrain. Once across the creek which posed its own challenge to drop into it was easy go after.
That trek is a one way only, i did it with a local rider going by the name of Carbondaddy and glad he knew where he was going cause i sure didn't.
Thanks for sharing.
Yep it's nasty .... Especially in pitch dark and not knowing what's ahead of you ... one thing I got to say though sure glad I bought the frankensled light with the go pro mount... thing was amazing and a life saver... even at -16 that night the battery on high beam lasted the whole time down there
 

takethebounce

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It's hard to tell your buddies you're not comfortable with where the group is going or tell them you don't think you can handle the terrain but...
I would rather say something instead of finding myself in a much worse/challenging situation knowing I could have changed our path earlier in the day.

Riding with a great group of people makes speaking up much much easier.

My opinion but if someone has a hard time telling their buddies they are not comfortable where the group is going they are riding with the wrong buddies. Anyone who I ride with and many of them are on here have no problems discussing where we are riding and what the situation may be for that day. We also recognize the limits of people in the group and check with them ahead of time to determine if the area is suitable.

Its great that you do speak up and likely many more people do not. People should ride with like minded individuals. Experience can vary but it is the ability to share that experience which is most valuable.
 

Bnorth

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Thanks for sharing, sounds like you were very prepared for any situation your may have ended up in.
 

52weekbreak

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I get the sense that you gave us the absolute reader's digest version of events and thanks for taking the time to post.

Great you were prepared and kept your cool. Certainly sounds like more adventure than I would be looking for but if I find it, hope to do as well as you guys did.

What were you using for communication? Satellite phone I assume?
 

Scotford

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I get the sense that you gave us the absolute reader's digest version of events and thanks for taking the time to post.

Great you were prepared and kept your cool. Certainly sounds like more adventure than I would be looking for but if I find it, hope to do as well as you guys did.

What were you using for communication? Satellite phone I assume?
Ya sorry for the readers digest version I just started typing and remembering and all that came out lol...

I carry the inreach and brother-in-law carry a SPOT ... I was texting the girls off my inreach and sent them our track so they could follow us and it gave them a sense of peace knowing we were still moving. I also carry my sat phone with me but never needed to use it, but it's always in my back pack.
 

teamdirt

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Ive- skied and sledded in the backcountry 50-100 days per a season for over 20 years and as experienced as they come- there is always a lesson to be learned and the best way to do it is sharing an experience.

My experience and lesson is Always know where your riding partners are and never get to far ahead or away from your group on your own, keep your partner in site. When you stop for a break make sure everyone is there with you- This would have cost someone there life if we didn't follow these rules.

Situation:
One of our rider's got bucked off his sled and fell into a deep bottomless snow hole, where got pinned underneath the snow on flat meadow terrain. There was no bottom to the snowpack where he fell and the more he moved the more consolidated the snow became. There was no way out of this without someones help. Luckily our group knew where we lost him, we immediately went back for him and saw a sled sitting on the snow but no rider. There was a general direction we could tell he fell into, so we went into dig mode. He was dug out within 8-10min time from when we lost him, he was approx. 6ft below his sled laying somewhat a bit upside down, blue in the face, stiff, not breathing. His airway was cleared CPR and chest compressions were performed and he was brought back to life. People don't just die in avalanches out there. The mountain is full of hazards, even in simple terrain and if you don't have a partner out there you might not have a rescue party to be there in time to save your life. Just because there are other riders around doesn't mean that anyone will know you are in trouble or that you need help, especially if you are unable to communicate due to the situation.

Don't ride alone, have visual sight of your partner, if your in a big crew partner up and watch out for each other.

Unfortunately this is all to familiar when we go back and think of a solo rider cruising around boulder cabin a few years back that something similar happened to and was only dug up days later as a frozen body....
 
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SLEDBUNNYRACING

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It's hard to tell your buddies you're not comfortable with where the group is going or tell them you don't think you can handle the terrain but...
I would rather say something instead of finding myself in a much worse/challenging situation knowing I could have changed our path earlier in the day.

Riding with a great group of people makes speaking up much much easier.

I have no problems saying I’m not comfortable. Been riding mountains or over 20 years and always say when I don’t like it. Have been shamed for speaking up but in most cases others felt the same but didn’t want to say. I’ve stayed back (with others) in these cases.
I’ve also overestimated my ability and spent hours wishing I’d made a different choice.
For me it’s about being able to communicate when in trouble (buddies via radio & Wifey via spot or InReach).
Always carry gear to spend night or two.
Have riden with peeps that are not prepared to survive, no fear and making questionable decisions.
Try to educated, if it doesn’t change I choose not to ride with them again.
Majority of riders I hang with have AST1.

Great post. Feel the author took responsibility and was prepared. My hat goes off to these TurboFreaks.
 
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1200

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Great post . Be careful out there . When i ride with just 1 other i be lot more careful then when there 4 or more of us . With 4 or more guys u can easily get out of creek or whatever .eveybody brings somthing to help out it seems happy trails
 

Scotford

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Thanks for all the positive feed back you peeps .... And thanks for sharing your stories too ... everybody needs to keep learning from others to keep this sport we love safe and ALL our fellow sledders coming home safe after every ride in these great mountains we all enjoy !!!

Keep the stories coming !!!
 

lilduke

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You can keep dropping from the tower all the way back to the cabin you know.... Pretty easy to climb out of there on a stock sled too.

But hey glad you made it out of there ok.
 
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