it’s hard to really process any sort of meaningful response to this. vibes to the victims, friends, family, and emergency responders.

CAIC’s report on the accident is up.

https://avalanche.state.co.us/acc/acc_report.php?accfm=inv&acc_id=505&view=public

here to give my deepest condolences to the friends and family of the victims.

very sobering to read the official report.

^^^This too makes me very proud to see fellow splitters pulling together in time of tragedy…
Thoughts and prayers from Vermont.

@fustercluck wrote:

Terrible tragedy, wrong place wrong time, and something that could have happened to any of us, as we’ve all gotten lucky with complacency before. RIP guys.
On another note, though, it kills me to read the reporting of these types of incidents in the major news outlets, and it kills me even more to read the comments from the general public, such as this example:
No signals were detected? But no one goes into avalanche areas without their transponders switched to ‘broadcast’? You always assume you will be quickly overtaken and have your respirators on, reinforced against outside pressure. Third, you have a helicopter with a low pitch sound go ahead of you to try to make a forced avalanche in the supposedly safe area.
WTF?

Honestly, that shit ^ bothers me much less than self-appointed Pope Dawson getting on his soapbox, MMQB’ing before the report was even out. And the guy from the Denver Post, Blevins, sniffing around Facebook on Saturday looking for a scoop.

Nice article about Joe Timlin in the Vail Daily

@shaunster wrote:

Exactly what he said ^^. I lost a lot of respect for Dawson after seeing that posted over there.

Same here, but don’t get me started… I was so pissed off about it but thought I might just be over reacting. Guess others saw the same thing I did.

Just to be clear, what ticked me off most was how he jumped in so quickly in hast to do a write up when there was so little information to go on. Why not just wait for the report? That would seem like the “prudent” thing to do? Now that it’s out, healthy discussion can began, but even still, trying to “read between the lines” seems like a recipe to just make up a bunch of stuff that may not be true to this situation. To each there own. I’ve taken away a few simple big picture items that I’ll be chewing on for a while.

Not going to QB, as this could have easily been me in the news. These guys fucked up. But lord knows I’ve made my share of mistakes. I think Lou knows his shit though. You can’t be in the game that long otherwise. Granted, he also runs a blog and benefits from publicity. However, I think he is trying to help the BC community in his review of this accident.

The QB’ing on this incident is at an all-time high, as one might expect for a multiple burial in a popular area. I think some of this QB’ing is coming a bit too soon, much of it before the bodies were even laid to rest. I dont remember Lou having such harsh criticism of Steve Romeo when he made a final mistake. But in the end, I think the discussion will ultimately help all of us make better decisions in the BC. Thats about all I have on that.

http://www.wildsnow.com/9980/sheep-creek-avalanche-site-visit/

@HikeforTurns wrote:

Not going to QB, as this could have easily been me in the news. These guys fucked up. But lord knows I’ve made my share of mistakes. I think Lou knows his shit though. You can’t be in the game that long otherwise. Granted, he also runs a blog and benefits from publicity. However, I think he is trying to help the BC community in his review of this accident.

The QB’ing on this incident is at an all-time high, as one might expect for a multiple burial in a popular area. I think some of this QB’ing is coming a bit too soon, much of it before the bodies were even laid to rest. I dont remember Lou having such harsch criticism of Steve Romeo when he made a final mistake. But in the end, I think the discussion will ultimately help all of us make better decisions in the BC. Thats about all I have on that.

http://www.wildsnow.com/9980/sheep-creek-avalanche-site-visit/

Agreed. The part that bugs me the most is the harping on the “expert” label over there. None of the Loveland group was ever out there claiming to be an “expert” or have high levels of expertise. This is just words the media flung around in its reporting. Lou and crew, while creating good discussion, seem to have the need to subtly knock on their experience.. And the poster putting up a victims outdoor resume to see if it meets the level of expert is just distasteful and tacky.

@HikeforTurns wrote:

Not going to QB, as this could have easily been me in the news. These guys fucked up. But lord knows I’ve made my share of mistakes. I think Lou knows his shit though. You can’t be in the game that long otherwise. Granted, he also runs a blog and benefits from publicity. However, I think he is trying to help the BC community in his review of this accident.

The QB’ing on this incident is at an all-time high, as one might expect for a multiple burial in a popular area. I think some of this QB’ing is coming a bit too soon, much of it before the bodies were even laid to rest. I dont remember Lou having such harsh criticism of Steve Romeo when he made a final mistake. But in the end, I think the discussion will ultimately help all of us make better decisions in the BC. Thats about all I have on that.

http://www.wildsnow.com/9980/sheep-creek-avalanche-site-visit/

I think this is well said.

Lou addressed early that he did not criticize Romeo because he was too close to him and it was too painful to do. I am not sure why the ‘expert’ issue managed to go so far on his blog. As HFT mentions, that definition came from media reports. The media seems to attach it to people involved in most accidents. The bar for ‘experienced’ is low for them.

This is such an awful tragedy. I just hate it when people die in the mountains doing the same things that I do out there. At this point, I would not have put myself in their position on that slope, but as has been said many times, by many people, I have also been in a similar situation previously and got away with it. We all hope we can survive our mistakes long enough to not make as many. These guys were unfortunately not lucky on this day.

Deaths in the mountains always causes a tremendous amount of reflection on my part for an extended period of time after the accident. So many correct decisions need to made every time we step into the bc. These accidents always make me wonder if I will be able to make those decisions throughout each day I am climbing and riding to come home safe. This accident will be with me forever on some level and will hopefully keep me and anyone else who is paying attention to it, a bit safer.

I wish the best to the family and friends left behind by the victims in this accident. It is really a shame to have lost so many good people.