A couple of days ago two experienced climbers rode a small slide down from R&D for about 60M. I believe they both read these forums, a story would be appreciated as I'm relating third-hand information...

Early season ice fatalities are unfortunately way too common around here. There is no snow in the valleys, but a lot up high already. Be heads up, I hope we avoid carnage this season (and in general).

A MCR report has stated lately.... 2 more people were cought in an avy at Bow summit as of late as well. As it sounded it was not just a sluff but it run full course and both were lucky with a 250 M ride. Early season avy's YIKES not just snow but rocks, trees and all sorts of nasties in them right now. Play safe, look up and go home safe. Happy climbing and safe climbing to all out there!

If this was couple of days ago (Saturday), we were sitting in the car at Ranger Creek watching the "experienced" climbers through binoculars.

The weather was ferocious, rain , snow, hurricanes of spin drift in the bowl itself, above the climb, below the climb - really bad.

We wondered "WHAT are those guys doing?", we had gear but chose not to climb.

We left before the alleged slide occurred.

That was us in there Saturday morning, but we didn't go for any unexpected rides. It must have been either in the afternoon or on Sunday.

The final slope up to R&D had about a 4-6 inch windslab forming up. There was a well packed trail so I figured if we stayed to this we shouldn't set anything off. When we came down an hour later there was no sign of the trail. The weather was grim, to say the least.

Given the amount of crap blowing around up there it doesn't suprise me that something slid.

Yes it's true. Last Thursday Oct 29th we did go for a 60m slide from the base of Lone Ranger. We got off lucky with only a few bruises (ego included) and 1 buried tool that awaits recovery in the gully. While packing up from our 2nd climb of the day due to very high winds. We were pounded by a size 1-1.5 of soft snow and ice that tumbled us along a smooth layer of snow that was already in the gully.

On entering the drainage that day the snow was unconsolidated and 15-20 cm deep at the deepest. Winds were calm. It was truly hard to believe that the snow we were walking through could pose any risk in it's current condition. While on Lone Ranger snow transport reached extreme levels. With such a large fetch the load above us was changing in a hurry we both realized the changes going on but under estimated how fast they were happening. We rapped off the route but neglected to move to a safer location while packing. The snow on the ground had clearly changed, our packs were under 30cm of wind deposited snow. Soft slab had formed in less than and hour. We were aware of the MCR post regarding snow in Ranger creek. A good day out on "easy ice" was the plan. Our situation awareness was hindered by "human factors" as the mountain changed around us. Simpley stated our "experienced" brains were in neutral from the time we left Canmore in the morning and we had a complacent attitude towards risk levels.

What we learned: Talking about girls or other topics does not help you size up current conditions of the day. A "simple day out" (single pitch etc) you still need to be prepared for with the appropriate rescue equipment, and mental attitude to be in the mountains. Terrain traps are just that, traps. A small avalanche can have devistating effects. Climbing grade is only part of the risk matrix. Awareness/ongoing evaluation of changing conditions and anticipation of how changes will effect the risk level should be part of every day in the mountains.

James Madden and I hope that the details of our incident will help others avoid similar situations that could have serious results. I know we will not forget what we have learned. We were lucky

I always describe climbing accidents similar to aircraft accidents. There are 4 main causes:

1) weather
2) environment
3) equipment failure
4) climber error

I think one can attribute some of the causes to one of the main categories above.

Thanks for sharing the details John...glad you and James are alright! Forums like this are great for relating near misses and incidences so that we can all learn from them, and take that into our practise. Sometimes it may seem hard as ego and humility are at play, but we all make mistakes and the sooner we get over it and learn from it the better. There are a lot of people using this site, and if we all shared our near misses, I bet we could reduce the number of accidents within our community.

I just spent 4 days sitting on my ass reviewing case studies and talking about risk management, so I'm probably feeling a bit nerdy, but one thing I found interesting for everyday travel in the mountains, as well as analyzing an incident afterwards was the S.T.E.P.S situational awareness model:

S. Snow and weather (what's been happening, and what's changing?)
T. Terrain
E. Exposure
P. People (human factors)
S. Seriousness (what are the consequences of an accident?)

Food for thought, Happy Climbing!

Additional information/posting regarding avi triggered in Highwood Pass area.

See link;

http://www.biglines.com/forum/highwood-pass-slide-2009-10-31

Hey John, really appreciate you sharing the details here. That's the main value of this superb forum: to share experiences and learn (as Bismark apparently once said: "Only a fool learns from his own experiences alone" - or something to this effect).
And let's not forget that the very finest of this sport got to ride the white wave: a couple of local icons that i know, who survived (Barry and Tim), as well as the likes of unforgetable Alex Lowe (who unfortunately didnt)- to mention just a few very well known names...Anyhow, the most important thing is you guys are ok and the rest of us can learn from your experience. Hence the value of this site (again!). Happy climbing! me

Glad to hear you're ok!

It's laudable to see you posting such a personal story.

- Janice