On Thu, 9 Mar 2006 20:43:15 -0500, Kyle Adelman <[log in to unmask]> wrote:

>On the topic of snow instability this past saturday, I had an incident of 
my
>own.  My friends and I decided, on account of the suprising snow
>accumulations and lift closings due to high winds, to head out to Jay 
Peak.
> The quad was running but that was it.  We really only wanted to ski the 
top
>and big jay any way, so we decided to forgoe buying lift tickets.  We were
>hoping to sneak a ride part way up on the lift, but the liftie woudn't 
have
>it.  So we snowshoed and skinned up the trails.  We finally finished our
>hike at the summit and after a little break, skied valhalla.  It was sick,
>thigh deep consistently.  We were super excited to hit up big jay after 
this
>and proceded to hike back.  Long story short we hiked out to big jay over
>the saddle.  I'd only done big jay once but my friend's had more 
experience.
> After hiking for an hour we realized that the tracks we were following 
were
>wrong, and it led us to a drop in we were unfamiliar with.  After much
>debate, it was complete white out, we decided on a line and dropped in.  
We
>had aimed for fresh tracks and were shocked to find the snow to be chest
>deep!!!!! Our initial joy was short lived however.  There was just too 
much
>snow to even carry us forward, not steep enough.  After we decended about 
40
>feet we stopped to evaluate our situation.  It became apparment that there
>was risk of slides, getting lost, getting stuck in the flats at the 
bottom,
> cliffing out, and worst of all risking falling into a tree well and being
>completely covered by snow.  We were exhausted from a day of intense 
hiking
>and battling deep snow.  It was one of the toughest decisions I've had to
>make, but all things considered we decided the risks weren't worth it and 
we
>hiked out.
>
>I'm relatively new to backcountry skiing and the knowledge of northern
>vermont mountains.  I had no idea that anywhere out east could accumulate 
so
>much snow.  It's weird to have to think about dangers in snowpack out 
here,
>but it's still a legitamate threat.  Maybe it's finally time to shell out
>the money for Avi 1.  - Kyle


Given the conditions on the hill and your physical state, I'd say you won 
this one.  It takes a lot of moxy to turn back that far into your trek.  
Smart choice.

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