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Update: Sugar Bowl Skier Search-Body Found

Tricia

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An instructor from Sugar Bowl went missing last Thursday. Weather has been crazy here and the search has been called off.

This article on Moonshine Ink has some great information about why the snow is so dangerous in the Sierra this year, including Hoar Frost and other factors.
 
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Tricia

Tricia

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It is very sad.
That same day JT Holmes survived an avalanche in the same general region.
Also there is a new news story about Sugar Bowl pressing charges against a snowboarder who triggered a closed area avalanche the day after JT was caught in an avalanche and Carson May went missing in a presumed avalanche incident.

Perhaps people are so excited to ski real snow in the Sierra that they've lost their mind(s):huh:

The story about JT's incident is a telling sign of how things can go well in a terrible situation when the people you're with are prepared and smart.
 

John Webb

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I skied Sugar Bowl today. (see report in Tahoe thread) and saw no sign of search activity. Called off Tuesday night.
A ski patroller said they found no trace or clue other than a inexact cell phone ping. Getting 40 inches of snow or more
since last Thursday didn't help either.
 
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Tricia

Tricia

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That's brutal.
 

SkiNurse

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It's been a rough season. :(
 

crgildart

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That's some pretty hard core training :-( I guess they were learning how to work a probe line and hit something 5 feet down? Training suddenly got real :-( At least the family has closure.
 

Muleski

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Very sad. I get nervous every time that my now adult kids utter the word "backcountry", or something similar. RIP, Carson. Terrible loss for his family, I'm sure.
 

crgildart

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Going to try to teach my kids to NEVER go beyond regular terrain alone unless it is an emergency to go help someone else and let someone else know exactly where you are headed to do that. No telling if a partner would have survived or been able to help this situation though..
 

Monique

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We call it backcountry, but it's really just the mountains, minus the tiny outposts we humans have carved out of the landscape, delineated by a slight coil of rope and a handful of signs. It's easy to think of our playgrounds as the norm and backcountry as the exception, but in reality it's the opposite. The mountains are harsh, dangerous, and unforgiving, but we explore our babyproofed playpens and think we know what it means to move in the wider world.

I wonder if any of us, growing up skiing in carefully managed and marked ski resorts, really understand, deep inside, the world in which we move, and the risks we take when we step outside the rope.

RIP Carson. I don't know why your death has put this thought in my head when so many others have not.
 

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