avy death toll thus far: 6. Other News

A snowshoer was killed by an avy last week. That takes the death toll up to 6 now (in the pnw). That is quite a few. Heartbreaking.
We're getting a lot of new snow. Think I'll dig a few pits this weekend, for the sake of interest.
Skied sweep Christmas eve with some other instructors and patrol. They had so few people on hand, it was tough. 7 skiers were missing, one an 11 year old boy. The boy was found pretty quickly, barely out of bounds. The other six were in 3 pairs, and had gotten turned around trying to find the Doughnut. Ended up circumnavigating the back side of the mountain and went down the Hell Creek drainage (I think?). They were all very lost. The first pair hosed it up, and the next two pair of skiers followed those hosed up tracks. One kid fell into a creek, over his head, with all of his ski gear on. Amazingly, he was the first to make it out. He reached a payphone and called for help. He was the worst off of all of them and is in the hospital. Everyone else -- while shaken and cold, made it out eventually with the help of patrol and SAR.
That was my first taste of skiing sweep. All i did was ski down the hill and then wait around for a few orders, got none, and went on about my business. Saw Jefe a couple of times but didn't get a chance to talk to him obviously. I would not like to do ski patrol. It was scary. And I was stressed out all night worrying about the patrollers and worrying about the kids. What a crummy Christmas eve for those families. So glad that it turned out okay with everyone alive.

No Hogback This Weekend (12/15 - 16/07)

Instructor clinics still. Avy danger considerable to high. Coverage: windloaded on the leeward aspects and bare on the windward sides. New snow too. And nobody to go with by the time i was ready to get out to the doughnut and stuff.
They've started cutting runs and a lift line. The USFS is being sued for their handling of the expansion.
We're getting snow though, and my time will be freed up soon for clinics and stuff. Plus, I have (yet another) sinister master plan which involves night tours. I can't say anything more.

Hogback Expansion

After some 20 odd years of trying to expand lift-assisted skiing out to Hogback, White Pass is finally on it's way to getting lifts out there. This is good for White Pass, and will open up a lot of area for people. It just makes me sad to think of Hogback being bridled and passive rather than wild and at times unattainable. Of course, there is even more territory beyond Hogback that will be opened up as a result of the expansion... but damn. So, my goal this year is to get as many trips out there as possible. I will write reports about that.
My other fear is that White Pass will lose a lot of its current charm. The R.V. lot will start charging, locals will be crowded out by new blood, prices will increase and drive the "usual suspects" out. Already a bottle of beer is $4.25 in the bar. I will not be drinking in the bar. Yet another place where I fit will become foreign and hostile toward me and people like me. Perhaps this won't happen, but we'll see. Until it does, I'll be enjoying the hell out of my little world as it is now, and as I love it.
So, I'll be posting a number of Hogback trip reports on here. This will be somewhat of a project -- posting conditions, pictures, and details of the trip -- moreso than my usual lah-de-dah trip reports. If you ever want an update on the Hogback Expansion, look for my posts with the "hogback" category label.

So, Hogback this weekend (12/1 - 12/3): unattainable. Base is unstable. Avy just waiting to happen anywhere you look. With some sloughs in-bounds, I didn't even consider trying to get out to hogback. Hopefully warmer temperatures in the next day or two will consolidate the base and firm things up. Next weekend I have avy class, so Hogback will likely not be an option as I'll be in Hood.