A Guy A Girl and a Trail: Adventures in a 4Runner Limited

Anther ski day, he has hit every blue run on out most local mountain.

 

Great to see the quality time you and your family have outdoors. I was enjoying a beautiful bluebird day at the Bridger Bowl in Bozeman, MT today with one of my son's that is a freshman at Montana State. Cherish the times, they go fast!

 

I haven't updated this thread in like 3 months... so much stuff to add!

Winter hike

 

He’s alive!!

 

I decided I'd take my birthday off to ski at my favorite resort with a buddy of mine. It didn't quite go according to plan, I watched a guy die.

https://www.summitdaily.com/news/cr...6mJ_RnltDSuJaTO1zC0uRt3DKiG8ZWvZkqWgtqYc0q_k0

I know articles tend to tone it down but “died at Copper Mountain Resort on Feb. 9 after losing control and landing on a rock” really seems to downplay the severity of what happened. I’m going to go into detail about what I saw because I think it’s important to understand the consequence of risk, and ignoring some of the simplest ways to mitigate it.

Let me preface this a bit: On the backside of Copper Mountain, there is an "EX" run - double black diamond extreme terrain, a designation reserved for the few scenarios that double black diamond does not accurately convey the scope of what’s ahead. This run is just a very steep and narrow chute down a giant rock face. It’s big, it’s intimidating, and it’s dangerous. It’s not something to be taken lightly. I was always eyeballing this chute waiting for the perfect conditions to finally give it a go, it took probably 4 years of assessing it every single time I went before I felt the time was right based on the conditions. This day was NOT the day to attempt it. The mountain was certainly skiable but a large portion of the area leading up to the chute had tons of exposed rock, the snow coverage was pretty light, and what little was there was hard packed and windblown, plus the overcast cloudy day made everything look so muted, it was hard to see definition in the surface of the snow. The chute itself was a small stripe of snow down an otherwise fully exposed rock face. This area shouldn’t have been on anyone's radar during its current conditions.

So my friend and I are in the Copper Bowl taking a chair lift up to the top. A ski patrol guy on the ground below yells up to us asking if we’ve seen anyone who needed help. We said no and didn’t really think about it beyond that, it just seemed like a general question given it was a Wednesday in a near empty back bowl. We get off the chair and make our way over along the top edge of the cornice. We stood there taking in the views for a few minutes getting ready to drop in, and then I heard yelling. I couldn’t tell if it was “hey” or “help”, I could hear it but I couldn’t tell where it was coming from. Eventually I spot this guy standing in the snow by some rocks just off to the side at the bottom of the giant rock face that has the chute. We kinda make long distance eye contact and he points off to his side and yells “he’s dying!” I’m thinking ok I must not have heard that correctly but something is definitely wrong. I tell my buddy to meet me there, I drop in and haul ass to get down there to see what’s going on. I ski up to the guy that flagged us down and asked him what was going on, he just kinda looked off to the side and so did I. It took me a moment to process everything I was seeing. Laying in the snow at the bottom of the rock face was a motionless body. At first glance it looked like he ran through one of the red barrier nets and dragged it with him but it wasn't a barrier net, it was blood, and it was fuckin' everywhere! There was one ski at the top of the rock face, another halfway down, and a guy laying at the bottom with blood splatter 8-9 feet around him. It looked like he tried to get to the chute, clipped an exposed rock in the snow, popped ski, and fell over the cliff edge alongside the chute bouncing his way down a 60-70 foot rock face. His pants were torn open, everything was dark and bloodstained, it looked like maybe he ripped open the artery in his leg or something.

It's bad, really, really bad. My first thought is should I go to the guy and start CPR, or should I get help. I looked around and saw see ski patrol in the distance, it became clear to me at that point this was the injured person they were trying to find. I joined this guy in yelling for help and waving arms trying to flag down help, my buddy is still making his way down the tough terrain. Waving my arms around got ski patrol’s attention. He spotted me pretty quickly and came in a hurry. I started waving him in and trying to direct from below the quickest/easiest route through some exposed rocky areas to get to us. The first responder rushed over checked for breathing and immediately started chest compressions. I had asked if there was anything I could do to help, he said to go back to where I was and wave the rest of them in. A bunch of ski patrol was making their way over while trying to struggle their way down the terrain with the sled. Once they got there it was a total frenzy of organized chaos. They had 5-6 people on this guy. It looked like they didn’t even attempt to stabilize his neck or back or anything after the fall, they threw him on the sled with a couple of people on with him. One looked to be kneeling on his leg (I assume to try to slow the bleeding) while giving him oxygen and a second was continuing chest compressions.

While all this was going on I was chatting with the guy that flagged me down. He said he and his buddy stopped and sat down to take a breather nearby and just happened to look over their shoulder and spotted this guy laying there. They said he was still moving at that point but he was in really bad shape. He said he had been trying to get help for a while but nobody was finding them. Ski patrol was alerted something was wrong and they were all over looking for them but couldn’t find them. He said he thought it was 20 minutes or so that they were calling out for help before we showed up and that he hadn’t seen the guy move since we showed up. It probably felt like forever but I have no idea what the actual timeline was. Ski patrol asked us to come to their office and give statements. By the time we were finished, we were asked to go to the base and do the same with the sheriff's department and the coroner. The official cause of death was exsanguination which is defined as “the action of draining a person, animal, or organ of blood.”

So what went wrong and what can we learn from this… let’s start with the simple, should be common sense, items:
-First and foremost you never under any circumstance ski sketchy high risk shit alone. No exceptions. If something goes catastrophically wrong you’re on your own. Nobody knows it happened, nobody knows you need help, nobody even knows to be looking for you let alone where to start. If you lose control and hit a tree, fall into a tree well, tumble down the face of a cliff and you're in a remote hard to access area you will lay there struggling until you die alone, unless dumb luck happens to bring someone across you in time. Cliffs, chutes, trees, etc…. save it for a ski day with some buddies. If you’re flying solo, hit the groomers.
-Second, you need to know when to call it quits. Big epic lines and bragging rights are cool and all, but if it’s not there, it’s not there. There’s no shame in bowing out if the conditions aren’t right. Nobody is going to admire your bravery while they‘re morning your death.
-Third, never ski sketchy high risk stuff while wearing black/dark colors. The skier that died was skiing very sketchy terrain, alone, in bad conditions, wearing low visibility colors. Nobody knows how long he laid there dying. The guy that flagged me down…. more of the same. All black head to toe surrounded by rocks while trying to attract attention and get help. He might as well have been wearing winter camo. I ski in bright ass yellowish-green snow pants and a highlighter blue coat for precisely this reason. When I started waving my arms in obnoxious colors it took help maybe 30 seconds for them to spot me and they were there in a minute, maybe two. If the skier had brighter colors he might have been spotted earlier. If the bystanders had brighter colors maybe he could have had a fighting chance at survival.

Those are all things I know and adamantly practice, but I learned a few things from this as well. I feel like I’m pretty well prepared, but I need to be more prepared. I’ve been casually looking into classes for a wilderness first aid certification for over 2 years now since COVID first hit and canceled the one I tried to sign up for. it’s been on the back burner since but I need to make that a priority. I’m also going to add a few more items to my ski pack. A tourniquet - because I got to learn the definition of “exsanguination” the hard way. A storm whistle - because it’s common knowledge that . . . - - - . . . is morris code for SOS and if life is on the line there is no downside to making sure anyone and everyone within a 1/2 mile hears you. Even if they don’t know the meaning they will hear a pattern and it will get noticed. I also want to look into adding in a big ass safety orange flag or something similar. I know being seen can be the difference in life or death, but this was the first time I’ve had the misfortune of seeing it in practice. I also think it’s time to start tightening up formations and doing more frequent regroupings while skiing with friends. We try to stick together but it’s certainly not uncommon for us to get separated in glades skiing trees. We’ve probably gotten a little too passive on that, we need to remain vigilant, we have to do better. I also think maybe it’s time to start carrying my Garmin InReach, it may or may not help in the trees, but sat com and emergency beacon functionality that fits in the palm of your hand has the potential to save lives. I carry it for a lot of my adventures, I never considered bringing it skiing before.

This is a picture I took my buddy who wiped out in the trees wearing dark clothes


These were the conditions





The rock face right in the middle is what the guy tumbled down in fact when I took this pic he was already laying in the low spot at the bottom just out of sight from the chair lift.






That was a birthday I'll never forget.

 

ironic choice of words considering the next post

 

Took this little dude to see Grave Digger




Took this beautiful woman to the Boulder Philharmonic Orchestra




Then another winter hike through a sculpture garden and down the creek path.
















aaaaaaaaaand since I'm basically a man child....

 

Little man got a new bike with gears so we hit some dirt and practiced shifting.


We went to Immersive Van Gogh


















And headed out for what's usually one of my favorite mountain bike trails for a hike.




This rock always looks like the hull of a boat to me

 

My mom, my sister, and my sister's 2 kids all came out for spring break so we took them for an easy close to hike.

 

The boys and I on a hike.












Poor dude tripped and ate dirt, but he handled it like champ.

 

A couple of new mods, I modified a Victory 4x4 Roof Rack Side Accessory Panel to fit my SSO rack without interfering with the roof rack lights. I used that to mount up a Propex HS2211 forced air propane heater with a digital thermostat. Worked flawlessly and barely consumes propane. We also switched to a Nemo Roamer double sleeping pad, and a North Face One bag double bag because she’s a cuddler.



















The thermostat is now part of the electrical box in the tent.

 

Wow. What a deluxe rig!

 

Thanks for all the great pics!! Looked like an awesome adventure.

 

We are pretty well prepared for just about anything.

 

How many miles is she sitting on now?

 

155K, not a daily anymore so the miles have slowed way down.

 

One last day before closing for the season

 

I got a new Mod, SHW Offroad drawer system just in time to for a big trip we had planned. I had to head down to New Mexico to get a Global Entry interview so we made a trip of it. We went through Colorado, New Mexico, Rampart Range, Pike National Forest, Manitou Experimental Forest, Arkansas Canyonlands, San Isabel National Forest, Santa De Cristo Range, Santa De Cristo Wilderness, Enchanted Circle Scenic Byway, Historic Route 66, Carson National Forest, Rio Grande Gorge Bridge, Cibola National Forest, Boca Negra Canyon, Petroglyph National Monument, and even came across a junk yard that’s a brewery. We spent a lot of time trying to get away from fires, finding places to stay in New Mexico was challenging, so much National Forest and public land closed because of fires, lots referencing property maps and resources to stay off Native American land, crazy wind.

It was fun though.

 

We made mini pizzas that were kind of a riff on margarita pizza - we used oil, spinach, tomato, sliced bree, and shrimp. It was fantastic.

 

Sunrise was pretty

 

We made dinner on a mountain top while her mom was in town visiting.

And added a RADO molle system with the shelf. I love the shelf, but hate the window rack. to be determined whether I keep that setup or not.

 

I was wondering how you like your Arc Lights. I have their hatch lights and like them and I’m considering getting more. For the maplights, is the white setting too bright at night? Do you have it usually set to red, especially when driving?
Thx.

 

I like them a lot. They are very very bright, I don’t use them as white while driving ever, red is usable. Generally speaking I almost always have the lights set to red unless I’m indoors.

 

Morgan has been loving the whole overland thing and is wanting to get more involved.

She likes to travel and write, I like to travel and take pictures. This is what it has become. I’m doing Instagram, she’s going to do a website/blog with our adventures, travels, cool places we’ve found along the way, gear we like, 4Runner build and details, etc.

Follow us on Instagram

 

Always enjoy your updates here, will absolutely be following your adventures

PS love the caricature drawing of you and the runner!

 

Thanks. I’m really happy with how the art turned out as well.

Our most recent outing was 1 state, 9 days, 1200 miles, no schedule, no hotels, no accommodations, camping the whole way.

3 National Parks
- Great Sand Dunes, Mesa Verde, and Black Canyon of the Gunnison.

9 National Forests
- Pike, San Isabel, Rio Grande, San Juan, Uncompahgre, Gunnison, Grand Mesa, White River, and Arapahoe.

12 Wilderness Areas
- Lost Creek, Sangre De Cristo, Great Sand Dunes, Weminuche, Lizard Head, Uncompahgre, Black Canyon of the Gunnison, West Elk, Hunter-Fryingpan, Collegiate Peaks, Eagles Nest, and Ptarmigan Peak.

16 Mountain Passes
- Kenosha (10,000 ft), Red Hill (9,993 ft), Currant Creek (9,485 ft), Medano (10,040 ft), Wolf Creek (10,856 ft), Lizard Head (10,222), Ophir (11,789 ft), Red Mountain (11,017 ft), Corkscrew Gulch (12,244 ft), Hurricane (10,338 ft), California Gultch (12,931 ft), Engineer (12,800 ft), Cinnamon (12,620 ft), McClure (8,770 ft), Independence (12,095 ft), and Fremont (11,319 ft).