Rescue on North Face of San Jacinto

Hindsight is 20:20 but with how warm it was this weekend definitely not the time to be attempting that route. Good work on SAR getting them out safe. 

It's good news to hear they got plucked alive.

But, that said, what were they thinking?

Impressive rescue by RMRU- one of the better callouts they've had in many years, due to the proliferation of CalFire in So Cal mountains.

Cool to see video of an actual slide in Snow Creek- I've been in there several times and seen deposits from old slides, but never one in action.

Most of Socal snow is not corn, since it requires some cycles with freezing nights to set into corn.  Instead it is just unconsolidated mush from the last multiday storm,  and got a lot worse in the warming the last  few days.  Even if it weren't sliding, you would be deep postholing for most of it.  That was obvious, and is not hindsight.

Glad all is well...but, it needs to be cold and hard up there.  Poor decision on timing/weather.  Do you think the post-hole-ing just wore them out, or was it a slide?

That slide video is wild. Gives a whole new meaning to Snow Creek. I always just thought it was ice and loose rock up in there. 

That video is unreal.  

Which one of you num skulls was it!?!

Not really, this is a pretty typical wet slide avalanche, not to say it isn’t interesting (or terrifying). This is typical of this type of avalanche when it’s funneled into a gully like this. You can find a bunch like this on YouTube if you look. 

Once in spring I went up the tram to summit intending to ski the upper part of snow creek.  The south side was good corn.  But I only made one big cut on the north side and set off several channels of wet slides.  Probably would have gotten worse had I continued.  It had snowed about 2 weeks earlier but since the sun isn't nearly as intense on the north side, the snow was still unconsolidated.

I knew I was justified in only buying red puffys, bright blue pull-overs, and an orange wind shirt.  

That write up is great.  Clear information, good analysis, lots of pictures, and some really exciting videos!

 

They had 4 hours of light left. Rookies!!!

^what type of rescue?

We’d call these heat wave induced snow slides growing up snow waterfalls. I’ve been in a bunch of them. They can actually be fun to ride on skis. They have some power & can set up fast but are almost never killers. Somebody should channel Gary Brill to weigh in on this (the Fred Beckey of maritime coastal avalanche education & still rock climbs @ the gym to boot!). 

Re: Apparent Tahquitz/Traitor Horn rescue

Prolly wouldn’t have happened if they’d Stayed at Home.

Traitor Horn is a one move route. Finding that hold to exit the roof is kinda freaky if you have no beta.

Best wishes to the injured climber..

Tiny Cam wrote:

Looks painful, among other things.

New rope, new shoes, rolled up jeans with no shirt..... Rescue for a rolled ankle checks out. 

From the RMRU report:

...they did not feel comfortable down climbing the chockstone at 5,500ft

Talk about being unprepared...

I feel like I’m running out of disappointment here...

And yesterday, there was this (from the Inyo Co. Sheriffs Office Facebook page):

Onion Valley Avalanche SAR
ONION VALLEY (above Independence), CA. April 29, 2020 – Shortly after 11:00am Inyo County Sheriff’s Dispatch received notification of an avalanche in the Onion Valley area. Inyo County Sheriff Jeff Hollowell and Sheriff’s Office Deputies were first to arrive on scene and provided first aid to the patients until the Inyo Search and Rescue team arrived.

Further information revealed that two individuals from the Tahoe area came to Onion Valley to rock-climb and ski. The male/female pair set out around 9:30am to ascend, then ski a prominent canyon on the northeast side of Independence Peak, near the Kearsarge trailhead. After climbing for several hours they heard, then saw, an approaching avalanche. Both were caught up in the moving snow; the male skier was able to grab some rocks until the snow passed, while the female was carried out of sight down the canyon.
After the avalanche passed the male skier who maintained stabilization moved down the canyon and located his partner. Unfortunately her injuries were too severe for her to be carried out. CHP Central Division Air Operations (H-40) inserted one Inyo SAR member to the location, and the patient was hoisted by helicopter and flown to Southern Inyo Hospital for treatment.

While we are grateful that these two avalanche survivors will recover, as a reminder Inyo SAR and the Inyo County Sheriff’s Office have released an official request for the recreating public to adhere to the current CA Stay at Home Order, and not participate in high-risk outdoor activities. If you get sick, lost or injured and require SAR assistance, the responding team of volunteers will have to break social distancing and State mandated Stay at Home Order by sharing rescue equipment, radios, and vehicles. You will be potentially taking those rescuers out of service for weeks due to post-mission quarantine protocols.

...the male skier was able to grab some rocks until the snow passed, while the female was carried out of sight down the canyon.

And they say chivalry is dead.