hobnail: How do you know which way is up?

ltdanman44: hobnail: How do you know which way is up?

this.

You spit.

That time I was buried in an avalanche, I was so packed in I couldn't even move my arms. Luckily I had been nude snowboarding, so I kept eating the snow and peeing to make some room. Unfortunately, that quickly proved to me that I was buried upside down. But I eventually carved out a space, flipped upright and peed my way through 12 more feet of snow to sunlight.

It's been a bad year for Avy's in Colorado. I've curtailed my back country boarding till the snow gets safer.

Sounds like someone is using the wrong flashlight.

wylkyn: The guy who dug out was a snowplow driver, which meant that he started off with some space in which to work.

Apparently not:

"On March 5, 1992, Eddie Imel and Danny Jaramillo were driving a rotary snowplow down the north side of Red Mountain Pass in southern Colorado. A slide had crossed the highway just on the north side of the avalanche shed, and Eddie and Danny were working to clear it. Unfortunately a chain fell off the plow and both Eddie and Danny were out of the truck trying to get it unraveled when the East Riverside path ran again"

From americanavalancheassociation.org

Fark_incense: hachijuhachi: Try doing that when your completely packed in feet of snow. Sounds easy, but when there's just as much pressure coming at you from every direction, it's almost impossible to just sense which way is up.

This is why you spit. Let it run either onto your chin, or your upper lip. Not much space is needed, and then you know which way you need to be headed.

I'm sitting at my desk practicing, so I'm really getting a...

now THIS (pops)is the flashlight i would use

Big Snow this year in the West.

I guess we're going to have to wait a while longer for the much-balleyhooed global-warming-induced perpetual Southwestern drought! (new window)

If you are in the cab of a truck, and are lying on the roof, my bet is that the truck is upside down.

If you are trapped under feet of snow (without said flashlight), it would be dark and you couldn't see where your spit falls. Make a void, make a snow ball and drop it into your hand. If you don't hit your hand, that ain't down. Adjust and figure it out.

/Internet Avalanche Toughguy

So wait, how do you dig when you're packed in with thousands of pounds of snow? Do you start by wiggling a finger and continue until you can wiggle your elbow?

well... come to think about it... about 90% of us (myself included) would have both peed our pants and shat ourselves... so, just check which way the urine or shiat is running and there ya go!


yeah... you'd poop yerself... admit it.

buckler: What the heck was the guy breathing for 18 hours?

Yea wtf? I come here for answers and this question is being ignored. Right, wrong, snarky, or not, I expect some farking replies to this question. Where's the breathable air come from, dogammit!!?

That article was suffocating.

hobnail: How do you know which way is up?

terrifying, i have trouble with too many blankets, i can only imagine this to be my worst nightmare

jakrabit: well... come to think about it... about 90% of us (myself included) would have both peed our pants and shat ourselves... so, just check which way the urine or shiat is running and there ya go!


yeah... you'd poop yerself... admit it.

I wouldn't have time to poop myself.

/bowel shy

hachijuhachi: Sandwyrm: I assume you reference gravity.

Try doing that when your completely packed in feet of snow. Sounds easy, but when there's just as much pressure coming at you from every direction, it's almost impossible to just sense which way is up.

Really? I would have assumed your inner ears would give you an imprecise but fairly reliable pointer to "up", since being packed in show doesn't really change which way the fluid falls in there.

I've never been packed in feet of snow, though.

Yergela: wylkyn: The guy who dug out was a snowplow driver, which meant that he started off with some space in which to work.

Apparently not:

"On March 5, 1992, Eddie Imel and Danny Jaramillo were driving a rotary snowplow down the north side of Red Mountain Pass in southern Colorado. A slide had crossed the highway just on the north side of the avalanche shed, and Eddie and Danny were working to clear it. Unfortunately a chain fell off the plow and both Eddie and Danny were out of the truck trying to get it unraveled when the East Riverside path ran again"

From americanavalancheassociation.org



But then again...

Link (new window)

Pertinent quote: On the ground, though, the road still has to be plowed, and the slides sometimes ignore the explosives, only to run later. On March 5, 1992, a snowshed on the East Riverside Slide saved the lives of four motorists who were trapped in it for 12 hours. But less than 200 feet away, outside the shed, two highway maintenance men had been swept off the road in their plow truck.

One of them, Danny Jaramillo, kicked out the truck window, reached a little shovel he had aboard, and dug his way to the surface and then walked to the snowshed. It took 18 hours.

Was it a flashlight shovel? There seems to be some confusion about the details...

EdNortonsTwin
bucklerbuckler: What the heck was the guy breathing for 18 hours?Yea wtf? I come here for answers and this question is being ignored. Right, wrong, snarky, or not, I expect some farking replies to this question. Where's the breathable air come from, dogammit
www.http://www.avalanche.org/~moonstone/rescue/avalanche%20survival%20chances.ht m

It took him 18 hours to go 20 feet? Is that the norm?

I have no experience in the whole being buried alive thing.

raygundan:
Really? I would have assumed your inner ears would give you an imprecise but fairly reliable pointer to "up", since being packed in show doesn't really change which way the fluid falls in there.

Would you even need to spit or throw something? Even if you are completely surrounded by snow, you could keep some saliva in your mouth. Wait to see where in your mouth it pools, and dig the opposite direction.

/okay, maybe too obscure

Avalanche snow must have a lot of air trapped in it.

I'm curious why these people don't take more precautions. I mean there is all sorts of wearable avalanche survival equipment like airbags and stuff. How about a flashlight with a little spade on the end for digging? Maybe they do have this stuff, I dunno.

Is there much money to be made plowing those roads?

hobnail: How do you know which way is up?

Don't know if it been answer or not.
When you're trapped in a snow pile and want to know which way is up ...SPITTED to get your bearing!

dittybopper: offacue: Andrew Wiggin: Those last three avalanches were your fault.
So what?
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It took him 18 hours to go 20 feet? Is that the norm?

You know, as a kid in Illinois I used to go out behind my grandfathers' house & dig "rabbit holes" through the snow. He'd use his truck to pile the snow from his field unto the creek for us. Mind you, it wasn't as packed as I imagine an avalanche would be, but I could dig out the entire creek section behind their house in an afternoon - and it was more than 20ft.

I wonder if the guy did go backwards at first. O.o
When the snow melts, we'll never know.

wylkyn: But then again...

Well damn. Which is it, people?

mebiuspower: Yep I'm ready.

/Surefire E2D Defender in pocket everyday.

Heh my brother works for Surefire - those suckers can melt an iceberg if you leave em on for a few minutes.

buckler: dittybopper: offacue: Andrew Wiggin: Those last three avalanches were your fault.
So what?
Sew buttons!

Red Buttons

Red Skelton

Red Green

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astromarmot: buckler: dittybopper: offacue: Andrew Wiggin: Those last three avalanches were your fault.
So what?
Sew buttons!

Red Buttons

Red Skelton

Red Green

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Snow fun to be buried alive.

"/Surefire E2D Defender in pocket everyday."
-->uh, just take off your sunglassery?

"How do you know which way is up?
-->Because there's more of it than there is down.

"A minister and his two daughters were killed in an avalanche that swept them off this road."

-->GAWD? Izzat U?

"Here's the marker at the start of the pass."

-->If its that dangerous, why did they not leave a little splace on the bottom of the marker for 'expansion names"?

jakrabit: well... come to think about it... about 90% of us (myself included) would have both peed our pants and shat ourselves... so, just check which way the urine or shiat is running and there ya go!


yeah... you'd poop yerself... admit it.

Um....what if it freezes to you? Then what?

Oh my god people MOVE.

airplayne: Um....what if it freezes to you? Then what?

Fudgesicles for everyone!

BasqueBastard: astromarmot: buckler: dittybopper: offacue: Andrew Wiggin: Those last three avalanches were your fault.
So what?
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Emptyjade: BasqueBastard: astromarmot: buckler: dittybopper: offacue: Andrew Wiggin: Those last three avalanches were your fault.
So what?
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Red Buttons

Red Skelton

Red Green

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astromarmot: Emptyjade: BasqueBastard: astromarmot: buckler: dittybopper: offacue: Andrew Wiggin: Those last three avalanches were your fault.
So what?
Sew buttons!

Red Buttons

Red Skelton

Red Green

Collard Green

Soylent Green

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Deep Purple

Well, this thread has certainly gone downhill fast.



/rimshot

hobnail: How do you know which way is up?

Spit. Let gravity help you out.

Yergela: wylkyn: But then again...

Well damn. Which is it, people?

I think the lack of breathable air might have affected his recall of the details of the event.

So what?
Sew buttons!

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farsidefan: I drove the pass right after an avalance slid and destroyed a Caterpillar bullozer killing the highway worker.

You destroyed a Caterpillar bullozer and killed the highway worker? I think the Colorado highway patrol would like a word with you.

hachijuhachi: packed

The survivor mentioned in the story was trapped in a snow cat. That means he had the cabin of the vehicle protecting him from being crushed and giving him a small area to test gravity. With enough time and effort, one could move that small cavity of air upwards towards safety.