It Is sad but man people wake up U read these story's and it is mind boggling.
u spend upwards of 20k on sleds and trailers min of 17 hrs each way in a truck.
but u cant find the time all fall to take one of many classes Duffy puts on . or poss watch his video a few times on the way out.
then riding with out tracking equipment are u serious *** .
these guys broke every rule .
the Article
The party of seven Minnesota snowmobilers had been advised that day that the center had rated the avalanche danger as high.
“They talked to the manager of their hotel that morning and he recommended that they not go out,” Knoff said. “They were aware of the hazard.”
Although none of them had avalanche rescue beacons, probes or shovels, the decision was made that riding would be OK if the snowmobilers avoided avalanche terrain, riding in the trees and meadows.
In the morning, the riders stuck to the game plan. But the more they rode, and the more they saw other riders climbing the mountains or saw tracks high up the side of Crown Butte, that initial caution evaporated.
Around 4 p.m., Junkermeier rode his snowmobile about a third of the way up the side of Crown Butte to an elevation of about 9,600 feet. At that point his snowmobile either stalled or he stopped to take in the vast view of the surrounding mountain peaks and snowy valley below. He was last seen pulling his snowmobile’s starter cord.
“His greatest wish in life was to ride his snowmobile out West,” his obituary reads. “It is all he ever talked about.”
As Junkermeier sat on the side of the mountain, two fellow riders rode uphill past him on both sides and the avalanche released. Junkermeier was directly below where the avalanche initially broke loose.
Hair trigger
“It’s just amazing how these things work,” Knoff said. “There are tons and tons of snow all peacefully resting on the side of a mountain, and all it takes is a couple hundred pounds of a snowmachine and a rider to set all of that loose.”
Once the snowpack begins to collapse, the fracture can spread at speeds up to 100 mph.
“It covers a huge slope in no time,” Knoff said. “You don’t have much time to deal with it.”
The snow fractured because buried beneath was a layer of sugary snow with crystals 6 to 10 millimeters in size, called depth hoar. Normal snow crystals are smaller, 1 to 3 mm. The crystals grew large during extremely cold days in early December, before being buried by later snow. Plenty of snow had fallen recently, although the snowpack on that side of Crown Butte remained relatively thin. At the time of the accident, a nearby snow monitoring site recorded 11 feet of snowfall. In the 24 hours before the avalanche, 14 to 20 inches of very
u spend upwards of 20k on sleds and trailers min of 17 hrs each way in a truck.
but u cant find the time all fall to take one of many classes Duffy puts on . or poss watch his video a few times on the way out.
then riding with out tracking equipment are u serious *** .
these guys broke every rule .
the Article
The party of seven Minnesota snowmobilers had been advised that day that the center had rated the avalanche danger as high.
“They talked to the manager of their hotel that morning and he recommended that they not go out,” Knoff said. “They were aware of the hazard.”
Although none of them had avalanche rescue beacons, probes or shovels, the decision was made that riding would be OK if the snowmobilers avoided avalanche terrain, riding in the trees and meadows.
In the morning, the riders stuck to the game plan. But the more they rode, and the more they saw other riders climbing the mountains or saw tracks high up the side of Crown Butte, that initial caution evaporated.
Around 4 p.m., Junkermeier rode his snowmobile about a third of the way up the side of Crown Butte to an elevation of about 9,600 feet. At that point his snowmobile either stalled or he stopped to take in the vast view of the surrounding mountain peaks and snowy valley below. He was last seen pulling his snowmobile’s starter cord.
“His greatest wish in life was to ride his snowmobile out West,” his obituary reads. “It is all he ever talked about.”
As Junkermeier sat on the side of the mountain, two fellow riders rode uphill past him on both sides and the avalanche released. Junkermeier was directly below where the avalanche initially broke loose.
Hair trigger
“It’s just amazing how these things work,” Knoff said. “There are tons and tons of snow all peacefully resting on the side of a mountain, and all it takes is a couple hundred pounds of a snowmachine and a rider to set all of that loose.”
Once the snowpack begins to collapse, the fracture can spread at speeds up to 100 mph.
“It covers a huge slope in no time,” Knoff said. “You don’t have much time to deal with it.”
The snow fractured because buried beneath was a layer of sugary snow with crystals 6 to 10 millimeters in size, called depth hoar. Normal snow crystals are smaller, 1 to 3 mm. The crystals grew large during extremely cold days in early December, before being buried by later snow. Plenty of snow had fallen recently, although the snowpack on that side of Crown Butte remained relatively thin. At the time of the accident, a nearby snow monitoring site recorded 11 feet of snowfall. In the 24 hours before the avalanche, 14 to 20 inches of very
