Valemount Conditions and Updates 2019 2020

[Goliath]

Not speaking officially but this is my two cents. They came off of the mountain mid day today after spending the night on the mountain. We went out last night and after realizing the distance these two boys traveled downhill to nowhere, it was simply not possible to ever evacuate them by normal means. Robson Valley SAR heli dropped them snowshoes, radios, food and water this morning and instructed them to walk a very long way downhill to the only possible evac point.

We see this far too often people. If you realized you are F%^cked, the last thing you should do is F%^ck yourself more by traveling farther away from the last safe point. We are skilled at rescue and can help you out of many situations you think impossible. We could have gotten these boys off of the hill last night, but their ambitious efforts to proceed down to nowhere resulted in a stay on the mountain and a long delay in recovery.



Do not reply here to insult these people, you do no good with your negative comments. They are good people and there has been a lesson learned.... I promise.

Just please do every rescuer a favour and stop at the very second you realize you are over your head. The feeling we get from having to leave fellow sledders on the hill overnight is indescribable. I cannot think of one instance where proceeding farther into the depth of hell resulted in a faster recovery.

Ride safe

Curtis, this is Craig the guy that you and Mack rescued from the drainage below the burn.

First, cant thank you and your team enough for what you did for us!!! If it wasn't for you and your team, we may not be here so thank you!!!! Looking back, we traveled wayyyy to far down, our excuse ( haha here it comes ) we thought we would be able to find something to shoot back up to the burn area. Its obvious now that it doesn't work that way. The last thing we wanted to do was ask for help especially from SAR if there was a way we could get out on our own. Unfortunately it was a bad call on our parts.

Second, I started a thread called " Valemount search and rescue saved us". Please read it when you have a chance, a ton of great feed back and support. My lengthy "thank you" is in the beginning of that thread.

Cant thank you enough Curtis and Mack!! THOSE BOYS ARE TRUE HERO'S​

 

[bbtoys]

Curtis, this is Craig the guy that you and Mack rescued from the drainage below the burn.

First, cant thank you and your team enough for what you did for us!!! If it wasn't for you and your team, we may not be here so thank you!!!! Looking back, we traveled wayyyy to far down, our excuse ( haha here it comes ) we thought we would be able to find something to shoot back up to the burn area. Its obvious now that it doesn't work that way. The last thing we wanted to do was ask for help especially from SAR if there was a way we could get out on our own. Unfortunately it was a bad call on our parts.

Second, I started a thread called " Valemount search and rescue saved us". Please read it when you have a chance, a ton of great feed back and support. My lengthy "thank you" is in the beginning of that thread.

Cant thank you enough Curtis and Mack!! THOSE BOYS ARE TRUE HERO'S​

our official name is Robson Valley Search And Rescue

 

[VARDA]

The cold looks to be heading on out thankfully and that means the snow is heading in. Extremely low use this week and the riding is still pretty darn good off the main track.


Ride safe

 

[Annacassandra]

The last thing we wanted to do was ask for help especially from SAR if there was a way we could get out on our own. Unfortunately it was a bad call on our parts.
​

I want to preface what I'm about to say with -I'm not an expert snowmobiler or backcountry user. I'm a weekend warrior like most folks and I try to be as prepared as I can be and travel with people I trust to behave responsibly so we all get home safely. We've had mechanical issues that have left us returning to the truck past dark but thankfully have never had a really close call like this.

I think what you said here is a really important thing. It seems in reading about mountainside rescues that waiting too long to call for help is a significant factor in getting people out safely the same day as the incident. Many people get into a tough situation and realize they might need help but don't call SAR. They might think they should try every other option available to them, or they might be worried about getting a bill and they wait until things get really bleak. They wait until it starts getting dark or until every option of self rescue has been exhausted. I think SAR would rather get a call advising them of a potential situation and then get called off if the subjects were able to self rescue than to get a call at 4:30 when it's getting dark and they can't physically do anything to help. But I'm not part of a SAR team so feel free to correct me if I'm wrong.

 

[bbtoys]

I want to preface what I'm about to say with -I'm not an expert snowmobiler or backcountry user. I'm a weekend warrior like most folks and I try to be as prepared as I can be and travel with people I trust to behave responsibly so we all get home safely. We've had mechanical issues that have left us returning to the truck past dark but thankfully have never had a really close call like this.

I think what you said here is a really important thing. It seems in reading about mountainside rescues that waiting too long to call for help is a significant factor in getting people out safely the same day as the incident. Many people get into a tough situation and realize they might need help but don't call SAR. They might think they should try every other option available to them, or they might be worried about getting a bill and they wait until things get really bleak. They wait until it starts getting dark or until every option of self rescue has been exhausted. I think SAR would rather get a call advising them of a potential situation and then get called off if the subjects were able to self rescue than to get a call at 4:30 when it's getting dark and they can't physically do anything to help. But I'm not part of a SAR team so feel free to correct me if I'm wrong.

yup, darkness is our enemy

 

[VARDA]

Brrrr. Finally the temps are climbing up a wee bit to more reasonable levels. We warmed up some machines today and even with very low use this week, Allan and Clemina will be groomed up tonight. Chappell has had less than 30 users on the trail since the last groom and with these chilly temps, it will be in great shape.


Stay warm, ride safe and if you see anything cool out there, post your pics here and your condition observations to the Mountain Information Network on the Avalanche Canada site.

 

[VARDA]

All three zones freshened up tonight. Enjoy!

 

[Junior Highmark]

Rode Klemina today, rough crust but we found snow in the right places.

"I dont know why anyone would ever ride a Polaris again" - New 850 Summit X with full raptors owner at the end of the day

 

[brian h]

as junior himark said tough crust up top, but if you look there is good pockets of riding in the trees, just need to look for it. trail is great,good job varda. little bit chilly but anyday riding is a good day

 

[LUCKY 7]

You ever ride a Polaris?

Rode Klemina today, rough crust but we found snow in the right places.

"I dont know why anyone would ever ride a Polaris again" - New 850 Summit X with full raptors owner at the end of the day

 

[Junior Highmark]

Rode Allan creek today, trails are super highways still. Saw an 850 turbo, everyones jaws dropped watching where that thing would wheelie through.

Snows sh*t unless youre willing to go back into the trees where we were. Still found some killer snow.

850 rider said it again. "Why would anyone in their mind ride a Polaris again" after 2 days on his 850

 

[VARDA]

Thanks for riding Valemount folks!

 

[maxwell]

2 days of blower deep snow at allan creek with the 850 turbo.. No people, no tracks. All fuel burnt. If the sun comes out today your in for a good time

 

[turboetech]

Hey how do you keep an eye on your belt temps looks like this instrument cluster is full of snow.... haha...looks deep

 

[Junior Highmark]

//uploads.tapatalk-cdn.com/20200120/c8799072a5895b0ba169ccfdf7d0951f.plist

//uploads.tapatalk-cdn.com/20200120/38062ee7ae156c43f5b058e9beadea80.png

2 days of blower deep snow at allan creek with the 850 turbo.. No people, no tracks. All fuel burnt. If the sun comes out today your in for a good time

Looks like it was Maxwell on the 850 turbo we saw. He pulled some sick wheelies. Waiting on my buddy to send me the video we took

Maxwell, we were the 3 guys you saw with the black gen 4, orange and white gen 4 and the black xm way in the back of Allan. My one buddy was taking videos.

 

[maxwell]

Looks like it was Maxwell on the 850 turbo we saw. He pulled some sick wheelies. Waiting on my buddy to send me the video we took

Maxwell, we were the 3 guys you saw with the black gen 4, orange and white gen for and the black xm way in the back of Allan. My one buddy was taking videos.

haha awesome. Shes a fun machine cant wait for more people to get on it.

 

[Junior Highmark]

Nvm found the review

 

[VARDA]

It's been terribly warm this week and user numbers have been extremely low. Allan Creek will be groomed up tonight, but Chappell and Clemina are not near grooming levels.


Please understand that +4 or any above zero temps do not work well with our efforts, but we will certainly continue to try within reason.


Thanks for riding Valemount


Ride Safe

 

[RXN]

That top picture looks stupid steep,
Great shot.

Rode Allan creek today, trails are super highways still. Saw an 850 turbo, everyones jaws dropped watching where that thing would wheelie through.

Snows sh*t unless youre willing to go back into the trees where we were. Still found some killer snow.

850 rider said it again. "Why would anyone in their mind ride a Polaris again" after 2 days on his 850//uploads.tapatalk-cdn.com/20200119/2a472aa7fbdd1a91e355ae24fa55d36d.jpg

 

[VARDA]

Allan groomed up again tonight, Chappell and Clemina will have to wait for tomorrow, as use has been so low. Come on folks, come sledding! Its kinda fun!

All three riding zones will be groomed up tomorrow night for Saturday.

Please check out the RideValemount Facebook page for pics and a video. Having issues posting pics.

Ride safe