The Day Nick McNutt Nearly Died in An Avalanche
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- čas přidán 5. 09. 2024
- Last season, while filming for Make Believe, Nick McNutt’s worst case scenario became reality: he was fully buried in an avalanche. To make things worse, his avalanche beacon stopped transmitting during the slide, and it was only through a stroke of luck that his partners were able to rescue him. Avalanche rescue is already a difficult task, but without a working beacon, it becomes akin to finding a needle in a haystack.
1.5 meters with a failed beacon? That's an insane rescue
One of the luckiest rescues I've heard of. But there was skill in their organizing, Christina's calls, and I wonder how good their line of sight was with projecting where he'd be buried. Still. I've fumbled around in much smaller areas and depth with just a probe during exercises. I can't believe they got a hit that fast.
@@ErikFullmer Agreed. I imagine him hitting the tree actually helped their chances. Maybe stopped him in his tracks instead of not knowing how far he slid with the snow. Just guessing of course. So glad they got him... Horrifying.
Would one of those backpacks would like the pillow or airbag in them have helped keep them up above the slide? Idk anything about them but I've seen some before
@@uradumby25 Maybe, but you have to remember to pull the ripcord while you're in the avalanche, but before you're completely buried, which I imagine would be hard to remember just then.
@@uradumby25 ya those airbags are sweet but unfortunately they can help (I can’t understand why any pro rider would not have one, but people still die that wear them.) I could see them giving a false sense of confidence too. Mountains in the winter are beautiful but incredibly dangerous and route planning must always be a heavy priority
Big screw you to PIEPS/BD for not recalling this poorly designed, inherently flawed product that people trust their lives to. They’ve known about the issue for years and chose the worst decision possible to not recall the devices the minute they found out. I don’t care if they recall them now, they fact that they knew and did nothing says everything. My trust in them as a manufacturer of safety equipment is shattered.
Amen.
PSA: if you have this beacon and you contact PIEPS/BD for a warranty because of the switch they will send you a new beacon with the updated design no questions asked. Its still shitty they haven't made this decision public, but if you have a friend that owns this beacon they need to know they can still get a new beacon for free.
@@manuni88 BD just got back to me about my warranty. They actually won't, if it's more than two years old, regardless of the condition, they'll "let" you buy an upgraded PIEPS model for $100. So they are 100% NOT recalling them. Sucks....
@@tribeonetwo That is really stupid, mine was 3 years old and they sent me a new one. When I got the original I did registrar it on the Pieps website for the 5 year warranty. Did you do that? If you did tell them.
@@curtnichols1871 his beacon was off
Please mention the beacon that failed and get the word out that PIEPS needs to recall their beacons
I heard it was one from the company that Black Diamond owns. Apparently a woman's husband was caught in an avalanche, and it failed, which may have played a role in his death. She pleaded with Black Diamond to address it and they did no recall. Again, just heard through the interwebs, have not confirmed to be factual. I believe she referenced this incident that Nick McNutt went through as being the same failed beacon that was not recalled.
I may just stick to using their head lamps. But the fact that they havn't recalled it, doesn't give me the warm fuzzies
Glad they found him & I vowed a long time ago not to own anything from BD/Pieps. This is another reason to hate on the company.
@@WRCWRX yea. Like I said. Probably only use their headlamps now. That does not give me faith in their value on safety
Plus one on this.
Woah, didn't expect to have so many emotions evoked. Intense.
Starting from the hilarious first moments straddling all those tress, that TOOK some balls.
Not great that I was shown a BD advert straight after watching this, whilst my warranty claim for my Pieps DSP Sport is pending.
So lucky Nick was with such an experienced crew.
Glad he’s still with us, Mother Nature at its finest!
Christina was BOSS during this search. Everyone listen to Christina or someone like that during rescues.
Ya she slayed it. Super on point and calm, thinking and acting.
Unbelievable cool followed by raw emotion. Hugely impressed.
Most avalanche courses will tell you, when something happens the first thing you need to do is pick someone who is in charge, but I always like to pick that person before we even leave the parking lot, and pick a second person incase the first is injured or buried. You can do even further and decide who will be in charge of calling for help if needed, and who will be in charge to other specific tasks like first aid. Making these decisions before the day starts might save that little bit of time you need when something happens.
So... What exactly did she do better than anyone else on scene? I don't get it. Seems as though she did nothing particularly special, everyone on scene seemed equally calm and composed... So is she being held to a different standard or something?
@@ryans9029 I disagree on the composure. Her's was easily the most commendable.
She took charge. That's what she did. See Andy's comment. I don't know if they picked a rescue leader but she assumed the role and made the QUICK and accurate call to form a probe line. Which saved his life.
I don't know why you're throwing the "different standard" thing in... hmmm 🤔
This brought back nightmares. 15 years ago i was buried. Great work by his friends.
That is scary stuff man. Full agree with your name as well.
Indeed... I got partially buried about 8 years ago here in Wyoming near Togwotee Pass.. The snowpack was practically yelling at me but... I didn't listen. And just as I decided to turn around, the slope I was on crumbled, taking me over a 10 foot rock, etc... and up against some small trees- I was under... After 45+ minutes I finally dug my last leg and ski out. You can't move even an atom under there, you are absolutely stuck. I was mind boggling lucky that my arm and face- barely- were still above the surface... Otherwise, it could have easily been another day or 2 before I was found. Mad humbleness after that, believe me-!
glad you’re still with us
The way this was filmed, I legitimately thought he died.
the responsiveness, communication, and knowledge of the group is absolutely incredible. wasn't expecting tears from watching this--what a heavy experience.
Communication: Hey, guys! Let's go risk our lives, skiing in dangerous places!
Responsiveness: Yeah, sure! My life means nothing, anyway!
Knowledge: N/A
Communication and clear thinking under extreme pressure was exceptional! Massive kudos to all involved
ReallY TGR!?! You didn't dare to mention that the beacon turned off due to a faulty construction? Scared of loosing sponsors? That's weak...
For real, this should have been a huge PSA.
Probably a legal issue. To me beacon switch issue sounds credible enough. But nothing is proven for sure yet. McNutt's transceiver was apparently lost before it could be inspected. In one similar case where a person died, a third party inspection found the beacon locking mechanism to be functional. So TGR wouldn't be protected from lawsuit in the future if it turned out Pieps design and construction was not at fault.
Beyond beacon failure, TGR may also have to prove that other leading avy beacons brands would have survived a similar event. There's a degree of impact beyond which you can't expect the beacon to function. Beacon failure alone isn't enough to accuse a company of wrong doing. Imagine falling 30ft onto a metal pole that smashes up the beacon to give an extreme example. Would most avy beacons be similarly disabled if a tree smashed into the switch mechanism? I think my BCA tracker TS switch lock would break, but the switch is a lot smaller on that one.
But that's a legal point of view. As a customer I don't need such high level of evidence. I think it's a credible story and I'll be taking a second look at my own beacon's switch. I certainly won't be buying Pieps beacon anytime soon. But does TGR have the preponderance of evidence to straight up claim that this was Piep's fault? probably not.
they released a statement on their instagram account recently. or some of their skiers did at least
They said so in the movie, but didnt include it in the clip
Name and shame TGR! We all know this was PIEPS/BD issue. Please use your reach in the outdoor community to tell people to stop using these beacons with a major major issue.
Enormous props to lads who had to search for him blind for 5 minutes. Listen to the calls. You can see that they are freaking out, but no one panics. Every word said is direct, Christina is shouting commands like an army sergent. I bet they are proud of the way they acted as they should be. Good job.
Im absolutely shocked by the way in which Pieps and Black Diamond are approaching this situation with the beacon they have designed and brought to market, which clearly has known issues. I think it shows a real lack of respect to the people who might still buy this product and currently own this product, as well as the people who have already been affected by this product not working as it should....
As a community we shouldn't have to put up with this and I don't know how the people who are deciding to allow it to still be sold on the open market can sleep at night. To not acknowledge that there's a serious problem after quite a lot of feedback is just astonishing and because of this I won't be buying from either company again.
I just hope that we can avoid any more tragedies relating to this beacon.
P.S. Im so glad you made it out of there Nick, one of my all time favourite skiers to watch and stoked you'll be able to keep shredding!
Remeber seeing this on his Instagram last winter. Thought it was intense and scary then. You managed to amp up that feeling with just the sound of the rescure mission, those type animations on just a black background...
We must demand superior avalanche tools with critical redundancies.
It starts with beacons that don't fail.
It continues with indestructible beacons that transmit vitals signs essential during multiple burried emergencies.
It continues with more powerful digital snow analytics tools.
It continues with lidar drones that effectively predict snow pack stability. Lidar-derived snowpack stability maps must be published open-source daily by public and private agencies.
Rest in peace to my dad's best friend burried in a multi fatality slide under New Zealand's snow in the 1970s.
Rest in peace to all those burried beneath the snow.
Infrared sensor would be good
No we need to educate ourselves better, make smarter decisions to not get buried in the first place. It is as simple as that. Technology does not substitute poor decision making in the mountains. Period.
@@erikhorstmann1159 You're actually trying to argue against the progression of better avalanche rescue utilities and procedures?... Maybe if you'd said "also" instead of straight up "no" your point would be defensible. No one is considering this type of technology as a "substitute for decision making", im not sure where you even got that crazy idea. More advanced analytic tools that gauge snowpack stability would help to avoid avalanches in the first place. The application of such things across the board would take a long time, but its pretty mind-blowing that someone would actually advocate against the advancement of safety and rescue procedures.
@@user-xo4mi9ge2k that's not what he was doing at all. He was simply saying the obvious: technology is no substitute for education, experience, and the hardest of all human emotions: humility in the face of a force far more powerful than us. Technology may help us be more educated in a scientific way, but people will still get caught in avalanches, period. No matter what. It all starts with the human factor, not the snow- or technology. Better analytics will not necessarily help us make better decisions- there's an enormous amount of evidence out there that supports that- and not just in regard to avalanches/ Backcountry skiing, etc.
Get it-? It's pretty clear, and simple- we can't rely on technology, we can only learn from it...
@@user-xo4mi9ge2k100%
This is an incredible rescue. Being with people that are prepared is priceless.
That made me tense and scared through the screen! Being one of his really good friends, and seeing get buried in an avalanche must not be very pleasant. Hopefully he is okay!
This was intense to watch. Thank you for the recovery. May all of you be blessed.
Two seconds of the avalanch then nothing. 👎🏻👎🏻👎🏻👎🏻
I hope all you guys are doing well. Scary, very scary! I'm glad that all of you managed this situation soo well! Cheers from Maui!
Incredible teamwork of the crew to communicate clearly and get to Nick so quickly (regardless of the lucky probe strike)
WOW!! U guys r seriuos hero's! I was not as fortunate as yourselves.., i had my younger bro pass just over 4 yrs ago .. he went into a deep body of water in 4x4 his friends were not able 2 pull him up in time . It haunts me knowing i wasn't there I could have done more but then last words of your video said it all . Live your dreams & don't let anyone r anything take that away! Happy trails!!
Pieps DPS, if you have one, send it back for a new one. No official recall has been made yet so it’s on you to get that shit sorted before the season. Please don’t go out with these, be smart, use the right stuff. Love you all, stay safe out there this winter, should be one for the books!
I used to do a lot of backcountry riding with friends during school years, and honestly none of us had any real clue about avalanche safety. Scary, we've been lucky. Should be mandatory course before giving out lift passes
scared the crap out of me. Good work getting on him!
These are the people you want to ski/snowboard/snowmobile with. They are clearly prepared and never panicked. They rolled through the checklist of their training and saved a human life. The fact that the safety equipment failed is terrible. The fact that the manufacturer knew about this defect, and continued its production, is abhorrent. Props to everyone in this video. No props given to PIEPS/BD.
That was chilling. They got super lucky. On a lighter note, McNutt, best name ever.
Lol
No No it isn’t this aged terribly
Great content. Great visuals. Absolutely stunning!
Clutching my Pieps DSP sport in my (now) sweaty palm after watching. Most bc adventures are with a smaller group or single partner. The odds of a lucky probe strike in that instance are much lower. The issue is with the DSP Sport and Pro model beacons. The lock button breaks or fails and the beacon is either knocked out of send mode. I've contacted Pieps. Although my lock button is in seemingly pristine condition, I'm not comfortable betting my life on it. They're response seems to be scattered. In my instance, I'm to fill out a warranty claim. Interwebs indicate that 'upgrade' warranty will be $100+? As a ski lawyer I'd be sickened (and furious) to get a call from a family whose loved one passed because of a faulty lock button. Regardless of whether they recall as I believe they should -please, please, please upgrade your beacon to a model with a superior locking system. Don't make my phone ring.
Take another look at your beacon. The lock button sits proud of the rest of the beacon from the factory in many DSPs. Try holding it screen down on a table (or in your harness) and seeing if it stays locked.
You shouldn’t use your DSP for anything other than a rescue practice target.
@@MrIanrocks Already on the warranty bro.
This was a black diamond/pieps DPS beacon, the slide lock will fail and cause the beacon to stop transmitting and BD/pieps are ignoring calls to recall this product
This was beyond stressful just to watch a clip that was shorter than the duration he was trapped under the snow, can't imagine what McNutt was going through, so glad everyone is ok.
Wow!!! Every moment !!! You said it!!
I just read about this in Outside online and ten minutes later this vid pops up. Scary stuff, glad he is ok.
00:20 cut right.
I’m a simple man, when I see a name like mcnut, I click
This happened to my friend pellio was the most terrifying thing in my life
You got him. ❤️
Wow what a great job on the rescue
As a backcountry skier and snowmobile guide, it scares the 💩 out of me that I have been using a PIEPS beacon the last few years. I will NO LONGER support or push PIEPS/BD to anyone else in the snowmobile and backcountry community. We need peace of mind and focus when doing these things. We shouldn't have to worry about our beacon ESPECIALLY in these crucial times. PIEPS is the new COVIID.
This is a good video, but you could have done a more in-depth case study and mention of the failed tranciever
that moment when someone's life is at stake and a man yells, "Mc NUT !!!"...
Isn't that his last name 💀
Change your playback speed to .25. The go to @0:20. You can clearly see the hunk of snow breaking loose from a rock and starting the avalanche in a gully to his left and out of his field of view. The avalanche tracks with him note for note, and at the exact moment he pops off the last of the rocks the avalanche met him and took out his skis. There's no way he could see it coming. Zero warning and zero islands. Sobering.
I think I've stressed my friends out just trying to make sure they don't do something stupid because I never want to be in that position of panic. Nothing is worse
i was not expecting to get hit in the feels but when u think ab that being one of ur own buddies... that’s the scariest thing that n the world. having something u love so much be the reason u almost lose ur life.
This is seriously some scary shit man! I don't care who you are, this should always be in the back of your mind. I feel for everyone, always good to know you got good people with you
I've bounced off a couple trees, riding my mountain bike, but I've never been piledriven into one like it looks like here!! Anybody else notice the timing of the deflection on top of that first pine?? I've said it before, and I'll say it again - the extreme sport athlete is one of the toughest on the planet!!
Rob Kinkaid passed away in a similar situation, dead beacon. It's overkill but I change my batteries every ride for that reason
Thank God he made it, super scarey!
Great work friends and team!
2:45 I feel like this girl’s friends might just be the luckiest damn people on earth.
I thought the same thing.
This beacon should be fully recalled from the market. And replaced. Insanity to think it’s not.
I don't know if others see this, but it is clear to me the chance of avalanche is pretty high by just looking at the picture 0:07. Stay safe.
If you pause at 0:09 you can see that the pillow that failed is slightly overhanging and not in complete contact with the rock. These are rare, I think the closest risks to these that are actually mentioned in avalanche manuals are cornices. Good thing to look for from now on, glad McNutt had this team with him.
The collapse seems to have been triggered by his weight loading the snow that was holding that hanging pillow up, similar to how a cornice can fail remotely.
My friend chase died in one last year because his stuff failed too, I don’t know a lot about it but it’s sad
OOOHh! Straddling all those tress, that TOOK some balls.
This is so powerful
Yo that is some power no one can understand.
McSack is his cousin. What a ninja.
Amazing team!
Great work everyone!!!!!
McNut was nearly McNot :(
How about not taking risks with your life . Someone in the video said “life can be taken at any time “. Like this was some kind of freak accident out of nowhere. The guy put himself in this position. He rolled the dice. He knows the chances. Not so sad
Watching this scene in their new film “Make Believe” was scary
Have to say just watching that he is lucky that the impact with the tree didn't cause a lot more trauma than it did.
All the comments blaming the beacon LOL. If you are in an avalanche, you f***ed up - FULL STOP. How many avalanches has Mcnutt been in? Pretty UNprofessional if you ask me.
Amen to THAT
Teton can you please drop the name of the beacon need to check mine
So scary.
Mountains don't play around. People might get comfortable with mountains and confident, but the mountains always win when people make mistakes.
i guess you have to ski with 3 beacons from now on
AFTER WATCHING THIS VIDEO THE FIRST THING GOING THROUGH MY MIND IS, I'M WOUNDERING IF THE GUY THAT GOT BURIED WAS WEARING A GREEN PIEPS AVALANCHE TRANSCEIVER,THE MODEL THAT HAD PROBLEMS WITH THE LITTLE BUTTON CRACKING AND THEN THE SLIDER BAR SLIDING DOWN TO THE OFF POSITION.AND PIEPS IN THE BEGINNING DID NOT BACK UP THEIR PRODUCT.IT TOOK THEM A WHILE TO ACCEPT IT,. IN COURT,SO THEY CHANGED THE BUTTON TO A BIGGER ONE,MUCH BETTER,YOU CAN WEAR GLOVES OR MITTENS BUT LAST I HEARD PIEPS ENDED UP HAVING PROBLEMS WITH THE NEW SQUARE SWITCH,WHAT IT IS,THEY WOULDN'T SAY.IVE ALWAYS OWNED BCA TRACKERS,I NOW OWN A TRACKER 4, WOULDN'T TRADE IT FOR THE WORLD,NO WAY!!!
3:40 anybody know what glasses those are?
Is skiing on those dangerous mountains worth your life
Unlucky for sure. When I look at the line (I'm not elite...but 30 years backcountry, 8 years avy control on patrol, starting 10 years avy center forecast volunteer), I see a steep, tree'd, big drop zone with some rock. Pucker line for my skill level. Not insane by any means, definitely standard fair for elite professional skiers. Identifying an unstable mini-cornice in the pillow cliffs is going to be a stretch for anyone, though the most aggressive speed bleed was right at the spot where the van size mini-cornice broke off, and had 15 feet of free fall to gain energy, right into the the little chute to the lake.
The comment @0:10 is what I'll take from this as my learning tool , because I've said similar things before, "none of us factored in the terrain trap of the lake if anything went wrong. OUR RISK FOR THE DAY WAS DONE." Why was the terrain trap not factored in? Elite or not, we all know the risk is not clear until you are out of the backcountry, period. We all need to double down on multiple beacon checks through the day. It's good the experience was shared publicly for all of our sakes.
This Pieps/BD beacon debacle is bad juju. It seems reckless that it is not discussed in this video. Transparency always, even if all the facts are not in, share the information available. I had to return my Ortovox 3 on warranty 2 seasons ago (software bug) and I used my software repaired unit last year, but I'm going with Mammut Berryvox this year.
Intense!
Everyone on is talking about beacons and transmitters, so maybe someone can answer a question. Are the RECCO reflectors that come on the soft goods any good for a situation like this?
RECCO is only good for body recovery. It isn’t transmitting so you need a larger receptor that also has a transmitter. The beacon constantly transmits a signal and then turns off the signal once it is switched to send mode.
Feel like we deserve to know what beacon he was using.
If that beacon failed that is infuriating and nearly tragic. That is the risk we all take though.
This beacon is known to be faulty.
Can anyone’s else just appreciate that this last name is McNutt
Intense.... Whooo
What's music in the begining?
If Mr. McNutt doesn’t name his son Robert I will be throughly disappointed.
why is it always when you let your guard down? glad he's ok.
Beacons may fail due to cell phones or gopros....
Meanwhile, the trees...they're like: "we got this..." 00:31 on
1.5 meters god damn
Ojo con el fuera pistas!! ⛷️✌🏻
They didn't factor in terrain traps, he skiied into his own sluff, and their "risk for the day was done"? What?
@jenomsedivam Are you intentionally missing the point? Whether the beacon turned itself off or not, they made a string of some pretty bad choices there. It wasn't the beacon that got him caught in an avalanche...
well that rattled the shit outta me
Shit happens quick in the mountains. Good luck and calm heads prevailed.
Dove into that terrain trap??
That scared me soooo bad
“We did all the right things” does not adhere to any avalanche burial. A bit fucked.
Its a risk you take, your life or no life.
Recalls are expensive but it's going to be way more costly in the long run if they don't perfectly nail their response to this. If Pieps/BD were thinking strategically they'd decide to take it on the chin now for long-term customer loyalty. Side note - My pieps has never slipped out of transmit mode, but's sometimes tricky to get into mode. Like really tricky. I'm going to be returning mine for sure.
I'm sorry, but that was a top notch display of 'Keep Calm and Save a Life'! Awesome job! Your instincts when that happens is to rush out there and just start probing away, but little miss Cool Under Pressure was on her game, throwing some organization at that chaos! #whenyourfriendsareheroes Amazing!
And sometimes you just can’t save them
He's last name is what he literally was once.
so no ones gonna talk about how funny the name nick mcnutt is?
I feel bad for that tree.