Several poor decisions almost killed me today. I solo toured up Broads Fork planning to look at Bonkers or Sidewinder into Mill B but ended up following the wonderful new snow all the way to the ridge of LCC. Told myself I would either continue to the summit of Twin Peaks and ski it's east face or reverse my uptrack. A party of three ahead of me triggered a south aspect windslab off the ridge; it had real energy and should have convinced me on the spot to reverse. Instead I told myself I would traverse lower on the south facing terrain in hopes of less wind loading. Given the exposure this was a bad decision on its face but one borne of summit/powder fever. I reached the final south facing couloir between Jepsens and Twin and began skinning up it, noting increased wind loading on its west flank but telling myself I could hang to its east side, as I have in past summits of Twin. 100' below the ridge a windslab broke wall to wall above and began to carry me. I deployed my airbag and and self arrested, stopping approximately 300' down. I quickly put my bindings out of uphill lock and attempted to make a swift ski exit, but another larger slide hit me at that point. I was carried at great speed another 1500' or so; my face was submerged immediately and my airway filled with snow. While I tried to get my hand in position to clear my mouth I went airborne over a cliff, landed hard, and kept descending. When the slide stopped I remained submerged but managed to dig my face out, breathe, and begin to drag myself up and to the side of the couloir and (relative safety). I likely was concussed or mildly hypoxic from my burial as I kept thinking this was a dream for several minutes. When my head cleared a member of the earlier party of three had skied to me and begun calling for a helicopter evacuation. He helped get me warm and recover my airbag pack and I cannot stress enough that his bravery in going down to me with hangfire above was exceptional. I was barely able to speak let alone call my own rescue in a timely fashion: without his initiative I would have been in much worse shape. I was hauled by helicopter and stabilized by EMS with many broken ribs, broken facial bones, and a hemothorax.

Looking back I do not often tour solo and, when I do, I stick to mellow trees terrain. What possessed me to break that trend to expose myself to severe terrain alone and push past clear red flags is, tonight, baffling and shameful to me. I have been touring about 18 years and thought that experience would help me know better; instead, I fell prey to the restlessness that comes from a long spell of poor snow then stubborn PWL. My patience failed and I took a ride that should have killed me twice over. I deeply hope others stay safe and can wait a little longer than I could to tackle the big lines of the Wasatch.

---