I have another one:
If he was sliding across a hard crust of ice, why are his tracks so clearly visible?

And heck, if that was me I'd have that photo printed on the back of a t-shirt to wear at the Trade show with the caption "Been there, Done That, got the T-shirt"

Phil

AKGrouch wrote: I do have a question for those of you that fly skiis. If he was sliding on top of crusty ice, why didn't he just add power and go around?

I'm not yet a ski flier, but I'll posit a guess since I play in the snow a lot.

His tracks are clearly visible, so the snow had to be soft enough for a 900 lb aircraft to make them. I think perhaps the snow was softer than he anticipated, or had already turned to "corn" snow for the day, and he thought he would: 1) slow down enough just from friction, and 2) could make the turn before the cliff with enough power to turn but not so much that would he lengthened the runout. Corned up snow can be dense in the top few inches, and not yield very easily laterally. By the time he realized it was going over, it was way to late to power up and go around. He must have gotten caught in that no-man's zone.

A guy needs an emergency drogue or grappling hook or something to toss out....

Soft Snow Uphill Not enough HORSPOWER Small Ski's =

He should have that T shirt!!
Some times it's better to be Lucky than GOOD!
So glad they walked away, You can see the better landing spot behind them and a little lower where they got there ride out.
Pretty sharp learning curve, but at least it was not a 90 degree one!

it was a very steep incline that they landed on. and there was no visual reference. it would have been possible to drag the area downhill to test snow conditions and set up a visual reference point before attempting to land. once you are low and slow on final, and you are starting to get behind the power curve and starting to realize how steep the uphill grade is- you are committed to landing. and once you are on the ground, headed uphill with no visual reference, you cannot see where the earth drops off.
and yes, the area just to the north and downhill from them was a much better place to land. and was successfully done just a couple hours later.
these guys were only a 10 minute flight from town, but it may have been a 3 day hike if they hadn't had radio communications. don't head out to pioneer new stuff without 2 airplanes

Thanks for the response guys. I have never been on skis, feet or plane, and haven't a clue. The traction or I should say degradation because of the granularization or stickiness factor below the surface is something I would have never thought of. The explanation makes total sense though. Thanks again.

pat