Loading
Member Login
Network Statistics
• Members: 1225 members
• Friendships: 13866 friends
• Comments: 5776 comments
• Music: 301 songs
• Videos: 138 videos
• Forum Posts: 4886 posts
• Events: 53 events
• Groups: 68 groups
• Classifieds: 15 classifieds
• Blog Entries: 97 entries
• Albums: 223 albums
• Polls: 118 polls
• Friendships: 13866 friends
• Comments: 5776 comments
• Music: 301 songs
• Videos: 138 videos
• Forum Posts: 4886 posts
• Events: 53 events
• Groups: 68 groups
• Classifieds: 15 classifieds
• Blog Entries: 97 entries
• Albums: 223 albums
• Polls: 118 polls
People Online (13)
Members Last Logged In
Hi from the other side! And welcome to the new iH
At iH everything's connected, so we're about more than just ghosts. We're a paranormal playground for people drawn from all walks of life and death, and everything in between! We're an inclusive, diverse, and growing community for enthusiasts, investigators, scared-y cats, horror fans, dreamers, occultists, parapsychologists, skeptics, and visionaries. We've got some awesome groups, and we talk everything from haunted houses, to Harry Potter, to Lady Gaga, to quantum theories! Come on in and join us -- Our members ROCK! And together we've set in motion what's already evolving into the new breed of paranormal social networking. All are welcome. But play nice!
Fair Warning: iH could quickly become your home away from home! We're also now on facebook and you can follow the ihboocroo on twitter! * more about us
Recent News
Allies and Friends - 9.2.10Well a new month is upon us, much is now behind us, and still more good things ahead for the new iH! We have been received with encouragement and support for the direction in which we are moving at nearly every turn. And a hopeful "next level" sign of validation of that direction is our recent alliance with MyPara. Though we retain our separate missions and identities, together we're bridging the "differences" gap and working for a greater good to help change the climate of mistrust and intimidation often found within paranormal communities.
So as a gesture of friendship all around I'd like to officially extend a warm welcome to all the new members from MyPara on behalf of the whole lot of us already here. And that same welcome goes out to all of our members, now or in the future: Wherever you come from, when you're here, you're iH family!
Have a wonderful Labor Day weekend all! I'll be here. Working on the world's second largest slingshot for launching our upgraded version of iH! Ha! I can even squeeze Madagascar 2 into our News!
So as a gesture of friendship all around I'd like to officially extend a warm welcome to all the new members from MyPara on behalf of the whole lot of us already here. And that same welcome goes out to all of our members, now or in the future: Wherever you come from, when you're here, you're iH family!
Have a wonderful Labor Day weekend all! I'll be here. Working on the world's second largest slingshot for launching our upgraded version of iH! Ha! I can even squeeze Madagascar 2 into our News!
What's New?
 |
1 hour(s) ago
RCPS NorCal Candy Albertson and Laura Towslee Willcut are now friends.
|
|
1 hour(s) ago
Laura Towslee Willcut and RCPS NorCal Candy Albertson are now friends.
|
 |
2 hour(s) ago
Blane Willcut posted a comment on Chris Allen's profile:Send 'em my way.
|
 |
2 hour(s) ago
Rob ~ DEADPsalm The ultimate snowball... 08:42  Avalanche Skier POV Helmet Cam Burial & Rescue in Haines, Alaska
In April of 2008 I drove from Lake Tahoe to Haines, Alaska up the Al-Can highway through British Columbia and the Yukon with an enclosed 4-snowmobile trailer and a ton of gear. I told myself the year before after a few years of getting "shut out" with heli time, that I wouldn't come back up without...more snowmobiles....instead of sitting around drinking myself into oblivion on a "down day."
Well thank God we did that because we definitely had down days again right from the get-go. The sledding up at Haines Pass is out of control good. Even staying closer to town like below Old Faithful is great. Can't say enough about how much fun it is to ride snowmobiles up there with no trees.
So the first legit day after that main snow storm cycle, we still went out snowmobiling one more time wanting to let the snow set up a bit more....while another part of our group went up in the bird. Actually two groups went up in the bird, and the first group did all the normal day-after-storm-cycle snow pit and snow quality tests.
The first group decided that while the dangers remained elevated, that it was good to go. They all made some of the sickest pow turns in their lives I was told. The next group then - a couple hundred meters or so over - set up for their descent.
The guy in the video was the first one to drop from their group and while not a guide, he had a lot of Utah and AK backcountry experience. He had a Black Diamond Avalung on, but as you can tell from the video while he's talking as he's dropping in, it wasn't in his mouth to start. He tried to shove it in the instant of starting to get sucked down, but it didn't stay in fully during his ragdoll descent. It was just off to the corner of his mouth he said, and he definitely got some snow / ice in his mouth still.
So as he drops in you can also see the sluff to the skier's right immediately start building....and that's actually the chute that was the intended route down. For whatever reason - well pure, unadulterated powder will do it to you - he didn't go make some strong "skier cuts" into the upper pack to do one final snow check as instructed by the main guide who was doing the "tail gunner" work.
Instead he just sent it. And it didn't take more than a few turns out on this big shoulder above this cliff band to break loose.
This was a decent sized avalanche. 1,500 feet the dude fell in a little over 20 seconds. The crown was about 1 - 1.5m. The chute that he got sucked through to the skier's right was flanked on either side by cliff bands that were about 30m tall. He luckily didn't break any bones and obviously didn't hit anything on the run out.
He was only buried for 4 and a half minutes which is incredibly short. I cannot stress these next sentences enough; that in and of itself to be unburied in ONLY 4:28 is miraculous if you have any understanding of being caught in an avalanche and what it takes to be found. It could literally be some kind of "world record" just on how good the guide and supporting cast of other skiers was in getting to him. It also shows why you should ALWAYS be going with people trained in avalanche rescue / first aid....as well as why you'd want to be going with a guided heli operation. Sure this was terrifying for him, but he would've probably been dead if not for going with a guide.
He also got very lucky to be honest. In the time that he's buried, you can hear his breathing already accelerate. The ruffling noise back and forth is his chest rising and falling and the noise that his jacket makes. The intermittent whimpering noise you hear is him trying to swallow and get some air since the avalung wasn't fully in his mouth and instead just to the corner of his mouth. Still sends chills up the back of my neck. Oh...the luck? They located him so fast because his right glove came off just before he came completley to rest and there was an excellent visual of course.
And then the digging out is utterly amazing. I don't think that you could've paid a Hollywood crew to stage something better. The fact that he could've been facing any 360 direction and yet he's looking right up into the sun-filled blue sky with that first full scoop away of the shovel is borderline spiritual.
This is simply a very sobering and unbelievable video. However, you should take away from this video all the positive things that you can learn from it. Yes there are risks to the backcountry - but with proper gear, training, and guide(s) with avalanche and EMT training - you can greatly lower your chances of getting caught in an avalanche in the first place.....and coming back alive if you ever were to get caught in a slide.
Respect Mother Nature for sure. Learn from this. But just like a Craig Kelly in the snowboard world or a Shane McConkey in the ski world who died out in the backcountry (Craig via avalanche and Shane via ski B.A.S.E. jumping), they left this earth while doing the things that they were truly passionate about. And while they would stress the need for the proper gear and training....neither one would want backcountry enthusiasts to curtail their adventures because of their accidents....or this video.
Please check with your local resort for classes on backcountry training, or try starting with a place like AIARE - the American Institute for Avalanche Research and Training. Their website is avtraining.org. |
 |
2 hour(s) ago
Jo-Anne Penn-Kast posted in the group discussion topic "NAME THAT TUNE":Winner!
Now you (or anyone else) can give us one :) |
|
2 hour(s) ago
Jo-Anne Penn-Kast posted in the group discussion topic "NAME THAT TUNE":well at least you're honest about cheating!!!! :) Don'tcha hate when you know a thing but it just totally escapes you? Makes me crazy until I get it. Then like at some random moment I'm like "aha! it's...whatever"
|
|
2 hour(s) ago
Chris Allen posted in the group discussion topic "NAME THAT TUNE":Is it "Far away"???
Listened to it on the CD ... my hunch says that is the name. |
|
3 hour(s) ago
Chris Allen posted in the group discussion topic "NAME THAT TUNE":Give me a second ... looked at the CD and low and behold the stupid thing did not have the song list on it.
Give me three minutes ... I'll cheat LOL. |
|
3 hour(s) ago
Jo-Anne Penn-Kast posted in the group discussion topic "NAME THAT TUNE":ha! you're getting there...I think the line to which you are referring is..."stop breathing if I don't see you anymore".
I have it on my itunes so the number isn't going to cut it Chris....gotta get the name! |
 |
3 hour(s) ago
Jo-Anne Penn-Kast has sent a gift for Bruce Phelps
|
