South face of Guryu – death trap.

Yesterday I was driving through the valley as the sun was rising and stopped to take some photos. I thought to myself what a perfect day to set up a camera in this spot focused on the above slope to watch it slide. The wind had been strong the previous afternoon and blowing all the new snow straight into this area. Last year we had a skier die in the same spot in very similar conditions although the story has it that he was looking for a safer line but the white out conditions had him disorientated. That day the whole lot slid and the person was eventually found ,passed away, 5 meters under the snow.  Yesterday a skier/snowboarder triggered an avalanche which almost took out another skier lower down the mountain. This whole area is very dangerous and should be avoided. Please consider others when looking at dropping into anything and please think of your family and how they would feel in the event that you died. Stay safe.

As a side note on this. I snowboarded this face in 2004 and observed a lot of avalanche debris at the base at that time along with large cracks in the face. It is a dangerous area and I do not recommend it for anyone. There is a crossover path lower down the valley so if an avalanche does occur  it could bury those who are actually trying to take a safer route. I know of one person who likes to big note himself saying that I am unaware of the dangers in this area. He is on my list of avoided businesses within the region for a number of reasons. For all backcountry tours in Hakuba please use the Evergreen Outdoor guys.