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Nick Herschaft

Backcountry skier and avalanche survivor featured on The Fine Line podcast (Backcountry Zero/Teton County SAR Foundation), telling the story of the 2020 Broken Thumb avalanche in Grand Teton National Park.

Oct 1, 2026

The Fine Line

The Fine Line

66. Avalanche at Broken Thumb

Oct 1 · 1h 4m

Brad BatesGUEST
41:01
I instantly had my radio and I said, slide, slide, slide.
Nick HerschaftGUEST
41:08
Yeah, Caitlin and I had descended for five or 10 minutes, whatever it took us down the edge of 25 short there, found that last, probably the last shot you can take down an avalanche canyon.
Nick HerschaftGUEST
41:20
And we look at it, we see two ski tracks had been through it.
Nick HerschaftGUEST
41:24
We looked for any signs of instability.
Nick HerschaftGUEST
41:26
We couldn't find them.
Nick HerschaftGUEST
41:27
We both agreed this looks like a good spot to go down.
Nick HerschaftGUEST
41:29
This is our plan B. Let's nudge into it, get to the safe zone at the top and turn our radios in to ski this one at a time.

17 MINS LATER

Matt HalversonGUEST
58:25
So think about that.

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