I'm posting this in the Avy Awareness forum, not in General for a popularity contest or a pissing match. Lots of discussion on the boards here lately about slides, fatalities, tools, philosophy, training, awareness. Discussion is great and I'm all for it. In the interest of making some positive observation, I will post an image or two I shot this afternoon on a recon flight (search for pow!) in the hope that the illustrations will give pause to everybody and that it may reshape some people's habits and thinking about how they go about thumping on those hills.
Snow conditions aside - and they are fairly unstable region-wide at present, one should never go thumping on a hill "all at once." It's almost the simplest and certainly has to be the least expensive form of sledding-in-action safety that can be performed, and the deadliest statistically that is neglected. How many times do the avy instructors warn that if only one practice were adhered to, banging on a hill one sledder at a time with partners in observation, then the fatality rate from avalanche would be reduced by 50%? Answer: Lots of times they say it. I hear it every year in the classrooms.
Anyway, we saw parties out having fun today, and it was great to view the scenery and scope out ridable terrain in the plane. We saw some parties looking like they were tracking up some great territory in boondock-land, and being safe about it, and we saw some parties riding in areas and in such a way that was about shocking, especially given snowpack conditions. Oh well, I've seen death before, but it's not a nice thing to watch - so I'm old and cringe about it now.
Look at pics and see if you can find the 6 riders all banging on the same hill, the leeward side of a windswept ridge in the Big Hole Mountains, in avalanche terrain, all at once. See if you can spot the no-runout zone, and the guy sidehilling across the entire party on top. Even if snow conditions were as safe as you can predict, the practice is completely off the charts in terms of awareness and responsibility - in my opinion.
Your mileage may vary.
Opinion is offered as mine and mine only, and as opinion only.
Stovebolt
Team Ruptured Buzzard
Snow conditions aside - and they are fairly unstable region-wide at present, one should never go thumping on a hill "all at once." It's almost the simplest and certainly has to be the least expensive form of sledding-in-action safety that can be performed, and the deadliest statistically that is neglected. How many times do the avy instructors warn that if only one practice were adhered to, banging on a hill one sledder at a time with partners in observation, then the fatality rate from avalanche would be reduced by 50%? Answer: Lots of times they say it. I hear it every year in the classrooms.
Anyway, we saw parties out having fun today, and it was great to view the scenery and scope out ridable terrain in the plane. We saw some parties looking like they were tracking up some great territory in boondock-land, and being safe about it, and we saw some parties riding in areas and in such a way that was about shocking, especially given snowpack conditions. Oh well, I've seen death before, but it's not a nice thing to watch - so I'm old and cringe about it now.
Look at pics and see if you can find the 6 riders all banging on the same hill, the leeward side of a windswept ridge in the Big Hole Mountains, in avalanche terrain, all at once. See if you can spot the no-runout zone, and the guy sidehilling across the entire party on top. Even if snow conditions were as safe as you can predict, the practice is completely off the charts in terms of awareness and responsibility - in my opinion.
Your mileage may vary.
Opinion is offered as mine and mine only, and as opinion only.
Stovebolt
Team Ruptured Buzzard
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...nice pics...good commentary...where the term 'big picture' comes from...
