More Suffering

You gotta know when to hold 'em, know when to fold 'em, know when to walk away, know when to run—Kenny Rogers

On Sunday, four people were killed by avalanches in Washington State. I won't armchair because it only adds to the suffering for survivors.

But there's another side to the story, and it's that not everyone died. Here's a post from Turns-All-Year in which a local backcountry skier describes their experiences in/around the backcountry near Crystal Mountain Ski Area.

Yesterday was really bad. Condolences.

In the backcountry near Crystal, we triggered two slabs one 80-ft wide with 12 inch crown. No burial. The one strong warning we observed.

Then later triggered a 250-ft wide 24 inch crown. Brought down the whole small (what we thought was mellow angle) bowl, on us as we were skinning up. All of us were buried. Two partial, chest +/- deep. One burial a full 4-ft deep. Beacon and probe and quick (5-6 min.?) uncovering of the 4-ft deep burial saved a life. We all skied out with no major injuries.

A crazy day indeed.

In other posts, I've written that there is a significant difference between experience and skill. Skill means knowing how to do something properly. The tale from Crystal Mountain is a testament to the ugly possibilites that arise when you take a low skill approach to backcountry skiing.

As always, as I've written so often, it's so easy to focus on the physical and kinesthetic aspects of backcountry skiing, but the underpinnings of the sport are almost entirely cerebral.

That's why you have to manage your state of mind.

Now every gambler knows the secret to survin' is knowing what to throw away and what to keep.

The Root of Suffering

Terrain + Snowpack + Weather + Human = Desire * Uncertainty

I've updated my recipe for decisions ( directly above ).

So I'll spare you the long-winded rattle about risk management, because what does all that stuff really mean? If you want the long version, read my Backcountry Recipe Book post. For follow up reading, check out Lynne Wolfe's interview in The Valley Citizen. Lynne is brilliant ( as usual ).

The long and short of it: no matter how we approach the world, it's up to us to proactively manage our state of mind.

Does Size Matter?

I feel like a broken record.
I feel like a broken record.
I feel like a broken record.

Does size matter?

Here's an excellent video of a small avalanche.

Watch the video and draw your own conclusions about the relative safety of a small slope.



The slope in the video provides a perfect example of the concept of consequences. For any slope that contains enough snow for a complete burial, consequences are already at maximum regardless of the size of the slope.

Thanks to whoever posted this video. I assume that your friend is unhurt, and if so, it's great that you were paying attention because it doesn't take very much for situation like this to have an entirely different ending.

So, with that in mind, does size matter?

Does Size Matter?

Hello from bed.

Two weeks of cold, sinus infection, and ear infection have kept me busy. It's even better when your family catches the same cold, and everyone gets sick ( and cranky ).

In light of the recent snow, and in light of some recent close calls, I'm going to post a link to a post I wrote in March of 2010. This post discusses the relationship between terrain size and our perception of hazard.

This is an important topic because, at one time or another, we've all traded horses and chosen smaller slopes that we thought were safer. But as the USFS pamphlet on avalanches clearly states, about half of all avalanche victims are killed by slides running less than 300 feet ( 90 metres ) slope distance.

Does Size Matter?

And while we're at it...

Let's have a quick refresher on uncertainty.

From Canada

Here's Ilya Storm talking about avalanche education and recent conditions in British Columbia. ( And what a name! )

Avalanche Education


Current Danger Ratings in British Columbia


Snowpack Structure / Current Avalanche Danger


Triggers

Tunnel Creek

Je ne peux pas vivre sans ta lumière, mais je dois essayer—proverbe Français vieux

A sad and information story about the Tunnel Creek avalanche that killed Riley McCarthy in March 2011. Thanks to Zap at Turns-All-Year for the link.

http://www.seattlemet.com/travel-and-outdoors/articles/stevens-pass-avalanche-december-2011/1/

The accident report from NWAC ( PDF ). I added "Tunnel Creek" to the Washington Terrain Ratings post.

Happy Holidays

This CookieMonster wishes you happy holidays!