Avalanche Safety Trifecta
By Doug
Chabot
Published in the December 2011 issue of Snowmobile Storm Adventure Magazine
Avalanches are deadly.
They kill more people on public lands than fires, lightning, floods or any
other natural event. In the last 10
years 114 snowmobilers have died in avalanches in the United States. Triggering a slide can be terrifying. Getting caught is horrific. Digging out your partner is hell. Assessing snow stability is a difficult skill
that’s never mastered. Like every
avalanche forecaster I spend most of my days studying snow, yet I still
sometimes get it wrong. We all make
mistakes. No one leaves the house
thinking they will get caught in a slide.
No one plans on car accidents.
But they happen. Even the best
prepared get caught off guard, but there are three reliable, proven techniques
to improve the odds of surviving in the backcountry.
- Only put one person at a time on a slope.
- Recent avalanche activity is Mother Nature’s number one sign that slopes are unstable.
- Everyone needs to carry rescue gear.
We could almost halve snowmobiler avalanche fatalities by
doing one simple thing: one person at a time on a slope. Since many snowmobile accidents involve
multiple victims, exposing one rider at a time would drastically reduce the
number of fatalities. We do not have to
buy special gear, take an avalanche course, read the avalanche advisory, or
stop high marking in order to take turns playing in avalanche terrain. There are countless stories of riders stuck
on a slope being killed by an avalanche triggered by others heading up to help.
The more people riding on a slope, the
more potential triggers there are hunting for the weak spot. Multiple burials almost always end up in
fatalities because avalanche rescue takes time, time the buried victims do not
have. One person at a time on a slope
leaves others in a better position to be rescuers if something goes wrong. Armed with this tidbit of lifesaving
information, you now have a bullet proof excuse to be lazy and let your friend
struggle alone to free his welded sled: you are the rescue team.
The beauty of snowmobiling is that riders travel dozens of
miles over many aspects and elevations to find great snow. Although riders see a lot of terrain they
routinely miss the mountain’s biggest red flag:
recent avalanche activity is
Mother Nature’s number one sign that slopes are unstable. Observant riders notice important, bulls-eye
data on snow stability. Triggering small
slides is a warning that bigger slopes are unstable. Additionally, all avalanches indicate that
adjacent and similar slopes are ripe to slide.
High marking or even riding on a slope next to an avalanche or on one
with the same aspect or elevation is risky business. That’s like diving into the ocean for a swim
while there’s blood swirling around from a recent shark attack. I don’t recommend it. Snowpack layers are relatively uniform across
mountain ranges and an avalanche indicates with 100% certainty that slopes are
unstable. There’s no need to dig a
snowpit or call the avalanche center because you’ve been handed a free piece of
highly reliable information warning you to play elsewhere.
The third life-saving piece of information isn’t free but
worth the cost: everyone needs to carry
an avalanche transceiver (aka beacon), shovel and probe. This equipment will cost $400-$500, but
that’s a small price of admission to staying alive. Serious risk takers owe it to themselves and
their families to stack the odds in their favor. A person completely buried in an avalanche has
an 85% chance of survival if dug up within 15 minutes. This is only possible if everyone carries rescue gear.
Fifteen minutes goes fast. A
beacon search takes time and practice to perform. Shoveling is back-breaking aerobic work. A probe can pinpoint the victim, saving
valuable minutes. Kayakers wear life
vests, mountain bikers wear helmets and snowmobilers should wear avalanche
transceivers. Avalanches are violent,
tumbling riders and separating them from their sleds. Everyone must carry shovel and probe in a backpack firmly
attached the body. Rescue equipment is
useless if it’s under your hood or strapped to the back of your sled. It must be accessible during the heat of
battle.
Although simple, this trifecta of three precautions can keep
you and your partner from dying.
No comments:
Post a Comment