Grim Reaper
December 16th, 2008Posted in Skiing in the Tetons
We’ve all probably heard by now of the avalanche fatalities this weekend’s snowstorms made possible. Lou Dawson does a heroic job each year warning skiers to be careful, and yet, even very experienced, avalanche savy skiers like Mr. Brettman fall victim to judgment lapses every year.
Mr. Brettman perished out of bounds, but other avalanches, including a fatal one at Snowbird, occurred inbounds this weekend. Resort ski patrols do their best to protect skiers from avalanches, and do it extremely well, but this weekend was a clear reminder that we all must be constantly vigilant when we enter avalanche prone terrain, regardless if we’re skiing inbounds or not! We all must be our own first line of defense, assessing the potential dangers- as if our lives depend on it.
Not too many years ago my son Evan and I nearly, and naively, had a near miss with an early season avalanche while hiking and skiing Grand Targhee before the resort officially opened. It was extremely foggy and I was embarrassingly disoriented, considering the thousands of times I had skied over the section of Targhee’s main ridge we were on, right in the very middle of the resort, but the fog and our approach from the downhill side made finding and recognizing the familiar landmarks difficult. The fog also prevented us from seeing the snow anywhere but directly under our skis, so if there was any evidence of slide activity, we couldn’t see it.
But we did hear the “whoomping” after we entered what we hoped was the Good Medicine run, a not too steep and not too long run that drops off the ridge. We were committed to ski it by then, and we did, safely, but the next day we learned that an avalanche had run in that area at just about the time we had skied it. We were nearly victims of being too familiar with the terrain, too accustomed to the work of the ski patrol, and too casual in our concern of the heightened danger of early season snowpacks.
I wish everyone a powder filled winter. Let’s just remember to really us our heads every day we are out enjoying this sublime sport.
Grim Reaper commented:
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