Avalanche Discussion

I wrote a book for my Level I class (which I am no longer teaching), but have never published the book for general consumption - although it is something I've occasionally considered.

Gary;

Publish it, we could all use a book with good practical avy advise.

Gary - If you publish an avy book be sure and include that study you did on persistent buried weak layers the year that there were so many avy deaths in BC.
I found it very enlightening and a major tool I use in selecting backcountry destintions during storm events.

CookieMonster - Way to drag a lot of experienced knowledge out of Gary. Thanks!

Gary!...I'd love to buy a copy if you ever publish also...

wow Gary and CM - thanks for the discussion.

If you do publish it (which you totally should!) I'd buy a copy, and I'm sure many others share the same sentiment.

I am grateful for the wisdom Gary has put on this post. I believe one issue that can supercede the best judgment are trigger points. The variability of terrain can upset the best observations, since the variability may not appear on the surface. Rudi's accident was triggered on a 10 degree ridge, a shallow point in the snow pack that was attached to an enormous 38 degree slope below.

We train ourselves to look for convexity's, concavities, unsupported slopes, random disturbances under the snow surface, yet the ridges can often be as dangerous when deep instabilities with cohesive layers thin out and extend well over the ridge often pulling the opposite slope with it.

The winter of 2006 in France surprised professionals and recreationalists alike with 56 fatalities(22 guides and instructors) from conditions similar to the BC 2003 season. Trigger points on shallow slopes attached to steeper, exposed aspects caught a large number of skiers who thought they made a safe choice of lower angle terrain.

No test will solve this problem, however careful observations of terrain configuration with good sense of scale can help either avoid or seek low consequence slopes. Last year I think one of the Hummels found this out near Fortress and walked away with a new awareness of testing this issue.

This is the micro slope scale where the forecast is no longer the primary driver in the decision making. Neither are bonding tests. Jill Fredston talked about training to see what is wrong with the picture, and this is a skill that gets overlooked.