Backcountry at Crystal - Ski Patrol Authority

Everyone at TAY is too hate filled and not civil enough for you?

Ha.

Haha.

Hahaha...

and you manged to get Joe upset with you.

Ha

Hahaha

Hahaha

.....and then argued with him about Xtal area terrain choices and snow.

Hahahahahah

You've gotten a bit of a rough welcome here so far -- I'm guessing it's partly because you're a new user and no one was sure if you were going to come back into the conversation.

I'm glad you have and I hope this doesn't devolve into more name-calling.  I think, as with most things, that it will be difficult to reconcile two very different perspectives on the situation otherwise.

My read on Joe's post is that he's not as upset about the Powder 8's as he is fired up about what seems like a poor choice of touring destinations, given the day's events.  My opinion, as I mentioned, is that sometimes the correct choice is not to go into the backcountry at all, if you're not comfortable assessing the danger for yourself.

*** Edit ***

And yeah, Brit, that's not helping.

Wow.
I'm glad I don't have to sit jury duty for this one  :
I could support either side without much urging.

I've probably stopped by the patrol office at Crystal at least 30 or 40 times over the years. Probably 90% of those visits resulted in a great briefing and a very positive experience. The others made me feel like I was just in the way and should not have bothered them... kinda like skiseattle's description of the 2nd half of his/her briefing. Not complaining about those few bad experiences ya understand... ski patrol is a busy place and I know they have a lot more to do than brief bc skiers. I'm actually quite impressed that they do as well as they do.

Had I not knew the area I would have done just what skiseattle did and dropped by ski patrol for a briefing. And I may have gone the way patrol had told me to go instead of the way some rude (other) person told me or the way folks were yelling at me to go if that way seemed less safe to me for all concerned and I didn't really know how much of the bowl was needed for the contest.

I can easily see how that all could have happened to an intelligent person that was just trying to do the right thing.

And I certainly agreed with Joe in his post when he berated the unknown skinners wandering into the contest area, especially when they were waved away and nonetheless refused to turn away. That seemed quite rude, uncaring and inconsiderate (not to mention seemingly unsafe).

This looks like a classic example of human communications breakdown to me. I've actually read of wars starting over less
I think we are fortunate that skiseattle had the gumption to come back and explain his (or her) actions. It was obviously a great place to get the question answered, albeit a bit brisk for a first encounter.

skiseattle if you end up hanging around you're likely to note that first time posters on this forum are seldom, if ever, get worked over like you were on their first post. You may also eventually find that Joe is one of the nicest and most giving people that you would ever want to meet.

We welcome you to TAY, skiseattle, as a fellow bc ski sister or brother... although if a brother and you wear pink panties you might want to...  never mind... there is probably a more appropriate forum for what I was about to say. I get in enough trouble around here as it is

Well said Ron.

Well said Ron.

You mean I'm not in trouble for bringing up the pink panties?

Thanks Ron for the kind words.
Marcus is right on, my focus is on the lack of avy savvy.
Self righteous is so far away from my personality profile that gave me a good laugh.
This is such a serious matter to me there is no time for Kumbaya's or nurturing a developing relationship or wondering if I put the right thing in my recycle bin or if I use the correct verbiage so it comes off soothing and pretty as an Obama speech. Your actions were placing yourselves at serious risk, if you don't think so then that is your right, but it does not mean you're right no matter how much justification you do.
I've seen a lot of things over the years. I have been in avalanches where the slope was skied several times before I skied it, but magically it decided to go big on me and took out the whole valley below me, it would have killed anyone below.
Moving forward, Some sage advice would be to really do your homework and study some good books. Staying Alive in Avalanche Terrain is a great book that places things into perspective.
Backcountry travel is a lifelong learning journey, when I think I have it all figured out Mother Nature teaches me a huge lesson I'll never forget. So lots of humility and self responsibility (what is my part in this problem, I'm not a victim) makes it easier to learn.
Good luck to you guys, I look forward to reading your interesting perspectives on future subjects.