Is video sharing increasing danger of injury

“It’s mostly the hardcore riders, people who know better,” Bruce Tremper, director of the Forest Service Utah Avalanche Center, said recently of the emerging trend of experts testing their skills against the backcountry, no matter the conditions. “In the past, we felt once you’re in the hardcore category, you’re more low risk for us. But now with the films and the videos, everybody is pushing it to the extreme.”

from Avalanches on the Rise for Thrill-Seeking Skiers in The New York Times today:
www.nytimes.com/2012/02/21/sports/skiing...eking-skiers.html?hp

Interesting observation but something that I feel is not limited to the hardcore professional class. I have noticed on recent trips people disregarding the plea to ski a slope one at a time so they can get their head cam footage of skier in front.

Anyway the article is worth reading. You might learn something (I have never heard the phrase high-country snow until now

Have you noticed people are willing to push the limits solely to get better, more extreme, footage?
Has YouTube and Vimeo indirectly increased the possibility of injury for backcountry skiers?

Thanks for posting this. Its a really interesting topic and on the surface of it I'd have to agree with you. The thing is though for every video I've watched of someone hucking a cliff or out-skiing an avalanche I've watched at least one avy assesment tutorial vid or how to properly do a particluar test. I've really enjoyed the Avalanche Guys on Youtube which is Doug Chabot and crew doing a quick video analysis on accidents and snowpacks.

I think there might be a balance there somewhere between promoting and preventing accidents. The ability to get great info in a visual format is huge as books just don't cut it for some people. I guess just like beacons, shovels, probes, airbags and more the helmet cam/Youtube is best used in the hands of responsible people.

Haven't noticed a shift on my trips, but then again we tend to be pretty conservative weenies. But FWIW, the term "Kodachrome courage" (aka "Kodak courage" in more recent time as Kodachrome faded from reality) far pre-dates video on the interwebs. And way before even Flickr appeared I recall watching folks stand in the middle of the firing range in order to get great action photos with the right background etc. I think that the results of these moments are more widely publicized now, but I'm dubious about claims that non-pro folks are taking significantly more risks than they used to, or to put it another way, that they were taking significantly less in the pre-Youtube past.

An interesting hypothesis but needs to be backed up by statistics to have any validity.
Not sure the statistics will back it up frankly.

If you take your hypothesis to the next level....what about websites like TGR and TAY?
Do trip reports of exception locations, e-gloating about exceptional conditions etc., promote people to try and get the same or get the same adulation?

More people in the backcountry.... but have avy victims increased significantly????
Statistics please!!!!

Equipment doesn't make decisions.

Some people get it.
Some people don't.

I'm seeing more tracks into "loaded" slopes where there has been no evidence/sign of ski cutting.


Spooky