Avalanches on Red and Granite

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What would help is more personal accountability; we need people thinking for themselves, asking if their situation is safe and if they know enough to answer that question. ...
What I think could genuinely help is a generalized awareness campaign letting people know that virtually ALL trailheads in the Cascades do, in the winter, lead to terrain where have or could be killed by avalanches and that trees do NOT equate to safety. .
Unless people look inward (personal decisions based on knowledge) rather than outward (signs, NWAC, rangers, ski patrol, etc.) for their personal safety, events like these will, I am afraid. continue with regularity.

Of course what is needed is people thinking for themselves, in an intelligent, informed way, making their own decisions on what risks they want to take.

But do we have that?  IMHE at Mt. Rainier NP, we certainly do not.

So what is the easiest way to raise awareness.

Hundreds of signs nobody reads?  Hundreds of rangers spread out over thousands of user-day-trailheads?  Or a requirement for a free license advertised in the outdoor columns of papers and at outdoor stores and at entrance gates that just seeks to inform people about hazards so they demonstrate they are aware of them and the opportunities to gain further information if they wish.  Will it solve all the problems--of course not.  But the next time somebody dies or is lost and there has been 20-50 people searching for them in bad weather, the response to calls for closures to the public can be answered by: they made an informed decision and knowingly took the risk or they violated the closure rule (closed to those w/o permit). And with luck and widespread implementation, maybe fewer become lost and fewer will die.

How has the entire country addressed hunting safety?

Hunter safety courses offered in high schools, issuing a certificate.  Hunter safety courses offered by organized hunting/shooting sports groups, issuing a certificate; then no hunting license w/o the certificate.  Has this stopped all hunting accidents (or murders in the name of accidents)?  Of course not.  We still have thousands of hunters shooting up road signs and trees and each other and littering and drinking and driving ... but I think safety experts will tell you it has helped significantly.

Will a rational approach like a license happen?

Of course not; but it is fun to see all the negative responses. I have a concealed carry permit for my .45 ACP; I didn't even have to demonstrate I knew which end the bullets come out of.

The relatively recent explosion of "backcountry skiiers" and such is largely driven by advertising and all the cool photos in venues from REI, Patagonia, Backcountry.com, Evo, etc. etc. Maybe more effective than signs at TH and licenses for users, would be to encourage these sources of market-driven enthusiasm to engage in a "know before you go" advertising campaign in parallel to their photos of people doing cool stuff with their fancy gear. It would be PR for these companies as promoting responsible use and keeping their customers alive.

Also, along the lines of NWAC forecasting, while trying to make some pre-trip decisions I found myself cross-referencing the NWAC forecast, telemetry, and threads on TAY. I would agree that in the time windows that NWAC had for their forecasting their assessments were probably valid, and that under conditions like that (ie. the ever-tricky "considerable") real-time data is very critical. This seems to be the case especially in the late season after NWAC shuts down. Perhaps they could get a "current updates" section, wherein vetted volunteer contributors could submit concise relevant info in a brief trip-report style. Make this accessible for viewing and contributing via smartphone, and you have an inexpensive distributed network of field experts that runs year-round with minimal maintenance ($).

Shit happens, people need to realize that accidents like this are normal in any system. It's sad, but unavoidable. The last thing we need are more licenses for things like bc skiing, Andrew's analogy of hunter safety classes is horrible. I bet more skiers with avalanche education die each year than these "gapers" you guys are running down.
SAR personnel are mostly volunteers and nobody is making them go into these dangerous situations, they WANT to do this type of work.
Our culture treats death like it is something avoidable, some of us go earlier than others, the best we can do is enjoy our time here for as long as we can.

warning labels on gear like the message from the surgeon general on packs of cigs.
b

Shit happens, people need to realize that accidents like this are normal in any system. It's sad, but unavoidable...Our culture treats death like it is something avoidable, some of us go earlier than others, the best we can do is enjoy our time here for as long as we can.

Well said, none of us gets to choose when or how we die. Try to be happy and make others happy as long as your time lasts on earth, no need to argue who is righter or smarter. Live like Monika did.

What would "Billy the Mountain" and "Ethel" say?