Avalanches on Red and Granite

If an a relatively experienced BC skier gets caught in a slide ...then that's bad judgement.

If a Boy Scout group or Snowshoe club or inexperienced Mountaineer's group gets caught in a slide its usually ignorance.

So one of the ways to combat that would be to concentrate education/communication on avy dangers to those groups , by whatever means is best.

There's no magic bullet but a combination of things might help.
I think signs are good.
I think Friends of NWAC need to consider targeting other groups for their information outreach such as these snowshoe clubs, Boy scouts groups or whatever they are and getting other websites to include avy links like TAY does.

Tragic, condolences to the families

One thing that has bothered me about that day is the fact that there were a few back country skiers that day that took it upon themselves to rip down newly hung flagging which was put up to make sure other personell coming into and out of the field did not stray from the trail. When we saw them tearing it down and stuffing it in their pockets, which was overflowing with our ribbon that they had torn down, they said that if people couldn't be in the woods without flagging then they didn't need to be there. I tend to agree with that line of thought, BUT it is not their place to be tearing it down, first of all if someone did need that flagging to find their way back then those skiers have essentially signed someones death certificate possibly AND created another mission for MR and SAR to go in and find those potentially lost individuals.. In our situation however, that ribbon was intended to make sure the teams coming in and out of the field made it just fine WITHOUT DELAY... So I ask that anyone who see's fresh flagging hung in the trees, please do not tear it down, it could mean peoples life...

Wow, that's really unfortunate. It seems like a simple solution would be to get some tape that says something like "Search And Rescue In Progress." Then people would be much less likely to remove it. (Of course, it would be the responsibility of the SAR teams to remove it when they're done.)

---

I did a little googling and it looks like you can order custom caution tape from a number of sources. Here's one:

www.customcautiontape.com/

Search for "custom caution (or barrier) tape".

...
I have a question...that 13 member group of snowshoers?...where they part of an organized group or club? Seems like a large number if only an ad hoc group of individuals.

Speculation  It might have been a www.meetup.com/ or similar type group -- these social networking sites are gaining a lot of popularity and the process of getting involved is far less formal than traditional clubs.

a few back country skiers that day that took it upon themselves to rip down newly hung flagging

Wow -- how did they respond when informed that the flagging was for a search and rescue operation?

Speculation  It might have been a www.meetup.com/ or similar type group -- these social networking sites are gaining a lot of popularity and the process of getting involved is far less formal than traditional clubs.

double YOUR speculation and raise you!
Maybe these meetup sites need to be made aware of avy risks and links to NWAC then. I'm sure they have lawyer who'd like to make sure they don't get sued in the future

I heard that the USFS had been running snowshoe trips in the area throughout the winter. Is this correct?

I heard that the USFS had been running snowshoe trips in the area throughout the winter.  Is this correct?

The USFS has been doing snowshoe walks into Commonweath basin for decades...