Comment on Airbags in the PNW

That kind of contradicts what you believe most people do.

I think most people drive faster now than they did in the '60s and '70s but maybe that skewed since my family drove a VW bus back then.

Descending skills allow us to hit the tiny safe window and ski out of the building torrent.

This says it all...

I think most people drive faster now than they did in the '60s and '70s but maybe that skewed since my family drove a VW bus back then.

I would agree with that, everyone's in a hurry, even in the backcountry.

This says it all...

Just ski right out of the slide with your skillz, or if that fails deploy your airbag...

I got airbags for my wife and me before Tunnel Creek.

One cannot generalize that airbags lead people to "ski it anyway" - at least I know that's not true for me. If you have toured with my wife you would now how conservative she is. She refused to go on a Mountaineers tour (part of the bc course) at the pass led by Martin Volken when we discussed the current snowfall and avy conditions at the fire station before start. They had to reorganize the groups. A couple of groups were literally touring around the lodge, but she felt more comfortable hitting upper Nash, knowing that it is controlled and safe - so we did this.

Nevertheless, I like some extra protection just in case.

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One cannot generalize that airbags lead people  to "ski it anyway"
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To be precise -- I said there is a risk that this will occur. Not a certainty.

Airbags are too new to have meaningfull stats on their long term effect on risk taking behavoir and whether airbag usage develops a new form of heuristic trap.

www.summitpost.org/human-factors-in-avalanche-incidents/188636
www.sunrockice.com/docs/Heuristic%20traps%20IM%202004.pdf