High Danger: The List

[The Fourth Wolf]

Avalanches only occur when the conditions are right. I offer a simple list of the most common, dangerous conditions.

My intent here is to get my fellow riders to think about these factors BEFORE commiting to a hill.

1) Are there naturally occuring avalanches in the area?
2) What's my local avy center advising?
3) What are the snow conditions? Major snowfall in the last 36 hours? (8"+) Is there wind loading?
4) What's the slope angle? -- 30 to 40 degree slopes are the prime slab producers
5) Does my line take me into a terrain trap (see the pics of the Meeker slide)
6) Where's the runout zone if the hill does let go?
7) Are there other riders on the hill?
8) Do the other riders understand they are NOT to ride up to help me if I get stuck and they are NEVER to cut above and across me?
9) What time of day is it? -- 1pm to 4pm is the prime slide window
10) Am I prepared to respond if an avy occurs? Are my friends?

This list is NOT complete but it covers most of the "red zone" factors that most snowmobilers can recognize.

We're not skiers. We have different factors, inherant to our sport to contend with. Mainly, we've got engine noise in our ears and we move fast so we're not likely to ever hear or feel the tell-tale "whumphing" of a settling slab, and if we do see shooting cracks it's usually too late.

Also, we can cover a lot of terrain and have the ability to ride different conditions all in the same day so stopping for half an hour to dig a pit on every new slope is probably not going to happen.

Guys are getting killed because they either didn't recognize the danger or they talked themselves out of accepting it. I don't mean to lecture but I feel strongly that if we just pay attention to the signs that are obvious even with helmets on and engines running, fewer of us will die.

Ride Hard. Ride Smart. Ride Home.

 

[James T Kirk]

Dont forget wind (direction, intensity over the past weather cycle, and effect on the snow i.e. which slopes have been loaded recently), sun and temperature, all of which are big factors that must be taken into account.

 

[skippy]

How do we go about getting avalanche information and knowledge to the people that don't spend there whole day on forums reading up on this stuff? I know this place has supposedly 50,000 members but there's a huge amount of people out there that never heard of snowest that ride the mountains but don't know anything about the what ifs of avalanches.. Not everyone has the same level of common sense. I think the manufactures of sleds should make it mandatory to watch a hour video of some sort before being able to purchase a sled for the mountains. JMO

 

[christopher]

Bump

 

[Solarguy]

Avalanches only occur when the conditions are right. I offer a simple list of the most common, dangerous conditions.

My intent here is to get my fellow riders to think about these factors BEFORE commiting to a hill.

1) Are there naturally occuring avalanches in the area?
2) What's my local avy center advising?
3) What are the snow conditions? Major snowfall in the last 36 hours? (8"+) Is there wind loading?
4) What's the slope angle? -- 30 to 40 degree slopes are the prime slab producers
5) Does my line take me into a terrain trap (see the pics of the Meeker slide)
6) Where's the runout zone if the hill does let go?
7) Are there other riders on the hill?
8) Do the other riders understand they are NOT to ride up to help me if I get stuck and they are NEVER to cut above and across me?
9) What time of day is it? -- 1pm to 4pm is the prime slide window
10) Am I prepared to respond if an avy occurs? Are my friends?

This list is NOT complete but it covers most of the "red zone" factors that most snowmobilers can recognize.

We're not skiers. We have different factors, inherant to our sport to contend with. Mainly, we've got engine noise in our ears and we move fast so we're not likely to ever hear or feel the tell-tale "whumphing" of a settling slab, and if we do see shooting cracks it's usually too late.

Also, we can cover a lot of terrain and have the ability to ride different conditions all in the same day so stopping for half an hour to dig a pit on every new slope is probably not going to happen.

Guys are getting killed because they either didn't recognize the danger or they talked themselves out of accepting it. I don't mean to lecture but I feel strongly that if we just pay attention to the signs that are obvious even with helmets on and engines running, fewer of us will die.

Ride Hard. Ride Smart. Ride Home.

Great post thank you! Those of us with the education and experience need to speak up and have conversations about AVI Danger and speak up while riding. First conversation of the day: Current Avi report, beacons on, beacon check for all members of the group, ride concerns as far as Avi conditions affect, one at a time on Avi potential hills etc. Etc.