Who doesn't use avalanche gear.
- Thread starter dootime3
- Start date
Not getting hammered...it's just that people are passionate about educating others on avys.
Check out these survival stories:
http://backcountryaccess.com/portfolio-category/success-stories/
Watch this video.
http://backcountryaccess.com/portfo...maha-sledder-avalanche-airbag-save-pov-video/
Those are great stories and all, but no thanks. I don't want to have ANYONE I know have a reason to be on that page...but it happens. It happens when you least expect it. Actually, that's often WHY it happens...people don't expect it.
That video of the road bank catching that guy has been around for a long time. It's very telling. That should make a guy think a lot.
If a human was involved in an avalanche then a mistake was made.
Take some time to chew on that one, you might find that it makes sense all the way back to the root beginning of your day and the choices you made.
We do beacon checks in the parking lot.
One of us always turns our beacon to search mode and will go check everyone while we stand around our sleds.
If we catch someone who doesn't beep, we either check the batteries or give them hell. If they don't have a beacon, THEY GET ONE!!!!!
IT's not fair/fun/funny to the rest of us or our families.
One of us always turns our beacon to search mode and will go check everyone while we stand around our sleds.
If we catch someone who doesn't beep, we either check the batteries or give them hell. If they don't have a beacon, THEY GET ONE!!!!!
IT's not fair/fun/funny to the rest of us or our families.
We started doing this last year. People get pretty miffed if they aren't wearing a beacon and I walk up to them in a group of people and they don't beep. This is the exact reason I have spare beacons. I have 3 and I am more than happy to loan them out. Your family would much rather see your smiling face than a cold one in a casket or morgue. I'm pretty sure my wife and kids feel the same way.....
If they cant afford $250_300 for a beacon how the heck do the afford to go out and ride?
I don't wear one and I'd say 90% of the people in my area don't either. I guess it depends a lot on the area you ride in. Slides where we ride are a rare occurrence. If I rode in wide open, steep mostly treeless area's I probably would. Life has risks, you choose which ones you can live with and which ones you can't. Do you guys wear your avy gear when driving up the mountain? Why not you could be hit by one. Maybe you need to watch some videos of avalanches going over hiways
Having ridden in several western states before moving to the wet side of WA, I've noticed the same. Less people here ride with beacons than CO, WY, AK. Not that it's right, but the risk IS less in a lot of areas here in WA for several reasons. Trees are so thick in a lot of spots you can't even p!ss thru them. Snowpack is wet, heavy and usually bonded together by the rain that inevitably hits about every storm. That said, there was a big slide at Stampede a couple years ago and chutes still slide all the time.
I don't get to ride much. Avg maybe 300mi/year over the years, and have seen, or set off many smaller slides and seen a few big ones in action. That tells me its REAL.
I wouldn't even remotely consider not having a beacon and picked up an airbag pack a couple years ago ($400 closeout, pretty cheap insurance).
And if you're riding where it's open at all and good dry snow, avy's happen ALL the time and not always where you'd expect. Can ask the kid named Justin who got buried in Grand Mesa several years ago when we were up there.
Was too much fresh snow for the family to ride, stuck at the lodge. Me n some guys were out getting stuck near the lodge playing around. Came back to running out to a rescue (guy was dug out, but in shock, sled trashed, etc). They were just breaking trail on a main road/trail and a not so huge hill piled up on the second of 3 riders. First guy didn't see it and kept going until he saw no one behind him. Second guy got tossed next/under his sled. 3rd guy didn't see him get buried but knew right where he was because he ran over the buried sled and the dudes helmet riding through the debris only seconds later. Everything turned out fine, but it drives the point home.
And my 9 year old who was about 3 at the time remembers it vividly, the commotion, crying etc in the lodge and to this day is super paranoid of big hills/slopes even though he loves to ride!
Completely agree. Gear up, or don't ride.
D
dootime3
Member
What's your life worth? Of course our lives are worth 200-300$. Yes we can afford it. That is a pretty easy statement to make. But 200-300$ is still not chump change. So how do you convince someone that's been out there countless times to spend that kind of money on a beacon. Because a Beacon seems like it's pretty simple technology for 2015. Yet it cost $300. It sends a single out, it receives a single in. $300 bucks. Meanwhile my new smartphone costs $500. It seems like a product that plays on your fears. Then you have guys that took a class, spent $300 bucks and now they're experts telling you what to do. That's the feed back I'm getting from one of my friends.
Honestly he's got a very good point. Why aren't these beacons $50. The technology is so simple for 2015. They should be so cheap that they throw it in with every mountain sled purchase. Then we wouldn't even be having this discussion.
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Honestly he's got a very good point. Why aren't these beacons $50. The technology is so simple for 2015. They should be so cheap that they throw it in with every mountain sled purchase. Then we wouldn't even be having this discussion.
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I don't have an answer for you on the cost and why they're still so expensive. I do know that at the place i work a GPS unit that has to be accurate to 1/10 of a foot costs $20,000 while an off the shelf GPS using the same tech as a phone is only accurate to 30' and costs a couple hundred bucks. Maybe it's the degree of precision needed to find someone that costs so much.
If I were in your shoes I would be sure to check the conditions before you went out and judge how you ride that day. Every time. Local dealerships or avy websites will tell you what the snow stability is like for the area. If it is considerable stick to the wide open and keep away from the 20 degree runout point below any slopes. Don't go out period if an actual avy warning is issued as the chance of remote trigger is much higher. Maybe buy a used airbag for yourself as a beacon isn't going to keep you alive if no one else has one. Get an angle gage and practice looking for slopes 30 degrees or more. Or have slopes that steep above you. Educate yourself and your friends on where to stay away from is all you can do without having equipment or getting new friends. Play the odds I guess. I ran some numbers one time based on the # of riders in western states and the # of deaths each year. In one year of riding you have a 1/18000 chance of getting killed by a slide. In a lifetime of riding 30-40 years its almost 1/1000. Do the best you can to put the odds in your favor.
If I were in your shoes I would be sure to check the conditions before you went out and judge how you ride that day. Every time. Local dealerships or avy websites will tell you what the snow stability is like for the area. If it is considerable stick to the wide open and keep away from the 20 degree runout point below any slopes. Don't go out period if an actual avy warning is issued as the chance of remote trigger is much higher. Maybe buy a used airbag for yourself as a beacon isn't going to keep you alive if no one else has one. Get an angle gage and practice looking for slopes 30 degrees or more. Or have slopes that steep above you. Educate yourself and your friends on where to stay away from is all you can do without having equipment or getting new friends. Play the odds I guess. I ran some numbers one time based on the # of riders in western states and the # of deaths each year. In one year of riding you have a 1/18000 chance of getting killed by a slide. In a lifetime of riding 30-40 years its almost 1/1000. Do the best you can to put the odds in your favor.
These are the same friends that won't wear beacons, right? And haven't taken an avalanche class? I'd say compared to those of us that are always prepared and have the knowledge from a class, we are a lot better off than you and your group. Experts, no. More educated, prepared and not ignorant of the dangers that WILL come to fruition at some point, absolutely.
D
dootime3
Member
They come at me with this. This is where we ride. Where's the avalanche danger they asked. (Big horns btw)
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Yea, I don't know how you argue with someone about it if they are that set in their ways or have their mind made up. All I can say is keep working on them or get them into one of the free classes that are going around. If you are truly wanting to get them into avy gear, then you need to not give up and start the trend. You can pick up used beacons for pretty cheap.
I agree with Kevin. Do it for yourself, hopefully your buddies will follow your lead. I just took Mike's class last night, for the second time. It amazed me how many new stories and pics of the "that never slides" areas he has. He also said the number 1 comment form avy survivors is "that never slides". 2nd was "it had tracks all over it".
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dootime3
Member
It's hard to convince them for where we have been riding. We talked about going to Cooke a couple years ago. But everyone, not just me, agreed that we couldn't go because we didn't have the training or gear. So we do stay out of the steep and deep.
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The Bighorn Mountains (Apsáalookěi: Basawaxaawúua or Iisaxpúatahchee Isawaxaawúua[1]) are a mountain range in northern Wyoming and southern Montana in the United States, forming a northwest-trending spur from the Rocky Mountains extending approximately 200 miles (320 km) northward on the Great Plains. They are separated from the Absaroka Range, which lie on the main branch of the Rockies in western Wyoming, by the Bighorn Basin.
No Go / GO
Every time you and your buds go ride,collect $10 a head every trip. Put it in an envelope in the trailer or truck.
Then if one of you ( or more ) ever die in an avy the " survivors " can hit the bar and get good and shytfaced before they tell the families..you coulda...BUT you didn't !
Then if any is left over they can go buy beacons
No Go / GO
Every time you and your buds go ride,collect $10 a head every trip. Put it in an envelope in the trailer or truck.
Then if one of you ( or more ) ever die in an avy the " survivors " can hit the bar and get good and shytfaced before they tell the families..you coulda...BUT you didn't !
Then if any is left over they can go buy beacons
Attending the classes/using the gear is a good idea. There is no valid argument against it.
But those of us who will log 2000 miles plus per trip have a higher chance of being in a vehicle crash than an avalanche.
And most of us speed excessively for the majority of the trip, regardless of road conditions.
Many of us do not wear seatbelts.
We rarely wear helmets on motorcycles.
Never on a bicycle.
Point is there are steps we can take towards absolute safety, but choose not to.
I don't think we should shame others into making a safety choice, as they could choose to leave the sport if offended.
We all have a different risk tolerance level.
But those of us who will log 2000 miles plus per trip have a higher chance of being in a vehicle crash than an avalanche.
And most of us speed excessively for the majority of the trip, regardless of road conditions.
Many of us do not wear seatbelts.
We rarely wear helmets on motorcycles.
Never on a bicycle.
Point is there are steps we can take towards absolute safety, but choose not to.
I don't think we should shame others into making a safety choice, as they could choose to leave the sport if offended.
We all have a different risk tolerance level.
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