February 21, 2012 in Outdoors, City, Region

Fresh powder isn’t worth dying for

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Mark Beattie, assistant manager of Mountain Gear in Spokane, demonstrates the Backcountry Access avalanche airbag system used for backcountry skiing.
(Full-size photo)

The best are most likely to die.

That applies to many recreational sports, but after Sunday’s tragedies in the North Cascades it’s worth examining why exceptional skiers, snowboarders, climbers and snowmobilers are more likely than the rest of us to be avalanche victims.

Thousands of ski area visitors safely carved through glorious fresh powder Sunday without worrying about the slopes sliding down with them. Professional avalanche control at all of the region’s downhill resorts is a hidden service sliders get for the cost of a lift ticket.

But a snowboarder and three skiers with exceptional skills were reduced from role models to case studies within seconds because they had the talent to leave most people behind.

Avalanche advisories Sunday morning rated the danger as considerable to high on uncontrolled backcountry slopes. A regional storm had dumped more than a foot of snow on mountain snowpacks with documented weak layers.

Survivors of the Stevens Pass-area avalanche said they were comfortable with managing the risk, as they’d done before and as many other skiers did Sunday outside the boundaries of managed ski areas.

This time, the odds caught up with them.

Pro skier Elyse Saugstad endured numerous interviews Monday to give the public insight on the accident. Of particular interest was her first-person account of surviving while others around her died. She credits an avalanche airbag that instantly inflated to help buoy her to the surface of the snowy torrent.

“We’ve sold a lot of those airbag backpacks, but we’re happy to say we haven’t heard of any customers who had to deploy them,” said Mark Beattie, of Mountain Gear in Spokane. “It’s like the airbags in your car. We want you to have them, but never have to use them.”

Beattie said Saugstad may be the first person reported to have survived a Northwest avalanche by deploying an airbag.

All winter backcountry travelers should be equipped with an avalanche transceiver, probe and a shovel that’s quickly accessible. And they must recognize that none of it will do much good if an avalanche crushes them into a tree or folds them into a pretzel.

Saugstad’s experience guarantees that airbag backpacks will join the list for more people.

Publicity about Sunday’s tragedies assures that more winter adventurers will enroll in avalanche safety courses.

A significant number of lives could be saved by the awareness raised by this dark day in the Cascades. And the number could be even higher except for one thing:

Fresh, deep, backcountry powder makes us stupid. It’s an opiate that blocks rational thought. It’s easier to turn down a proposition from a spectacular prospective lover.

Avalanche equipment and training is of marginal value if the thinking isn’t confronted.

In 2006, a group of introspective skiers and the Montana Avalanche center produced the bare-our-soul video, “A Dozen More Turns.”

The documentary focuses on the human factor that led to the 2005 death of a Bozeman-area avalanche expert caught up in the emotional high of skiing deep backcountry powder with his group of five.

Although it’s based on a skiing accident, the factors apply to all backcountry travelers, including snowmobilers.

One survivor said the group had discussed the snow conditions and dangers but disregarded them as the day went on because they were “so stoked” about the great skiing in new powder snow.

They talked themselves out of their training and exposed themselves to unstable snow that killed one in their group – for the sake of going just a little higher to get a few more turns.

Avalanche experts are trying to help us with everything short of an intervention.

They’ve warned that half the region’s avalanche fatalities would have been avoided if only one skier or rider at a time had been exposed on a slope.

They’ve documented that lives have been saved by avalanche training and the emphasis on carrying the right gear.

Yet there’s no substitute for playing it safe when conditions are questionable.

Good skiers live for the steep and deep. The problem is that too many would die for it.

Contact Rich Landers at (509) 459-5508 or email richl@spokesman.com.

44 comments on this story so far. Add yours!

• 

  polistra on February 21 at 4:17 a.m.

  Fools.

• 

  larry_b on February 21 at 6:23 a.m.

  This is very sad but, stupid is, as stupid does! RIP

• 

  gotriddabush on February 21 at 6:36 a.m.

  These guys lived more on this one day than most do in a lifetime!

• 

  RedCedar on February 21 at 6:47 a.m.

  Hindsight is 20/20, and so is the vision of the Monday morning quarterback. I’m not going to jump on the bandwagon implied by the tone of this article. Obviously we all now know that the decision to ski down that mountain was a bad one. However, almost every time anyone decides to ski in an adventurous uncontrolled place, they have a great run and survive. The odds are strongly in favor of surviving. The odds are even more in favor of surviving if one stays home, but most of us like to do more than just stay alive as safely as possible.

  It would be interesting to know how many skiers die each year in car wrecks on the way to and from Stevens pass. I suspect it’s more than the number who die in skiing accidents. Every car wreck is a result of poor judgment as well, and the poor judgment is obvious to everyone in hindsight. But like skiing, everyone who drives occasionally exercises poor judgment, and yet most of the time we get away with it because the other driver was paying attention, or the road wasn’t that slippery, or we ran over the rumble strips and woke up.

  These skiers died in a more dramatic and public way than most people, and it’s wise to pay attention to their example and perhaps back off a bit on the degree of risk taking (or all go buy air bags), but there is no way I would call them “fools” or “stupid”. They took a risk that lots of people take and did something that has a non-zero probability of death. So does river rafting, mountain climbing, driving a car, smoking a cigarette, or playing golf (which is actually more dangerous than hunting in terms of the accident rate).

• 

  stitch on February 21 at 6:56 a.m.

  “Fresh, deep, backcountry powder makes us stupid. It’s an opiate that blocks rational thought”..

  Guess we should add that to the list of addictions that can put one 6ft under before their time..

  “Good skiers live for the steep and deep.The problem is that to many would die for it”.. Learn something from this friends..

• 

  Diana on February 21 at 7:08 a.m.

  “These guys lived more on this one day than most do in a lifetime!”

  How romantic.

• 

  westerly on February 21 at 7:29 a.m.

  This morning the Cascades, Snoqualmie, Stevens are getting 2-3 feet of snow..and several inches of rain later, avalanche danger is extreme!

• 

  crazyivan44 on February 21 at 7:49 a.m.

  “Fresh, deep, backcountry powder makes us stupid. It’s an opiate that blocks rational thought. It’s easier to turn down a proposition from a spectacular prospective lover.”

  Yes Diana, it is romantic indeed. Reminds me of those surfers that brave 40+ ft waves around the world for the ultimate rush. People can call it whatever they want, but for these guys it was the ultimate thrill and if they had survived they’d probably be out doing the same thing the next day. RIP.

• 

  dsteamer on February 21 at 8:01 a.m.

  How self centered can you get. Leave wives, husbands, children for a couple of extra turns. How many children have to grow up wondering why they were not as important as the skiing? Just plain stupid and we have to pay the cost of rescue or recovery just so they can have a few minutes of thrills. Stupid

• 

  stitch on February 21 at 8:22 a.m.

  Crazyivan: Problem is, because of their opiate like “Stupid ” state, their family’s are now having to deal with their loss because of their need for an “ultimate rush”.. Please refer to dsteamers post.. Absoulutely NOTHING romantic about it..

• 

  selkirks on February 21 at 8:47 a.m.

  @all commenters:

  There’s something interesting that happens every time there is a very public death in the action sports industry, but the ski industry in particular.

  In short, people who don’t really know the full story or the people involved tend to make comments that regard the victims in low esteem based on their own perceptions of the sport of skiing.

  They like to make broad assumptions based on perception that are pretty much always false.

  Everyone involved in this avalanche understood the risk—as did their families. They were all properly equipped, trained, and knowledgeable for this sort of incident—in fact, more so than most backcountry skiers. But the fact is, nature is still more powerful. That doesn’t make the victims morons or idiots or anything else; it just makes them unlucky. They were knowledgable, accepted the risk, we’re properly prepared, and initiated the proper rescue techniques seconds after the slide. This avy could have been far worse if the victims were not properly trained and equipped.

  So please stop calling them idiots/morons/stupid. Please.

• 

  stitch on February 21 at 9:05 a.m.

  “Fresh, deep, back country powder makes us stupid”.. Just using their own words selkirks.. A very heart-felt post Thank-You..

• 

  RedCedar on February 21 at 9:12 a.m.

  Thank you selkirks, I was thinking I was the odd man out here on the “what a bunch of idiots” bandwagon.

• 

  crazyivan44 on February 21 at 9:20 a.m.

  stitch - understood, but with all do respect that is between them and their family, not you or anyone else here or me for that matter. Those that value their relationships with their families more, presumably those on here calling them idiots, are not the one’s risking their lives over something seemingly so trivial. However it obviously was not trivial to these folks that lost their lives or they would have not been on the slope.

• 

  dougfresh on February 21 at 9:43 a.m.

  Most the people on here calling those who perished “stupid” or “foolish” probably aren’t skiiers, or very good at it at least.

  Unless you snow plow down groomers all day, there is risk involved in skiing, even in bounds, in areas that have been blasted by explosives to trigger the avalanches.

  We all know there is a risk, this is why the majority of skiiers / boarders wear helmets nowadays. We try to mitigate the risk the best we can, but nothing is 100%.

  My sister once came across a guy who had crashed into a tree & died while skiing with his son. Was he foolish for taking his son skiing?

  One of my old racing buddies was at the junior olympics and another racer crashed into him, shattering his eye socket & cheek bone. Hes now a ski patroller and gets 100+ ski days a year in.

  On the same day of this avalanche I skiied a run that had a memorial nailed to a tree where a young man died a few years ago, suffocating in a tree well.

  A few years back I broke my tibia the first weekend of the season and was in various stages of rehab for 9 months after that. Was I out on opening day the next season? You betcha!

  Sure you’re safer sitting at home watching TV, but I’ll take my chances out there. Get busy living, or get busy dying.

• 

  stitch on February 21 at 9:48 a.m.

  Point taken crazyivan, Thanx.. Interesting though, the word idiot had not shown up on this post, prior to selkirks comments..

  Red Cedar: You have such a nice way of putting things when others dare not to share your opinion.. Stay away from those bandwagons friend..

• 

  Lowrider on February 21 at 10:26 a.m.

  I have to agree with Red Cedar, Selkirks and Dougfresh. These guys knew and accepted the risk, were trained, and unfortunately, were unlucky on this day. Let’s not denigrate them here, after their death. That seems disrespectful and cheap to me. People are going to engage in risk-taking behavior. To people that aren’t wired that way, it may seem insane, but for some, it’s as necessary as breathing. Perhaps we should take a more positive view of the story and be thankful that more weren’t killed, and that increased exposure of this tragedy will get more people aware of the need to take avalanche safety courses, and use safety devices such as the airbag and locator beacons.

• 

  richl on February 21 at 10:29 a.m.

  I’m compelled to emphasize that every word is significant in my sentence, “Fresh, deep, backcountry powder makes us stupid.” I was not calling the avalanche victims stupid. Indeed, they were pros, well-equipped, trained and clearly using proven techniques to mitigate exposure to avalanche.

  But in that sentence I was pointing out that “we” — all winter backcountry travelers — are vulnerable to the temptation of dropping our guard or rationalizing a reason to take a chance for something we’re so passionate about.

• 

  PROFINTOX on February 21 at 10:38 a.m.

  So I guess this means that we should all chastise anyone involved in any activity that involves increased risk when it is not really necessary. Is that what I am hearing? I guess that means we should pretty much stop all sports involvement — all sports involve increased risk, some more than others, but ALL involve some degree of increased risk of injury or death compared with just sitting in a recliner. And generally speaking, driving a car is more risky than walking, taking a bus, riding a bike etc… and if you are talking about living in the city and getting to work in the city, you could do one of those alternate, safer methods to get to work — so perhaps we should also stop ALL uses of a personal automobile unless it is absolutely necessary? I know we have different levels of what we think is a risk-line that should not be crossed, but it really is rude for people to be so harsh and disrespectful. Regarding those family and friends that were left behind, I am betting in most cases they were not begging and pleading for their friends/significant others to cease such activity. I will bet most were supportive and knowledgeable given the risk. And if they were to read your comments, I am pretty sure they would find them pretty da** rude. Oh — by the way — I backpack every year with my son. Do any of you perhaps do the same? We could tumble down a slope, be attacked by some form of wildlife (i.e., cougar, bear etc…) or succumb to a myriad of other risks that can occur in such a situation. So — I guess hiking and backpacking is for the stupid as well. And probably camping (due to bear attacks for instance). Probably hunting as well — for obvious reasons. Anyway, I am starting to ramble. I just find several of these posts very disrespectul to those who were left behind. Most of them undoubtedly were just fine with the risks inherent with their friends/family members activities and really do not need to hear from outside members who apparently are not OK with those risks.

• 

  PROFINTOX on February 21 at 11:21 a.m.

  @catbox — hah, I did not notice. And I like your response sentence. I have struggled when doing college writing for instance in adhering to that rule. What can I say? It is old-fashioned, and should be done away with. Ooops. A lot of English experts however do agree that the rule should be obsoleted. Apologies everyone for going off topic.

• 

  larry_b on February 21 at 11:34 a.m.

  prof, selkirk, RELAX! Take a breath! No one was saying they were stupid. They said it in the story. Like the headline says, fresh powder is’nt worth dying for.

• 

  PROFINTOX on February 21 at 12:13 p.m.

  @larry — fair enough — the story does say that. I could take issue with that, but I definitely expended my day’s worth of energy and have taken a breath and am now more calm. I think the topic of prepositions deflected me a bit.

• 

  larry_b on February 21 at 12:30 p.m.

  Pleasure to help prof. On an intectual basis you are higher than most that post on these pages. I understood what you were saying.

• 

  stitch on February 21 at 12:52 p.m.

  Rich: Let’s leave out the word stupid.. What we had is a handful of well equipped pro’s who made a “Passionate” choice, dropped their guard,and made a decision that cost them their lives.. Your point is well taken..

  I’ll speak for myself, I meant no disrespect to those who perished, or to those who loved them.. I know your point was to encourage others to take that split second to stop and think before they put themselves in harms way..

  My old beat-up body can no longer take the rigors of skiing, but believe me I know that feeling..Standing atop that mountain (Big White was my favorite) surveying the vast openess, breathing in the clean fresh air.. Didn’t get much better than that.. Miss those days.. Take care friend..

• 

  SMARTGUY on February 21 at 1:01 p.m.

  Other then there family and friends, who cares?

• 

  larry_b on February 21 at 1:37 p.m.

  intelectual, my bad. (Smartguy, it’s other than) good day sir!

• 

  Al_Loysius on February 21 at 1:44 p.m.

  If we are not going to offer honest, unvarnished opinions, then what is the point of having comments to articles? Wax eloquently about pixy dust and moonbeams?

  This was a tragedy.

  This was also (in my humble opinion) a case of some self-absorbed dumbasses with too much time, too much money and too little meaning in their lives. I feel sorry for any family & spouses they left behind and had so little regard for.

  100 years ago a substantial part of our population had to face a day-to-day struggle to stay alive. Now we have a lot of ding-dongs who go out and intentionally risk their lives not for science, not for principle, not for their country, but just for the heck of it.

• 

  stitch on February 21 at 1:54 p.m.

  SMARTGUY: Didn’t you recently divulge that you had to change your post name from smartass to smartguy because some old lady got her panties in a bind over your name?? The name change apparently hasn’t helped much..

• 

  SMARTGUY on February 21 at 2:10 p.m.

  I did not mean to offend anyone, or be grammatically incorrect. All I was saying is this story got a lot of commentary. Unless you knew these people, I just do not see the point. They made the decision to go skiing out of bounds and died. End of story.

• 

  EthicsinLE on February 21 at 2:14 p.m.

  At least these folks died doing what they loved and living the highs of life, not sitting at some keyboard b!tch!ng about everything everyone else does. May god bless them.

• 

  SMARTGUY on February 21 at 2:21 p.m.

  Whitney Houston was just enjoying the highs of life too, maybe her family and friends should celebrate her death also.

• 

  selkirks on February 21 at 2:31 p.m.

  @Al_Loysius:

  Well, then, I have to say, you need to get out more. Find a passion! There’s so more to life than living a cushy existence in a home or office berating the dead over the Internet. (And your doing so flies in the face of the teachings of your apparent screen-namesake, Aloysius Gonzaga.) Find a passion!

  The individuals involved in this incident (one of whom my family has known for a number of years and keeps in occasional, albeit irregular contact with) were/are not self-absorbed. They were/are not rich (hardly). And they love/loved their families very much. They were members of a loyal, and passionate community that will and does respect them much more than you do. They died in a chance accident by little fault of their own (that is, they did nothing, strictly speaking, wrong—from my understanding, they didn’t “let down their guard”—they were mindful of the considerable avalanche danger and took a risk, and I’m sure that they took all possible precautions). They just were unlucky. Could it have been avoided? Sure, but only in the same sense that a car crash can be avoided by not driving, or a plane crash by not flying.

  They died doing something that they were passionate about—skiing. That is something that their families will and do understand and accept. And, most likely, in time, will respect. People who don’t ski simply cannot grasp this because it’s something that you have to experience—whether inbounds or out. In fact, anyone who holds a similar passion or any at all can experience the same. It can’t be described in words. It’s an incredibly fulfilling feeling of being completely and totally full of life. Satisfied. Grateful. Alive. Loved. It can even be a spiritual experience for some (and I know that skiing is definitely a spiritual experience for me).

  My point is that they died in a terrible tragedy while doing something that they loved. Again, it might have been avoided, but only by not partaking in the activity that gives them life. They will be missed by all in the ski industry at least. And, hopefully, in the real world as well. The deaths come as a reminder that even the most prepared, trained, and capable can be caught in a force of nature such as this. Even the best human technology is no match for Mother Earth.

  (Which to me proves that there is a God, but if I get into that, it will only be off-topic.)

  Many prayers to the victims and their families, as always. RIP.

• 

  EricW on February 21 at 2:46 p.m.

  @selkirks…”There’s something interesting that happens every time there is a very public death in the action sports industry, but the ski industry in particular”.

  As a diverse back country winter enthusiast I couldn’t agree more with the above. My only addition would be that of a snowmobiler experiencing the same tragedy. It seems that every time a snowmobiler is lost to an avalanche it is portrayed as a borderline criminal act of “high marking” which some have suggested should lead to snowmobiling as a sport being outlawed and excluded. I have heard no such comments in this situation calling for land use restrictions or new laws to protect people from their decisions. I wish it didn’t happen in either case.

  The truth is as a snowmobiler I have been wearing an avalanche air bag for 5 years now. The recent media coverage might lead one to believe that this is new technology. There have been dozens of saved lives in the snowmobile world with this type of equipment and it is a common safety tool along with beacons, probes, shovels, Helmets, Kevlar Tek-Vests, knee pads, chin pads, and overnight survival gear. No one that I am aware of will ride in the back country with anyone who doesn’t have at least basic avalanche training and the proper rescue gear. We do recognize that the sport can involve issues of life and death.

  I hope that most of us can find a way to do some good with this type of event and the tragedy involved for the families by spreading the words of awareness, risk, danger, and the many ways to mitigate and avoid all of them. Name calling, demonizing, and critical judgments have no chance of doing anything positive which will leave this just another tragedy. C’mon folks, we can be better than that.

  Thoughts and prayers to the friends and families of all involved. I am so sorry for your loss. EW

• 

  SMARTGUY on February 21 at 2:58 p.m.

  Apparently, an addiction to adrenalin, is more socially acceptable then an addiction to drugs.

• 

  Al_Loysius on February 21 at 3:00 p.m.

  Selkirks, you mistake “passion” for “purpose.” Undirected passion means nothing. Hitler had passion. Stalin had passion. The 9-11 terrorists certainly had passion.

  Aloysius Gonzaga had passion and good purpose. He gave his life ministering to people suffering from the Plague and consequently died from it. He followed the cardinal virtue of ministering to the sick.

  The individuals who died did so for no good purpose. Their “passion” so to speak, was an unfocused one that overwhelmed their good sense.

  People talk like romantic fools about how much they “lived life to the fullest” in their final moments. I think it more likely that their closing moments may have been filled with terror.

  May God have mercy on them.

• 

  PROFINTOX on February 21 at 3:05 p.m.

  @Al — yes, this is a place for unvarnished opinions. When I posted what I posted, that was my unvarnished opinion. My intent was to express exactly that. And while I do believe there are times that people should not use their guaranteed freedom of speech and should keep their thoughts to themselves (i.e., with freedom comes responsibility — just because you can do or say something does not mean you should) — I definitely would not argue that you should be prevented from doing so since that not only is that your right, whether I like what you say or not, but it SHOULD be your right. Just as it is my right to say what I feel about what you say or should not say (my opinion as to what is and is not good judgement). I wanted to at least make it clear that I was not attempting to say you should be disallowed from speaking your piece. Besides, that could not be applied anyway in a free country, clearly.

• 

  selkirks on February 21 at 3:23 p.m.

  @Al_Loysius:

  Passion is many things to many people, and recreation has purpose beyond words. I totally agree with @EricW that this will lead to an increased awareness of airbag and avalung technologies that can help save lives in the event of a winter disaster.

  I could go on about the things that the individual victims did that bettered society over the course of their lives (all were deeply involved with the ski industry), but I won’t, because I don’t know how you will “spin” it.

  Basically, I’ve tried for years to understand apparently eternally-negative people like yourself.

  It’s never worked, and I’m glad that it never has.

• 

  greenlibertarian on February 21 at 3:53 p.m.

  Mother Nature always wins in the end. Always.

  If you are a Christian and believe these folks to be “good” Christians, then they are in Heaven and directly in the presence of the Prince of Peace, for which there can be no greater reward.

• 

  stitch on February 21 at 3:58 p.m.

  The more times I read this article, the more I appreciated it..
  Funny how a certain word(s) can steer you away from one’s true meaning..

  This quote kinda says it all.. “Avalanche equipment and training is of marginal value if the thinking isn’t confronted”

  You have a point about the adrenalin addiction smartguy..

• 

  PROFINTOX on February 21 at 4:37 p.m.

  @green — so true. I have always felt that Mother Nature can kick our a** at any time, regardless of how powerful we feel as human beings. I am not tying that to the story so much as just saying it in general.

• 

  Al_Loysius on February 21 at 8:26 p.m.

  Just in:

  A Washingtonian killed by an avalanche while snowmobiling. That makes 5 such deaths in Montana this year.

  http://www.spokesman.com/blogs/outdoors/2012/feb/21/washington-snowmobilers-killed-montana-avalanche/

  Please explain why there seems to be a surplus of people needlessly risking their lives this winter? THERE WERE AVALANCHE WARNINGS UP !!!!!!!!

  Please explain to me fundamentally why this is different than the individual who apparently jumped off the Monroe Street Bridge reported a little while ago?

  http://www.spokesman.com/stories/2012/feb/21/police-respond-body-found-spokane-river/

  Why is skiing or snowmobiling in avalanche conditions different than playing Russian Roulette? Is it just that one kind of risk does not leave as big a mess? You could argue that in Russian Roulette you might be statistically safe the majority of the time.

  Too many people out there this week who need to risk their lives to give themselves some meaning.

  I am sorry, but none of this makes any sense to me.

• 

  Pigrobin on February 21 at 8:43 p.m.

  Al, the fundamental difference is the guy who jumped off the Monroe Br. expected to die, none of the others had that expectation. Some days you eat the bear and some days the bear eats you. Sympathies to the surviving loved ones.

• 

  trustbutverify on February 22 at 8:57 a.m.

  definition: E-Thug:
  Coward who uses strong insulting words that they would never dare to say face-to-face to someone in social media to belittle or otherwise make fun of a person who has a different opinion about a subject that they do. Often done to victims of possible poor judgment, bad luck or even a sad death and with no regards to the surviving family.

• 

  kennyhuston on February 22 at 12:47 p.m.

  First off, my sincerest condolences to the friends and family of the victims - R.I.P..

  Secondly, to all those commenting, before you hit that confirmation button please take these short steps:
  1. Pretend that the person you’re speaking about is a family
  member of yours.
  2. Re-read your comment.
  3. If you feel you wouldn’t want to read something you’ve
  written, (being about one of your loved ones), then DON’T
  submit it.

  Like my mother says, “If you can’t say anything nice - then don’t say anything at all.”.

  In closing, at least they went doing what they loved - eigh?