Why ski the backcountry? Why this great privilege also carries great responsibility.

Adventure Journal is an amazing magazine I subscribe to. The current issue has a forward by the editor, Steve Casimiro. Steve is a great writer and we share some of the same opinions and experiences around skiing. (Granted, he has had WAY more experiences and WAY grander ones.) A portion of the introduction in the latest edition describes why I backcountry ski, written far better than I could. With Steve’s permission:

……Some of the best days of my life have taken place at ski areas, but few of them compare to the best I’ve spent in the backcountry. Friendships forged away from the lifts are stronger and deeper, memories richer and more sharply etched, the satisfaction unmatched. In the backcountry, there’s less of the frantic scramble for freshies, there’s no standing in lines, there’s no industrialization of what should be a sacred experience. Its risks sharpen your focus, exquisitely variable snow conditions hone your technique, the complex inter play of wind, sun, terrain, and aspect teach you mountain sense and heighten your sensitivity to nuance. Everywhere there’s snow is your playground, and, of course, it’s all done under your own steam…..

Some of my friends remain concerned that I choose to occasionally ski in the backcountry. One week after I returned from skiing in the backcountry near Cooke City two snowmobilers died in an avalanche near Cook City. Friends and relatives sent me the headlines. Headlines do not tell the whole story. In most every avalanche fatality, a formal report is written by the local Avalanche Center. Since this fatality occurred in the same general area I just skied, I was compelled to read the report. In fact, the instructors of our avalanche course suggested we make a regular practice of reading the avalanche fatality reports.

I have mixed feelings writing about this event. I don’t know these people, even though we come from Minnesota. So why write about it? Why call out obvious mistakes that lead to this outcome? There is a push and pull between helping to educate those who go into the wilderness and not causing additional pain to those who have suffered a loss. For me, the scale tips more toward education and attempting to prevent future tragedies.

Here is the report, it is short. With no knowledge or experience in avalanches one can quickly see what led to this tragic event. Below is a picture contained in the report.

Three things pointed out in the report caught my attention:

• Of the 8 people in the party only one had any avalanche education. Two, one hour lectures.

• The Avalanche report of the day said danger was considerable.

• No one in the party read the report.

Of course there is much more information in the report. Perhaps there is more to the story than came out in the report. But it seems clear one conclusion can be made. This did not have to happen. Other non avalanche terrain could have been ridden. It should not have happened.

To my family and friends. I will be careful. I will be responsible. I will take it seriously.

I want to come home and spend more time with you.