Skier Explains Lessons Learned From Being Involved In Seven Separate Avalanches
Every skier’s worst nightmare is getting caught in an avalanche. For this guy, it’s getting caught in his eighth one.
In this video, YouTuber Meaningfully Lost analyzes what went wrong in not one, not two, not three, but seven different avalanches that either he triggered or was a part of. His video explainer includes footage of nearly every slide, along with the avalanche forecast for each day. Some of his key takeaways include doing your research, going with an experienced group or partner, analyzing snowpack depth, paying attention to sudden changes in snow, and new snow on a deep, older snowpack means trouble.
Avalanche Education
As he referenced, this video should not be your avalanche education. There are many valuable resources to guide your decision-making in the backcountry. The first is the new Avalanche Aware course, an easy-to-follow guide to avalanches.
Additionally, there are many avalanche courses held across the country that can help you earn an AIARE 1 certification. Usually, those courses take around three days.
Reaction To The Video
His video drew a mixed response from YouTubers, with some questioning his decision-making to ski steep terrain on high-risk days and not having the right takeaways. Others appreciated him for sharing the stories of his near-catastrophes. I do agree with the critics; his decision-making on the terrain in the lead-up to the slides wasn’t wise. I’m sharing this because, as he stated in the video, he’s putting his story out there to help backcountry skiers understand near-miss situations.
Perhaps the best comment I saw came from @justinswantek3355:
“Props to you for sharing this. I understand the amount of vulnerability you’re showing and I think that there are lots of good lessons that you have learned.
Being a 20 something year old male myself, I wanted to just give you some food for thought. I’ve been backcountry skiing for over a decade, and the vast majority of my touring has been done solo. I’ve spent many seasons digging hundreds of pits in continental snowpacks, seeing how snow changes with conditions, and skiing some of the best snow on earth. My biggest fear is getting buried in an avalanche, and I’ve made it to the point in life where I recognize my survival in my early 20s was due to luck, not skill.
I respect your choices and I don’t have any input about the avalanches you trigger when skiing with others – the gap between what I’m willing to do with others and what you present in this video is massive, and so I don’t think there’s anything beneficial I can say in one paragraph on a youtube comment. However, when you are out by yourself, I would recommend you really dial it back as far as you can. When I’m solo, I never ski anything above 30 degrees unless I’m 100% certain there are no avalanche concerns. I do this because I recognize the consequences of any avalanche are exponentially greater when there’s no one to dig me out, and I can’t keep playing in the mountains if I’m dead. I’m not familiar with the terrain from avalanche 5, but seeing what path you took made me very uneasy. If you’re in terrain over 30 degrees and there is a persistent weak layer, you’re rolling the dice. If you get a bad roll and you’re alone, that’s it. From experience, I would also not rely on trees anchoring slabs as much as you seem to think they do.
I fully appreciate that everyone who goes into the mountains accepts a certain amount of risk, and what that acceptable risk is varies for everyone. Ideally people understand and can appreciate how much risk they are actually taking, though that is particularly difficult to do with persistent slab avalanches since persistent slab problems rarely give inconsequential, immediate feedback. Don’t let anyone except yourself draw your risk tolerance line for you. If you let people rein you in, you’re equally as susceptible to letting people rein you out, especially if you’re skiing with other young males. On the flip side, I’ve found it incredibly valuable to listen to where people are coming from when they try to influence risk tolerance. My best friend died in the mountains. The true cost of doing things with fatal consequences in the mountains is paid for by the living, and it’s a hell of a heavy cost. I hope you’ll never appreciate the magnitude of that statement, but that’s where I’m coming from.
Make good decisions for you and keep that fire stoked! Thanks for sharing; I hope you have some all-time turns this season.”
Image/Video Credits: Meaningfully Lost
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