Editor:
The Oct. 10 story by Lynn Martel on avalanche control indicates that avalanche control workers and scientists distrust the public. Why else was the public excluded from the recent international symposium in Banff?
If I had been allowed to attend, I would have asked this: how can avalanche awareness instructors teach that it’s unnecessary to always avoid avalanche slopes? The “experts” contend it’s safe to ski on avalanche slopes now that they can predict with adequate certainty whether a slide is likely.
I find that scary.
I say that as one of few backcountry skiers who have survived an avalanche that killed another group member. Every December since 1967, I recall being caught in a slide at Parker’s Ridge that killed a companion.
I was in the lead and somehow, I skied out of the churning snow. The girl behind me did not. When I and other group members located her after 30 minutes of probing with reversed ski poles, she was dead. I had the “joy” of going to Banff that night to identify her ...
Forty-seven years ago, avalanche safety training was in its infancy. But I and other members of my group later that winter took an excellent awareness course through the Alpine Club of Canada. We were taught to judge slope safety by digging a pit and looking for unstable layers.
I have never trusted that procedure. I just avoid slide-prone slopes. They’re pretty easy to identify.
The “experts” say I’m way too conservative, that skiers would be too limited by my approach. Certainly, much of the thrilling skiing offered by heli-ski operators would be unavailable.
Don B Thomas,
Canmore
