Mt. Whitney Portal Store & Hostel Forums General Winter Access Forum Human factors in avalanche incidents

For what its worth, I've posted a short <A HREF="http://www.summitpost.org/article/188636/human-factors-in-avalanche-incidents.html" target=_new>article</A> on the subject of human factors in avalanche incidents. It's mostly a summary of one of the more interesting (to me) research articles out there. Feedback is welcome, either on this thread or attached to the article itself.

That is a good article, Steve. Only I wouldn't call it short -- you obviously spent a lot of time putting it together.

In the conclusion, you wrote, "that only 4% of avalanche incidents might truly be called 'accidents'". Reading the article should help people stop and really consider their decisions to proceed or not when avalanche conditions are less than optimum.

Several questions/comments:

In that picture titled "Misha crossing the snowfield", is that Whitney or Lone Pine Peak? That is one steep slope!!!

In the caption in the article on that photo, what do you mean by "splitter day"?

From the part about mixed-gender groups, one can only conclude that we should never proceed into avalanche areas with women in the group. ;-)

And finally, I got a bit of a chuckle in the first sentence under the "Consistency" heading considering the current US-international political situation.

Thanks for posting the article.

Steve C: Thanks for your comments. The slope Misha is crossing is on Lone Pine Peak. It was stable at the time (otherwise we wouldn't have gone near it), but as a precaution we crossed it at the very top. The snow sits mostly on steep slabs, and there are a variety of nasty terrain traps (trees, cliffs, gullies) on the 1,500 foot slope below.

"Splitter" is climber slang for beautiful (as in weather).

I couldn't resist a little inference to our pal in Washington when discussing the Consistency trap. Like shooting fish in a barrel.

Steve-

What inclination and altitude did you did your eval pit? Just curious, looks like great climbing!

We did not dig a pit. We based our assessment on other factors: forecast LOW-MODERATE, no recent activity in the area, stable, sub-freezing temps in the weeks leading up to the climb, good cohesive snow on that specific slope, no evidence that that particular spot has been wind loaded. In many places we were walking on rocks underneath the snow, and observed no bonding issues either at layer interfaces or at the snow/substrate interface. No other warning signs like shooting cracks, whoomphing, tendency of displaced snow to start larger sloughs, etc.

That was a very thought provoking article. It brought up many memories of my own lucky adventures. I have taken the basic avalanche course through the ski patrol many years ago, but I consider my knowledge just enough to get me in more trouble.

Which led me to thinking about what would make a good leader or guide for the backcountry. If I were to use the Heuristic Trap Chart, I would not choose a leader who: lazily rationalizes, is compulsive (can't think out of the box), egocentric, or impulsive (well this one excludes me). Which would leave me to choose a person that puts safety over the acceptance of others, does not support "group think" from less knowledgeable persons, and tends to think things through before making their decisions. Oh yea, nice person too.

Thanks for the very valid topic!

Thanks tcat. And it doesn't hurt if everyone in the group shares those traits!