The author is a her. And a ski patroller, who admits in her article that she does not like anyone, (particularly someone she knows) to die on her watch. As she says, she wants to think that she and her team will be able to rescue those in trouble when they get in trouble. But she is speaking honestly and out loud about her views, hoping to get people to talk about something she thinks is important.
Re: the issue at hand, I agree that we should not necessarily judge those that take risks in pursuit of their sports. In many sports, some risks are unavoidable. I think the tipping point regarding taking on unavoidable risk shifts depending on if you have kids to guide and support, etc. A daredevil single person may take on waves off the north shores of Hawaii that a married father of five might choose not to tackle.
But in this case, it was not an uncontrollable or unavoidable risk that caused this death. The decedent in this situation was a former ski patroller and snow cat driver who apparently went skiing in the "side country" or in the trees on his own. It is a known rule that you don't go doing that on your own. And as a former patroller, he knew better. He has not been found, and the thought is that he is buried somewhere in a tree well. Many searchers spent a lot of time looking. I don't have a problem accepting risk as part of sport, but I wonder when it is an avoidable risk and you do it anyway, if that is worth it.
Having said that, I will admit that I skied in the trees off the side of a couple marked runs pretty recently, by myself when I knew better. I knew it was not the best move, but I wanted the powder. Risk is inherent in skiing, mountainbiking, surfing, etc. But it is good to avoid the risks that can be avoided. "Powder fever" often seems to cause folks to make choices that are not great viewed later on from a different perspective. There is a lot of talk of that in backcountry travel classes. Knowing your group, knowing yourself, and knowing when your judgment is good and when it is poor. These recent incidents, and my taking notice of my own choices recently prompted me to think a bit about it.
Skiing by yourself in uncontrolled side country or off marked, inbounds runs, is not a great choice though.
Steve Thompson
Sun Valley, Idaho
Guitars: Fender 60th Anniversary Std. Strat, Squier CVC Tele Hagstrom Viking Semi-hollow, Joshua beach guitar, Martin SPD-16TR Dreadnought
Amphs: Peavey Classic 30, '61 Fender Concert
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love is the answer, at least for most of the questions in my heart. . .
- j. johnson