Travel Reference
In-Depth Information
AVALANCHE
For serious skiers and snowboarders, the lure of fresh powder and untracked backcountry terrain is a powerful
temptation, a chance to experience that heady rush of feel-good dopamine that momentarily overrides the rest of
the brain's circuitry. Unfortunately, the risks associated with backcountry skiing are hardly inconsequential - if
you get caught in an avalanche, the odds are good that you won't survive.
While it's convenient to believe that most avalanche victims are naive and unprepared, Colorado's unstable
snowpack does not discriminate: in the April 2013 avalanche at Loveland Pass, the state's deadliest in 50 years,
not only were all the victims experienced, one was even a certified avalanche instructor.
Nevertheless, even if experience is no guarantee of safety, if you're going out of bounds, you need to know
how to minimize risk: get trained, carry the necessary equipment and check the daily avalanche forecasts from the
Colorado Avalanche Information Center
(
https://avalanche.state.co.us/index.php)
.
