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Jim FrankenfieldAvalanche Safety Courses and Services 1338 Foothill Dr. #170; Salt Lake City, UT 84108 |
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Snowmans Avalanche FAQ - [Contents]
Forward to Technical Questions First of all, essentially all of the precautions, including education, which are recommended for skiers apply to snowmobilers as well. Since snowmobiles can cover much more terrain (including avalanche terrain) in a day than skiers, avalanche awareness is essential. Having made that clear, there are a few pieces of advice especially for snowmobilers. First, travel on the windward sides of ridges when possible. These hard packed slopes are less likely to have been loaded with snow by the wind. Second, don't go punching up the middle of a steep open slope without determining its probable stability. Use the edge and try to have some idea in advance how to attempt to escape if a slab fracture does occur. Third, make it a point to have only one machine on a steep slope at a time. If somebody gets stuck let them work their way out of it alone. Better to be 'unfriendly' than unsafe! The last two suggestions are especially important when playing "highmark". Numerous accidents have occurred when one machine got stuck highmarking and another came to help. Consider the stress on the snowpack created by two machines and two people! Another good point made by Byron Sheppard of rec.sport.snowmobiles is that changing your route, even substantially, is often very feasible with a snowmobile. It's easier for a snowmobiler to go an extra 10 miles than a skier. If this is necessary, do it. Two resources specifically for snowmobilers are Avalanche Awareness for Snowmobilers on the net and the booklet Sledding in Avalanche Terrain by Bruce Jamieson. The book is available from the CSAC Store. Two articles (or, actually, letters) which address this can be found in the journal Nature, 1994, under Scientific Correspondence.
These have some references to other articles. (They are not all in English.) The figures generally show that about 90% of avalanche victims are alive after 5 minutes but that at 30 min less than 50% are. The odds of surviving burial are less than 50%, so it would appear that most are not being recovered quick enough. There are sources of great uncertainty in many of these figures. They are assumed by some to be pessimistic since burials which do not result in fatalities are probably not always reported. |
