Jamon Whitehead and Pip Hunt discuss their options before dropping into the soup.
“Think for yourself / Question authority” — Tool (channeling Timothy Leary)
I took my first avalanche course about 10 years ago and learned a lot about the causes of avalanches. But the most important thing I learned was how to have an opinion and speak my mind when I didn’t like something. My instructor’s lesson was very simple. He skied out in front, and we all followed along. After a while, we ended up above a creek and below a nasty-looking slope. It was a terrible place to be, but I hadn’t even noticed. Then he turned and asked me if I was comfortable standing where I was. I looked around and answered no.
“Then why the hell are you here, Adam?” he asked me.
“Because I was following you.”
“Well, why did you follow me into here?”
“Because you’re teaching the class.”
“So?” he finished. And I turned around and got the hell out of there.
The lesson stuck, and I always take it with me into the mountains. Timothy Leary was right. You should think for yourself and question authority (such as more-experienced skiers). It may just save your life.
Many backcountry tours are comprised of skiers with a wide range of experience and ability. As a result, the most experienced (or sometimes just the loudest) skier in the group becomes the leader by default, and everyone else just follows blindly along. It’s amazing how quickly experienced skiers can fall into the role of sheep in these cases, and plenty of accidents and close calls have happened to large groups of skiers with only two functioning eyes. Whether you’re out front breaking trail or bringing up the rear, keep your peepers peeled, and open your mouth when you feel the need.
Pay Attention: If you don’t know what’s going on, then you can’t have an informed opinion. Watch the weather, read the avalanche reports, pay attention to what aspect you’re on. Do not assume that your ski partners are going to see everything that you’re going to see.
Plan your own route: As you’re skinning up or picking lines for the way down, look and decide where you would go. Think about the hazards as if you were running the show. If the group isn’t going where you would go, then say something about it. Maybe your route isn’t the only safe route, but if your route is, then you want to make sure that’s where you’re headed.
Take your turn in front: Not only is it more efficient to take turns breaking trail, it gives you a different perspective and ensures that everyone has to think about the route and the hazards.
Don’t be a dictator: One of the most experienced people I ski with is an avalanche forecaster for the Utah Avalanche Center. He has forgotten more about what causes avalanches than I will ever know. So, it surprised me on our first tour together that he kept asking me what I thought about the snow or where I thought we should put in the skin track. Since then, I’ve noticed that, as a general rule, the more a skier knows about avalanches, the more he or she talks with the other people in the group to make sure he or she is making the right decisions.
Listen to your gut: “I have a bad feeling, man.” I’ve hear this phrase plenty and said it myself many times. Occasionally I could back it up with an observation, but most of the time something just … felt off. I used to ignore my inner voice because I though I was just being a wuss. After a few near-death experiences and some serious epics, I’ve learned to listen to my gut. If you have a nagging feeling, say something. You’ll be surprised how often your partners feel the same.
Speak your mind: I’ve skied with a lot of people who are way more experienced than me, and I have never once had a negative response because I brought up a safety issue that was on my mind. Whether I spoke my mind about traversing under a slope, venturing onto a different aspect, the time, the weather, or just a bad feeling in my gut, my partners have always respected my thoughts. More times than not, the person who I was skiing with happened to have the exact same feelings.
Not just skiing: Although the herding mentality is common on backcountry ski outings, they also affect people on hiking, snowshoeing, canyoneering, mountain biking, boating, and climbing trips. Blindly following someone is always a bad idea, no matter how experienced that person is. When I was a river guide back in the day, one of my fellow guides had “DO NOT FOLLOW!!” written in marker across the back of his PFD. He wrote it as a joke, but the message is loud and clear: take some damn responsibility for your actions.
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Tags: avalanche safety, backcountry skiing, outdoor survival, safety, wilderness survival
Excellent post and very true. Have had at least one close call when there was too big of a group and everyone assumed terrain choices were safe, until we set off a big avalanche. Classic herd mentality. Lesson learned to always think for yourself (and beware of north facing rollovers.)
Oh and Trent Reznor was in nine in nails not Tool, but can’t remember which one your quote came from.
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ha. Thanks for the reply, Tommy. Did some quick research and it was actually Timothy Leary that first said the quote …we’ve changed it above.
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Thanks for the catch Tommy. I was listening to Nine Inch Nails while I wrote the article. I guess something just seeped in through my fingers.
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Very interesting article and absolutely true. Here is one of my experiences: We were on a kayaking trip at the East Coast of Greenland. A relatively young., very nice couple was leading our 6-person group. A large number of ice flows and mini icebergwere moving up and down the fjord with the tides. During our lunch break, I was observing their movements with two other kayakers and commenting on the science of water flow. One of us was a oceanographer. We could see that an eddie had formed right in front of our lunch place. The ice was moving in a circular fashion. When we went back on the water to continue our way, the group was heading right into that eddie. I started shouting to the leaders: “shouldn’t we stay along the shoreline, we are heading into big trouble” but decided to keep my mouth shut, who am I, a kayaker with about 3 years of experience?
Within a bout 10 minutes we were surrounded and enclosed by 10-foot thick ice flows and no way out. We finally made it, because of a bold action by the female guide, which saved us from harm, and we could continue our 2-week expedition: along the shore line as I wanted to suggest half an hour earlier.
A quite adrenalin-raising experience!
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