I'm still pretty new to backcountry snowmobiling. That was very evident when Ski-Doo's Steve Martin (no, not Father of the Bride Steve Martin) took me into the woods near my house and absolutely destroyed me on a fairly non-technical blast. But one of the things that I took seriously was the possibility of an avalanche, as Martin himself drilled into my head.
Avalanches bury folks each and every year throughout the West, as people don't pay attention to weather, snowpack, how that snow fell, the varying temperature changes throughout the season, or even to the hillside's faces and facets telling you exactly what could or couldn't happen. Basically, they go out unprepared, which inevitably leads to injuries, search and rescue calls, and potentially fatal accidents, all thanks to snow calving off a mountainside.
It's scary. And it's why folks buy avalanche beacons, which Steve and I had in our pockets that day. But those are last-case pieces of gear, along with avalanche inflatable jackets. What you really want is better predictors, better maps, and better ways to figure out when or if an avalanche could occur before you go out. That's especially true now with all the cuts to the Forest Service and its avalanche mitigation teams.
