Avalanche
It’s early January. Old depth hoar at the base of the snowpack. He peers down the slope. Steep and north facing. V1: Pascal believes it’s stable and skis the slope. The best run of his life. V2: Pascal believes it’s stable and skis the slope. It shatters
Meditations
A few thoughts on perception, decision making, and action. Knowledge and Knowing. Knowing and Acting. A few weeks ago, I sat down to chat with Ian McCammon at a coffee shop. Ian has been a driving force in helping us better understand avalanche mechanics and behavioural science as it relates
Meditations
Even Georgia O'Keeffe would blush at this American Beauty I suspect Ms O'Keeffe would never consent to paint a rose, preferring instead her Sacred Datura (Jimson Weed). * Her Jimson Weed/White Flower No. 1 (1932) sold for more than $44M in 2014. Georgia O'Keeffe
Avalanche
A few years ago, one of my best friends was caught in an avalanche somewhere north of here. The avalanche was triggered from above – another skier on the slope – and he suffered the onslaught of the avalanche. Deep within the belly of the whale, he pulled the trigger on his
Avalanche
Originally published a few years back in Ascent, the Backcountry Snow Journal Not long ago, I heard a story from an old colleague of mine. It was his first year as an avalanche professional and he was out in the field with his supervisor. The two of them approached the
Meditations
The Covid pandemic was fascinating in so many ways in terms of risk management and risk communication. There were so many parallels with the guiding and forecasting worlds. To keep with the cartoon theme (last week's Safer Than You), I am reprinting a three frame cartoon I had
I was able to convince Aaron Diamond into drawing this cartoon for me. I've wanted to write a piece on this for awhile but then it struck me that a cartoon would be its greatest form. Thanks Aaron. Aaron is a cartoonist moonlighting as a mountain guide and
Avalanche
(A Companion Piece to #nothingbadhappened) All too often, we find ourselves unable to predict what will happen; yet after the fact we explain what did happen with a great deal of confidence. This “ability” to explain that which we cannot predict, even in the absence of additional information, represents an
Meditations
It had never been done before and even the Bedouin looked upon Lawrence as if he were mad. It’s July 1919. The northern Arabian desert. Daytime temperatures reach 110°F. The sun is merciless. There is no shade, there is no water. And yet. Midway through his traverse through
Avalanche
This was 10-15 years ago in the Ruby Mountains of Nevada. When your good friend with a diagnosis of prostate cancer calls on a Saturday night and says, "We're going skiing in the Rubies on Monday and you're coming as well", you have
Meditations
It’s July 1931 on the Grand Teton in northwest Wyoming. A 20 year old Glenn Exum spies an enormous ledge (now known as the Wall Street ledge, photo below) well to the east through a gap in the rocks. He hustles through some easy but consequential terrain to get
Avalanche
In that Empire, Uncertainty was no longer tolerated. And so the Art of Snow Pit digging finally attained such Perfection that the Resolution became the problem. One snow pit per Mountain range proved insufficient, leading to one snow pit per drainage, leading to one per slope, which led to one