RobG
Well-known member
Hi folks,
Avalanches have killed two people in Montana in the last two days. One was a backcountry skier who knew the risk, but the other was a snowmobiler who had no idea what danger he was in. Fatalities are also happening all over the west this year.
The snowmobiler was in the Cooke City area which has been very dangerous all year. Yesterday, the entire Gallatin Forest area was under an Avalanche Warning, which basically means stay out of the backcountry because it's too dangerous. Those should have been clues enough, but his buddy high-marked above him while he was trying to start his machine and brought the whole mountain down on top of him. None of them had beacons or rescue equipment. They obviously didn't know to check conditions, nor how to operate safe under any conditions. Being from out of state, they probably didn't even know what they didn't know about the danger.
Earlier this year another snowmobiler was killed near Big Sky when there was an Avalanche Warning in effect. These are avoidable tragedies.
If you come out here check the avalanche advisory at http://www.mtavalanche.com/current or the advisory that covers your area. You can subscribe to their daily updates and get a feel for the general conditions and learn a little bit about safe backcountry travel even if you don't live close by.
This applies to hunters too. All it takes is a little slide to knock you off balance and send you off a cliff. That happened to an ice climber a few years ago south of Bozeman.
Avalanches have killed two people in Montana in the last two days. One was a backcountry skier who knew the risk, but the other was a snowmobiler who had no idea what danger he was in. Fatalities are also happening all over the west this year.
The snowmobiler was in the Cooke City area which has been very dangerous all year. Yesterday, the entire Gallatin Forest area was under an Avalanche Warning, which basically means stay out of the backcountry because it's too dangerous. Those should have been clues enough, but his buddy high-marked above him while he was trying to start his machine and brought the whole mountain down on top of him. None of them had beacons or rescue equipment. They obviously didn't know to check conditions, nor how to operate safe under any conditions. Being from out of state, they probably didn't even know what they didn't know about the danger.
Earlier this year another snowmobiler was killed near Big Sky when there was an Avalanche Warning in effect. These are avoidable tragedies.
If you come out here check the avalanche advisory at http://www.mtavalanche.com/current or the advisory that covers your area. You can subscribe to their daily updates and get a feel for the general conditions and learn a little bit about safe backcountry travel even if you don't live close by.
This applies to hunters too. All it takes is a little slide to knock you off balance and send you off a cliff. That happened to an ice climber a few years ago south of Bozeman.
