The Human Factor

I have avalanches on the brain lately and immediately after completing my Level 1 avalanche class over a week ago I dove right into reading “Staying Alive in Avalanche Terrain” by Bruce Tremper. Tremper’s book is an excellent read and complimented the Level 1 class nicely. The book also reinforced what I thought when I walked out of class: Snow pit study, rescue strategy, and hazard evaluation are all important but Human Factors cause me the most concern.

What are the human factors? According to Tremper, the human factors that repeatedly get people into trouble in avalanche terrain include familiarity, peer pressure, the herding instinct, competition, poor communication, the “sheep syndrome” (blindly following whoever is leading), the “horse syndrome” (a rush to get back to the barn), and the “lion syndrome” (a rush for first tracks).

Let’s just say that my radar is on for things like:

“XYZ slope is safe; there are always tracks on it”

“XYZ slope is safe; I have skied there for 5 years and have never seen an avalanche”

“Let’s go to XYZ slope before anyone else gets there”

“My fingers are frozen and I am late for work so I am just going to drop in here and head to the parking lot”

“I ski this all of the time, don’t be a pu$$y”