I’ve always liked Ruedi Beglinger and been a fan of his incredible operation in Canada. More, I have dozens of friends who ski with him every winter. As mentioned in previous blog posts, I’m curious about just how safe being guided in Canada is. Ruedi published a letter on his website (defunct link removed 2015) that says he’s done 5,600 days of ski mountaineering guiding as of this October. For the sake of discussion, let’s assume he’s had an average of nine people per day (I asked some of his clients for a ball-park average), for a total of 50,400 “guest days” under his wing.
As we all sadly know, seven people died during those estimated 50,400 days. So how does that compare to other activities? Take a look at various websites that try to make sense of human risk factors, then consider that fitness DECREASES your risk of death by a significant degree, and backcountry skiing requires a high fitness level. My gut feeling after doing a bit of math is that CAREFUL and risk averse backcountry skiers, guided or otherwise, can rest assured they have a statistical likelihood of leading long lives, and if misfortune does occur in our lives, it will probably not be in the form of an avalanche — our days being guided or otherwise.
WildSnow.com publisher emeritus and founder Lou (Louis Dawson) has a 50+ years career in climbing, backcountry skiing and ski mountaineering. He was the first person in history to ski down all 54 Colorado 14,000-foot peaks, has authored numerous books about about backcountry skiing, and has skied from the summit of Denali in Alaska, North America’s highest mountain.
