Another group avalanche tragedy is in the news. In Canada, a guided party with two dead and several injured. I can’t say I’m immune to exposing more than one person at a time to avalanche hazard. Sometimes it hard to split your group up enough to always follow the “one at a time” rule to the letter. On the other hand, I still think way to many avalanche accidents involve more than one person from the same group. Makes me want to do a better job of minding my own menagerie, I hope others get the same inspiration.
Also in Canada, environmental groups opposing skiing are apparently stirring up some chuckles. According to a pithy article, one group (ForestEthics) accused Victoria’s Secret of raping caribou habitat to print its catalogues. By bringing the popular Victoria babes into the picture, the group generated a good buzz and raised lots of money. The question remained, however, of how much the catalog really affected caribou. Probably not much.
Continuing on the skiing environmental front, it’s said that many ski resorts continue to reinvent themselves as 4-season recreation centers. This article about the trend doesn’t mention climate change, but one can only wonder if some resorts are actually acting on the common consensus that the climate is warming and that lower elevation ski resorts may experience a shortened snow season as a result. In the ski industry, probably the biggest talker about global warming is the Aspen Skiing Company (ASC), which operates the Aspen area ski areas near here. At this time they appear to think global warming can be stopped by buying wind power and doing political activism. In my view they’re sadly mistaken, and should prepare for the inevitable. Thus, it’ll be interesting to watch and see if ASC ramps up their year-around resort emphasis and starts dumping significantly more money into non-snow use of their mountains. Alpine slide, anyone?
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.
