In addition, in general, traditionally Canadian
skiers have had a high respect for the mountains, and backcountry
entrence is usually taken with much caution and avalanche
equipment. In the USA, many ski resorts have super easy access to
the backcountry, and many people enter them ill-prepared. In
addition, there are a lot of mountainous regions that allow people to
have only a 30minute drive and be able to access numerous avalanche
susceptible mountains. These two points may be parly respsonible
to why there are so many in-ski-hill avalanche deaths in the USA.
As a result of the lack of avalanche standards, each ski hill may
operate under their own state or county regulations. This may
mean that one ski hill bombs its slopes and is very diligent on
avalanche control, while another ski hill may not have as much money
and rather puts caution signs up warning of avalanches. The
latter does nothing to stabilize the slope. As an avid skier, I
know first hand how easy it is to think that slopes just out of ski
area boundaries are safe to ski. This is not the case and never
will be. As much caution needs to be taken on ski-hill
backcountry slopes as to any backcountry slopes. All the
appropriate avalanche gear should be carried, knowledge of the winter’s
snowpack conditions, knowledge of the local avalanche conditions, and
training in slope stability assessment are essential.
A avalanche incident database is created by the CAA from past events in order to try to understand contributing factors involved in triggering avalanches. The ADFAR project is making use of this database. The following link is an avalanche incident form that you are encouraged to fill out if you or a group member experiences or sees an avalanche. There is also a link on the CAA website, which will better describe how to fill an incident report out and why it is important. These reports will benefit research and perhaps act as a aid to further understand the human biases involved and the physics behind these deadly avalanches.