Snowslide season is worse than most

Lured by the promise of fresh-air thrills, beauty and serenity, increasing numbers of recreational skiers, snowboarders, climbers and snowmobilers are heading for the backcountry.

But this winter, El Niño is aggravating a frightening seasonal pattern, avalanche experts say. More and more recreationists are dying in backcountry avalanches.

In the Northwest alone, 15 people have died in avalanches in the past five weeks. Fourteen of those died in the past two weeks in British Columbia avalanches; a Seattle man died in an avalanche near Crystal Mountain Dec. 29. Backcountry snowmobilers in Yellowstone and Montana have added to the national total, which stands at 35 so far this winter.

Avalanches have killed more people in Washington than any other natural disaster, said Mark Moore, director of the Northwest Weather and Avalanche Center in Seattle. Washington ranks sixth in the nation for avalanche fatalities -- behind Colorado Alaska, Utah, Montana and Wyoming -- with 21 fatalities in the past 18 years, 15 of which have occurred since 1996.

And this year has been worse than most.

"El Niño has produced an unusual winter, which produces unusual weather, which produces unusual accidents," Moore said. "When it comes to extreme skiing, snowboarding, snowmobiling -- you're accepting a higher level of risk, and therefore, a higher level of consequences. But I don't think everyone out there knows that."

An avalanche that killed seven high-school skiers near Revelstoke, B.C., last weekend is still under investigation, as is an avalanche Jan. 20 that killed seven, including Mount Vernon snowboarding champion Craig Kelly. Fourteen survived the Jan. 20 avalanche near the Durrand Glacier in B.C., but funerals were held yesterday for many of the Revelstoke victims. The recent fatalities will adjust upward the prior average of 10 avalanche fatalities a year, according to Canadian authorities.

Earlier this week, B.C. Premier Gordon Campbell said he wanted his government to work with federal officials and professional groups to conduct a "comprehensive review" of safety in the wilderness.

Moore said he did not know all the circumstances of the Glacier National Park incident near Revelstoke. But from what he has studied, he considers it a "fluky" avalanche that bears the mark of an El Niño winter.

"It was an unusual event. The skiers were in relatively safe terrain; in most situations, it would have been a perfectly safe place to be," Moore said. Weather and snow structure indicated that any avalanche would have gone off to the side of where the skiers were, rather than turning and going straight down the valley at them, he said.

Avalanche experts understand how snow crystals can, under certain conditions, weaken and produce the deadliest of avalanches. They understand that it is the weight -- not the sound -- of a skier or a circling, "high-marking" snowmobiler that can compromise an already weakened slab of snow seconds before it thunders down.

"Avalanches are the only natural hazard we deal with that is triggered by the victim. People trigger it when they step onto the plate or slab of snow, and it feels like someone pulls the rug out from under you," said Bruce Tremper, director of the Utah Avalanche Center in Salt Lake City and a national authority on avalanches.

"But the good news is that if it's caused by the victim, it's preventable as well," said Tremper, author of "Staying Alive in Avalanche Terrain," a book published by The Mountaineers in Seattle.

Tremper said the growth trend in avalanche fatalities has been fed by increased population, the lure of the backcountry for those trying to escape urban density and advances in recreational technology that allow snowmobilers, skiers and boarders to access increasingly remote terrain and higher elevations.

Michael Buss, 26, a snowboarder from Glacier who heads to the backcountry beyond Mount Baker ski area at least 40 days a season, applauds a new ski area policy put in place after the 1998-99 season that saw three backcountry avalanche fatalities. The policy, which Buss says "should be a policy for most ski areas in America," requires backcountry recreationists to carry transceivers or beacons (locating devices), probes (collapsible poles), shovels and be with a partner before leaving the ski area. Buss, who works at Mount Baker Snowboard Shop in Glacier and has taken a 40-hour avalanche safety class that includes snowpack analysis, said the policy is enforced by the ski patrol, which can expel those not complying.

Backcountry enthusiasts like Buss, Tremper and Bruce Greenstein, a Seattle-based mountain rescue worker and chairman of the national Avalanche Fund, all agree that trying to post signs or prevent backcountry access would be a policy misstep. More important, they say, is to enhance avalanche safety and education.

"The appeal of backcountry can be summarized in one word: freedom. That's what people are pursuing," said Greenstein, whose group aims to raise money for avalanche centers. "The demand is only continuing to increase . . . just because we don't have a lot of snow this year doesn't mean people aren't dying."

Greenstein and others are hoping to convince the U.S. Forest Service, which has oversight over most backcountry and helps fund avalanche centers nationwide, can get more federal funding to ease some of the fund-raising hurdles faced by the centers. The Northwest Avalanche Center will likely suffer a $20,000 annual reduction in its already tight budget for fiscal year 2003, making it that much harder to add remote weather stations, sensors or avalanche trainers, Greenstein said.

Sen. Patty Murray, D-Wash., helped prevent cuts for previous budgets, but she and other federal officials say budgets are tight for everyone this year.

"One of the best parts of living in Washington state is our access to recreation in the great outdoors," Murray said in a statement. "Unfortunately, without the proper warning systems, the risk of tragedy is greatly increased.

"It is my hope that state, federal and private entities can all come together to continue to protect the safety of outdoor enthusiasts."

Officials with REI and other outfitters say demand was high for avalanche classes even before the recent fatalities. That is a welcome trend, experts say. Greenstein said the Yellowstone incident Jan. 24 was a particular tragedy; a snowmobiler wearing a beacon was located beneath an avalanche and a companion found him -- but did not have a shovel.