Standing in line half an hour before the lift opens, they start to get jittery. Some bounce up and down on their skis. Others pick out their first lines.Everyone talks about the snow.
Not just any snow - new snow. Eight inches of new snow.
Last weekend, the Missoulian accompanied a group of 20 skiers and snowboarders for a Level 1 avalanche awareness course sponsored by the West Central Montana Avalanche Foundation, with the focus on helping backcountry enthusiasts make good decisions.
These are the important, sometimes lifesaving decisions skiers face in the backcountry. Is the snowpack stable enough to hold the weight of a skier? Is the risk of an avalanche worth the turns? Should skiers spend a powder day studying the snow or playing in it?
The group's quiet ride up
the chairlift is interrupted by an abrupt boom that echoes through the ski area. The chair stops abruptly and another boom follows.
Ski patrol members at Snowbowl are taking advance action on a potential avalanche area, and several skiers watch as a torrent of powder pours through a cliff chute, spreading out onto a popular run known as the Meadows.
"Decision-making is turning out to be a bigger deal than we ever thought," Steve Karkanen, director of the avalanche center, told participants on the first day of the class.
Three avalanche deaths near Whitefish Mountain Resort and Big Sky Resort in the past month have given a sense of urgency for backcountry skiers to know more about their terrain - before they shoot down the mountain.
Dudley Improta, assistant director of the University of Montana's Campus Recreation Department and a part-time observer and forecaster with the foundation, helped teach the class, along with longtime avalanche instructor Blase Reardon.
Most people enrolled in the course, which involved one indoor lecture at UM and two field days in the Rattlesnake Wilderness, so they could make sound decisions while skiing in the backcountry.
"It's easy to rely on others," said Nate Auge, a Missoula firefighter. "But it's a total team effort. One person shouldn't have all the pressure to make the right choice."
Some participants were just starting to ski the backcountry and wanted to build up their confidence out-of-bounds. Some had been backcountry skiing for years, and wanted hands-on experience with the experts. Others had been urged by more avalanche-savvy ski partners to take the class.
"Your friends trust you," said Steve Finnerty, an avalanche student. "It's unfair knowing they can save me (from an avalanche), but I can't save them."
There have already been many reported avalanche incidents in Montana this year, but most of them haven't resulted from ignorance, he said.
"Avalanche training does not correlate with the amount of risk people take," Karkanen said. In fact, the more educated a person becomes, the more apt they are to take bigger risks.
"Even the pros can make mistakes," he added.
There are stories of skiers with Level 3 avalanche training who have nearly died in avalanche-related incidents, Karkanen said. No matter how much a person knows, they can still fall into the trap.Improta calls it the "powder lure."
Ignoring the signs of an impending avalanche for a few more turns can be hard to avoid.
But that's what this class is for.
"A heuristic trap is relying on a clue or a rule of thumb unfit for the situation," Karkanen said.
That's when a skier justifies skiing dangerous terrain on high-danger avalanche days by saying they've never seen a slide on this particular hill or run.
"The guys who say that have been here for four or five years," Improta said. "But they're talking about a mountain. How long has it been here? That is not reliable information."
And then there's the justification that comes with a perceived familiarity.
During the classroom portion of the class, the students watched the film "A Dozen More Turns" by Amber Seyler. The documentary, based on a true story, follows the story of a group of experienced outdoorsmen on a backcountry trip on Mount Nemesis in southwestern Montana.
The group skied an unsafe run after a heavy snowstorm on the assumption it was safe because they had skied the same run for the previous two days. One member of the group, a soon-to-be father, was killed in an avalanche and another group member lost his leg.
Even Karkanen admits to having fallen prey to the powder lure.
"It's so fun. It's overpowering," he said. "Sometimes I still fall into those traps, but now I can recognize when I'm doing it."
Improta says the best way to avoid falling into heuristic traps is to prepare yourself to make the right decision. A person can choose to ski or not to ski. Either way, a day in the mountains should still be considered a success.
"People judge their day by numbers," Improta said. "How many runs did you make? What was your altitude? How steep was your line? That's America."
Instead, skiers should enjoy their day because they're in a beautiful place with good people. A good day should not be dependent on skiing, Improta said. When skiers go out-of-bounds, they should just tell themselves they're going for a tour. And if on that tour a safe skiing opportunity should present itself, then so be it.
"When people say they're going to ski, they feel committed to that," Improta said. "But if they just go out to tour, they won't feel pressured to make an unsafe decision."
But skiers looking to the backcountry should prepare more than their attitudes, and that preparation should begin even before they put their skis in the car.
Checking the local avalanche forecast, recent weather patterns, and watching for new snow are a start. Be aware of weather and snow conditions on the drive to the mountain and on the chair ride or walk to the top.
Getting ready to load the chair last Sunday, Improta and Karkanen were already asking questions.
"What do you know (about avalanche conditions) so far?" Improta asked the class. On the drive up, he and Karkanen had seen a 4-inch slab avalanche break off the side of the mountain. They knew there were 8 new inches of snow on the top of the mountain, and that there had been 50 mph winds from the west the night before.
"What's the temperature?" Improta asked. "Did the new snow bond to the old layers?"
On the chair ride to the top, students saw the ski patrol's control avalanche erupt. On the walk to Point Six, outside Snowbowl's boundary, they felt the layers of snow with their poles. On different slopes, students dug snow pits, exposing the history beneath the fresh-fallen powder.
The snow was unsafe.
As much as backcountry skiers must prepare for the right decisions - measuring snow with shovels and probes, and days with scenery rather than skiing - they must prepare for dealing with wrong decisions.
For instance, in case of an avalanche, know how to use a transceiver. Seventy-eight percent of people fully buried in an avalanche die, according to Improta. But there is still that 22-percent chance.
Don't ski alone or in big groups, Karkanen said, and go with people who know what they're doing. Ski one at a time.
Always carry a shovel and a probe into the backcountry and know how to use them.
"The moment you leave the ski area boundary," Improta said, "you should be carrying a transceiver, a shovel and a probe."
As the class dug snow pits on the cornice behind Snowbowl's Lavelle Creek chairlift, the ski area and Point Six stood as a contrast to one another amid the broken grays and blues of the winter sky.
One stood designated, controlled and safely traveled. The other stood dangerous, wild and pristine.
There are choices.
Some days you ski in the groomed area instead of the backcountry. Some days you ski a low-angle tree line rather than a steep chute. Some days you take an avalanche class instead of a powder line, and some days you don't ski the backcountry at all.
And at the end of the day, when all the skiers are back at the lodge or the car, some will tell you how many runs they skied and how deep the powder was.
But others will just say it was a good day. Maybe they skied knee-deep powder, or maybe they just went for a tour.
Either way, it was a good day.
After a day in the backcountry, students return to Snowbowl ski area. Instructors encouraged students to judge the success of an outing on the overall touring experience. "When people say they're going to ski, they feel committed to that, but if they just go out to tour they won't feel pressured to make an unsafe decision," says instructor Dudley Improta.Carly Flandro is an intern at the Missoulian and a journalism student at the University of Montana. She can be reached at carly.flandro@umontana.edu.
Linda Thompson is a photographer for the Missoulian. She can be reached at (406)
523-5270 or by e-mail at lthompson@missoulian.com.
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