19 January 2017
Avalanches and “safety,” and Sweet Betsy DeVos
Ben Parson was careful, but he still started the avalanche that killed him. At the Flathead Beacon, Tristan Scott has an excellent summary of the report of the accident investigation (and a link to the report). It’s hard to find fault with Parson and his companions. Fit and experienced, they followed best practices. According to the investigators, Parson and his companions “…were all equipped with avalanche transceivers, avalanche shovels, and probes and they read the avalanche advisory that morning.”
Some might consider it a freak accident. Parson was testing the snow at the top of the slope, carving a turn, then setting his skies for a hard stop. When this snow stability test performs as intended, the skis act as a splitting wedge, breaking the slab off below the skis. But when Parson completed his second stop, the stopping force was transferred to a slab of snow extending above as well as beneath him, pulling the slab loose at a fracture zone above his skis. According to the investigators:
At approximately 2:00 p.m. Skier 1 traversed across the relatively broad ridge and into … the western most of the two avalanche paths. He performed two ski pole tests in this area (to determine general snowpack structure), then made one left hand turn followed by an immediate right turn. Between these turns Skier 1 down weighted his skis once or twice in an attempt to test the snow stability. This is a test utilized by experienced individuals to test small test slopes with low or no consequence should an avalanche occur. Shortly after completing his right hand turn he triggered the avalanche, possibly while down weighting. The avalanche broke uphill of Skier 1 and immediately knocked him off his feet (Figure 10).
In hindsight, he misjudged where the snow might detach from the mountain, but his choice of a testing spot may have been rational given what he knew at the time.
A note on avalanche “safety” equipment. After moving to the west as a young man, I attended classes on avalanche safety; among my instructors, the near legendary Cal Tassanari. That was before radio transceivers were available. Instead, we tied avalanche cord to our waist, trailing it behind us as we skied, and carried probes and shovels. The more I learned about avalanches, a fascinating subject, the more cautious I became in the backcountry.
Neither transceivers nor cord nor probes nor shovels make a backcountry skier safer. Nothing makes an avalanche safe or safer. These items do save lives, but they’re rescue devices, to be used after safety has disappeared. Often, they’re simply tools for finding and recovering dead skiers. Carrying them does not reduce the probability of an avalanche. Neither would a portable snow penetrating sonar or radar that could assess snow structure, although that technology might be helpful. As always, the best way to survive an avalanche is not to get caught in one. And the best way not to get caught in one is to stay off avalanche slopes.
Ballad of Sweet Betsy DeVos
President-Elect Donald Trump's choice for Secretary of Education is Betsy DeVos, a billionaire from Michigan who's a darling of the Christian right and no friend of public education. She made such a fool of herself in her confirmation hearing that only music can do her ignorance and cluelessness justice. Therefore, to the tune of Sweet Betsy from Pike:Have you heard tell of sweet Betsy DeVos,
When asked a tough question she’s at a big loss,
She doesn't know jack, but she knows Don’s her boss,
And she knows Common Core is what she must toss.
Woo hoo dear sweet Betsy,
Her mind’s cluttered not,
Woo hoo dear sweet Betsy,
So full of dry rot.
She touts charter schools, home schooling, and such,
Of law that is federal she doesn't know much,
She’s Michigan's back to the basics schoolmarm,
She’ll learn kids the way they done learned on the farm.
Woo hoo dear sweet Betsy,
Her mind’s cluttered not,
Woo hoo dear sweet Betsy,
So full of dry rot.
Betsy wants schools that are safe and secure,
For staff she wants Glocks kept loaded and near,
Big pistols she’s packin’, not pencils of lead,
She’ll shoot schoolyard grizzlies until they are dead.
Woo hoo dear sweet Betsy,
Her mind’s cluttered not,
Woo hoo dear sweet Betsy,
So full of dry rot.