The following is the inner dialogue of a concerned Whistler skier.
I’m not sure if it’s just me getting on in the years, but the world seems to be a growing collection of worrying trends. Wars are raging, populism is on the rise, and everything from housing to a bag of potatoes from Fresh St. Market is costing an arm and a leg.
Chill, bro. At least we can go skiing. At the end of the day, what more do you need?
Yeah, skiing is awesome. But even that’s full of worrying trends. Like climate change. How many winters do you think we have left before they have to pull the pin on skiing as a sport? Have you seen the Vancouver TV news stories covering the North Shore mountains? It’s starting to look more and more like the Aussie ski seasons; ever shorter and full of rain.
Whoa, slow down there, Greta. Skiing isn’t going anywhere. We’re just having a bad year. You’ve been kicking around town long enough to see at least two or three years as bad as this. And you didn’t go through an existential crisis then…
You’re right. The world isn’t ending—not yet anyway. There’ll be more pow days. But it’s not just the weather I’m worried about. Or the crowded weekends with the highway clogged all the way back to powerline hill. Heck, it’s not even about Vail Resorts.
What is it then? Is it the tumour-like growth of paid parking that’s got your knickers in a twist?
No, it’s not the paid parking. I managed to get my e-bike ski-ready this winter, so I’m good! I’m actually the most concerned about the backcountry. More specifically, the people going out there and the decisions they’re making.
Are you going to get on your high horse about avalanche education again? They all did their damn AST 1, so don’t give me that lecture on underpreparedness.
It’s not about avalanche education—not really. The avalanche education is better than it’s ever been. It’s taught by pretty smart people. They even focus a bit more on the psychology of decision-making nowadays, rather than just the dry theory of snow science.
So if they’re getting educated, what’s the problem?
It’s how backcountry skiers and splitboarders are learning after their courses. The coastal snowpack we have in Whistler is quite forgiving compared to say, the Rockies or the Kootenays. The folks out in the Interior seem to have a bit more respect for the terrain under their sticks because the snowpack isn’t as stable. The South Coast is like the freakin’ Wild West.
Too many cowboys on the coast? This is starting to sound familiar…
Yeah, you could say that. We’ve always had cowboy skiers pushing it when the conditions were sketchy. But now that every bro with a camera and a YouTube channel is in need of content, we’re seeing more sketchy decisions and near-misses getting normalized. Like last week. A snowboarder dropped into a line he knew was probably going to slide, but did it anyway because he had a planned route into a “safe zone.” The guy was so convinced his plan was sound he posted about it on social media, telling everyone it was in the name of “avalanche awareness.”
But owning up to your mistakes in the backcountry is good, right? Taking accountability for the decision and the factors that led up to it?
That’s just it. He didn’t admit he made a mistake, he just said “you need to know what you’re doing.” The arrogance is infuriating. He basically communicated that if you’re going to ski a slope with a high chance of sliding, you can probably still ski it as long as you have an island of safety along your route.
Isn’t that good? Spotting a safe zone in case the slope rips out?
It is, usually. But it sounded like he decided to ski a dangerously loaded slope because there was an island of safety, not because he was confident in the slope’s stability. Did you see the terrain trap below? He was one turn away from SAR having to scrape him off the side of the mountain.
That’s fair, I suppose, but to each their own when it comes to risk tolerance, right? People are allowed to take the risks they deem worth the turns. It’s a free country.
Yeah, but the most harmful part was how it was put out to the online ski touring community. It normalizes this very high level of risk, as long as skiers convince themselves they have a “game plan.”
C’mon. Can’t you trust the intelligence of the ski-touring community to make the right decisions for themselves?
No comment.
Vince Shuley wishes you a safe 2024 season in the backcountry. For questions, comments or suggestions for The Outsider, email [email protected] or Instagram @whis_vince.
