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Drew Hardesty
Forecaster

Looking over the last 10 winters at the avalanche fatalities across the state. What's the trend? Where do they occur...and to whom? One might look at a running average of 4 fatalities/year against explosive growth in backcountry use over the past 10 years and draw any number of conclusions.

At first glance, one might be lulled into looking at these numbers as numbers; but intruth each number is a person - a friend, husband, wife, child, or colleague. The numbers belie the real storiespunctuated by real events with real people affected by close calls and, unfortunately, tragedy.

For a more complete list and map of all of the avalanche fatalities in the current era, scroll to Detailed Info>Fatalities. Sifting through old Snowy Torrents books, forecaster Brett Kobernik has put together a nice page for us here at the UAC.

Drew, Thanks for compiling the data, great graphics. Any estimates on the increase in number of backcountry travelers: skiers/boarders, snowmobilers, snowshoers? If not, any ideas on how to gather some estimates? I suspect, as you alluded to, that the number of fatalities is decreasing proportionate to the vast increase in total number of backcountry travelers/season.
Bryan Dorsey, W... (not verified)
Wed, 12/10/2014
<p>Bryan - according SIA (Snowsports&nbsp;Industries America), during the 2013/2014 winter season sales of backcountry ski and snowshoe gear&nbsp;surpassed $44 million, continuing a trend of increasing each year. &nbsp;Ski touring gear alone topped $25&nbsp;million<br /> and that sales of AT/Randonee boots increased by 60%,&nbsp;climbing skin sales by 10%, and sales of alpine/AT boots increased by 161% compared to the previous&nbsp;season. &nbsp;The Outdoor Foundation&rsquo;s 2013 Outdoor Recreation Participation&nbsp;Report found that over the previous five years national participation in backcountry skiing increased by 87%. &nbsp;More can be found <a href="http://winterwildlands.org/wp-content/uploads/2014/09/Economic-Impact-of-Human-Powered-Snowsports.pdf">here.</a></p>
Drew
Wed, 12/10/2014