Stetson

Salt Lake » Big Cottonwood Canyon » Cardiff Fork » Cardiac Ridge

Cardiff via Alta

Had a great day of powder skiing. Mark nailed the forecast I think, generally pretty safe snow out there today. I think the biggest danger was the HUMAN FACTOR. I observed three red flags today that made me want to rethink my terrain choices in the future: #1- While skinning up Flagstaff, I encountered a young male skiing alone wearing no beacon and carrying neither probe nor shovel. I (strongly) suggested he descend and he did after almost no discussion. #2-After skiing the SW shoulder of Flagstaff, I encountered a man in sitting right in the choke underneath Toledo Chute/Bowl. When I asked him why he was sitting there, he said that it was his FIRST DAY OUT and that his buddy had left him there while he continued to ascend the bowl above. He had remained behind to film the event with a GoPro attached to a selfie stick. I suggested that he move to higher ground (he didn't) and continued with my tour. When I encountered the "buddy" at the top, he seemed oblivious to the danger of his friend sitting in a terrain trap directly underneath his run AND angry at me for merely asking him about it. #3- After skiing a few laps in the Cardiac Ridge area, my partner and I ascended towards Cardiff Peak to return to Alta. After gaining the cottonwood ridge line, we passed another group headed back towards Alta. My partner and I descended toward the Cave area (South around Cardiff Peak) and the other group descended to the East. Our groups merged again (about 20 meters apart) in the Cardiff Bowl area and I suggested that the other group go first because they seemed faster. One member of the other group insisted that WE go first and so I started down the slope. The clouds were moving back in and I was out of visual contact with my partner, so when I reached the trees, I yelled for her to come down. Before I was done with my "all clear" call, one of the other group arrived at the bottom of the bowl. Then both of the others. When I asked why their group had skied on top of me immediately after giving us the chance to go first, I was told it was "fine" and that I was "being confrontational." Some thoughts on all of this: 1. My general mentality is to let people figure it out on their own. BUT, I cannot abide my safety or the safety of my group being compromised. To quote Bruce Tremper, "if [backcountry skiers] expect to have a reasonably long career, they have to make the correct avalanche decision 99.9 percent of the time." I like to think I'm making good decisions out there, but how can I account for everybody else skiing near me? 2. I am not an expert. I learn something new everyday in the mountains. I try to approach every day with humility, especially when dealing with other people. We all have the opportunity to learn from each other but it is impossible if nobody feels comfortable explaining their decisions to strangers. 3. There are a few basic tidbits that everybody should know before they enter the backcountry (always carry beacon/shovel/probe, stay out of terrain traps, 1 person on a slope at a time, more examples abound). Making people aware of the dangers is better than ignoring the ignorance. 4. TAKE AN AVALANCHE COURSE!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! 5. There are a whole lot of people skiing in the Wasatch. On some days, in certain areas (Alta), the human factor is BY FAR the biggest danger. Drew has been preaching a lot about it and he is right: We need to codify and begin to follow our own rules before the Man steps in and starts his regulating. I don't think anybody reading this wants the South Face Of Superior to be permanently closed. That would be a tragedy of epic proportions. I know the UAC likes raw data, but I found these incidents to be the scariest part of my day and thought them worthy of posting.

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