True, and that is indeed my one exception.
After putting up with so much here during the winter and early spring, after we've had multiple weeks of Low, with no new loading anywhere, then yes, avy gear can finally be left home.
Even this past season when we had those persistent weak layers, they finally did stop persisting.
By contrast, I remember one video, I think from UAC, where the avy fx'er held up the facets dug out from a weak layer that caused an avy, and said something like, "these will continue to be a problem until they're coming out of your faucets."
Excellent summary, thanks!
I think he meant that the original plan may have been to stay on a particular route but that due to unforeseen circumstances that route might change.
Agreed on all counts..
In more detail, the area that slid has several factors that render it the most slide-prone of what I would distinguish as the four separate snowfields on the Eastern side of Mt W. I also think it's the least desirable ski route. (But perhaps it's the most tempting to those just booting straight up after topping out of Tux.)
We ended up having an extended discussion of this at the classroom avy course last month as one of the students had been there at the time.
Quite the scene beforehand, with someone even digging a pit in the middle of the slope that would soon slide.
And quite the scene after, with chaotic attempts at search/rescue (which fortunately were not necessary).
That was Mark Richey:
http://www.markrichey.com/who_we_are/mountaineering.cfm
Certainly a skilled climber:
http://www.markrichey.com/who_we_are...April-2012.pdf
But I didn't see him listed anywhere here:
http://amga.com/hire-a-guide/
Overall, I think Dale's intro fit in perfectly with the panelists: they got to hear us say that they need to step it up with avy rescue gear, and we got to hear them confirm the current situation as summarized by Dale's #s.
Hubris, is that something I learned in high school literature courses?
Well, whatever it's called, when we start off with introductions at my avy courses, among the highlighted items are mistakes we've made in the backcountry. I set the tone with two case studies of mistakes that I personally have made in the backcountry.
This also reminds of how at an AIARE instructor course, during a break one instructor was talking about how someone got caught in a slide. Then I realized he was talking about how it was his own client who was caught in a slide. At first I was amazed at this unprompted public admission of making a mistake. But the more he talked about it, the more I respected him. (I wish that same approach had been taken by the guide with the Tux avy after the Obs night.)
