WINTER SPORTS -- This film, "Ode to Avalanche," will be awesome to some winter recreationists and frightening to others.

Either way, I hope it at least prompts you to check in with a regional avalanche forecast -- such as the weekly bulletin by the Idaho Panhandle Avalance Center -- before heading into the winter backcountry.

Update: Read this new enlightening Elk Mountain avalanche report on an slide that buried a skier near Marias Pass in Glacier National Park.   It was close to being much, much worse.