Snowmobilers Should Never Take Safety For Granted

There’s no such thing as a bad day for fishing. Sometimes, however, sensible anglers know when to stay off a threatening lake and fish from shore.

Restraint is a virtue for anyone with a passion for outdoor sports. Knowledge can save lives.

The 13 people who called for the recorded avalanche forecast posted by the Idaho Panhandle National Forest on March 5 learned the avalanche danger in the region last weekend was high.

No one knows whether the calls saved a life.

Backcountry skiers may have heard the report of unstable conditions and avoided the high-mountain bowls.

Snowmobilers may have decided to stay safely on groomed trails.

Snowboarders may have chosen to buy lift tickets for a ski area where slopes are controlled to prevent avalanche.

We do know that one North Idaho snowmobiler either didn’t hear or didn’t heed the avalanche warning. He’s dead.

This is a tragedy for him and his family that’s been made even worse by steaming anger at local officials, who responded slowly to the call for help.

The incident points out flaws in the communications between law enforcement in Bonner and Boundary counties.

But the most serious soul-searching needs to come from snowmobilers themselves.

If you’re capable of going deep into the backcountry beyond groomed trails, you’d better be capable of taking care of yourself.

Out there, a cellular phone is little help in a situation where minutes can mean life and death.

Snowmobilers generally are a self-sufficient bunch. They’re accustomed to taking care of those in their ranks who run out of gas, need a spare belt or slam into a tree and need a bandage and a tow.

The advantage of an easy ride to safety has discouraged them from being fully prepared for the terrain and conditions they’re probing.

Modern sleds enable some snowmobilers to reach snowbound backcountry areas previously explored only by climbers and ski mountaineers. It’s time for those snowmobilers to start thinking like mountaineers.

Granted, backcountry skiers were getting snuffed out by avalanches for a few hundred years before they started wising up.

Nowadays, the majority of skiers head into the backcountry fully equipped with avalanche transceivers, shovels, emergency clothing, provisions and poles that couple into avalanche probes.

This gear simply helps save victims who beat the unsavory odds of surviving an avalanche. The chance of survival is much greater if you avoid the avalanche.

Heavy new snowfall, windy conditions and sun exposure are a few of the obvious clues to high avalanche potential. But training is required to evaluate weak layers that could sheer into a massive slab avalanche under disturbance as slight as the vibration of a wound-up snowmobile.

The only lucky thing about last weekend’s tragedy is that more people weren’t killed.

The party of snowmobilers was deep in the backcountry playing a dangerous game of seeing how high they could ride on steep slopes during a period of high avalanche danger.

After the deadly slide, long after there was any serious chance of the victim’s survival, numerous snowmobilers with good intentions gathered to search in the avalanche path.

A cornice still loomed on the ridge above the slope.

“It’s unacceptable to expose people to potential avalanche without first checking the stability of the slope, stationing sentinels out of danger to watch for slides and be ready for rescues and putting avalanche beacons on everyone in the slide zone,” said Dan Krmpotich, a Boundary County rescue volunteer.

Everyone can learn something from this tragedy. But snowmobilers can’t learn to play by backcountry rules until they know what the rules are.

You can contact Rich Landers by voice mail at 459-5577, extension 5508.

, DataTimes MEMO: This sidebar appeared with the story: Training for snowmobilers Two avalanche awareness programs have been scheduled specifically for snowmobilers. Forest Service hydrologist Bob Kasun will give an overview of avalanche awareness Friday, 4 p.m.8 p.m. at Hill’s Resort at Priest Lake. A more comprehensive weekend course with backcountry training in avalanche forecasting and rescue through Peak Adventures snowcat guides is tentatively scheduled for late March. Cost $157. Info: (208) 682-3200.

The following fields overflowed: CREDIT = Rich Landers The Spokesman-Review