Sawtooth & Western Smoky Mtns

Avalanche danger will increase with today's storm. Small wind slabs were reactive to the weight of skiers and riders yesterday and will grow with today's new snow and wind. At lower and middle elevations, triggering a large avalanche is unlikely. Continue to use extra caution on very steep, rocky, wind-affected slopes. 

Today's forecast discussion will be a little different, bear with me.

On this day 5 years ago, Kip Rand was killed in an accident in the mountains. Kip was an avalanche professional, an experienced ski mountaineer, a brother, a son, a lover, a friend to all who knew him, and a proficient cookie baker. He was also my best friend. For those that knew him well, the loss of Kip has left a void that has been very difficult to fill.

I was skiing with Kip on the day that he died. The accident occurred as we were nearing the end of a long ski tour in the Wallowa Mountains of eastern Oregon. The snowpack was stable and we had skied and climbed large, consequential avalanche terrain on many aspects and elevations at that point in the day. As we were looking for a way to safely enter the final couloir that we planned to ski, the cornice we were attempting to navigate past broke far wider and much further back than we anticipated. I watched as the fracture opened up between us and Kip fell into the couloir along with the house-sized cornice, which weighed an estimated 500,000 pounds. He was carried over 1,000' down the rocky couloir and buried in the debris. I was initially able to rescue and revive him, but he ultimately did not survive the injuries that he sustained.

This is hard for me to talk about, but I think it is important. Mountains are beautiful places that provide us with things that make us whole, but they are also unpredictable and unforgiving. As we see the danger dropping in our area and the likelihood of triggering avalanches decreasing, we generally react by putting ourselves into higher consequence situations. This phenomenon, known as "risk-homeostasis", is innately human. A classic example is found in seat belts. When these features were introduced into vehicles we collectively decided that it was acceptable to drive at a higher rate of speed. This is neither right nor wrong, it's just how we are as humans. We are fragile creatures who like to test our own boundaries. Losing Kip hasn't lessened the pull that steep, rocky mountains have on me. Just yesterday, I was playing in terrain where making a mistake would have had significant consequences. Kip's death taught me a very hard, but important lesson: we have to be honest with ourselves about the risks we are taking and our ability to control those risks. If you are going to be fighting with dragons, you have to be willing to look them in the eye.

The snowpack varies significantly across our forecast area. Even though the avalanche danger is (mostly) the same across the forecast area, the dragons that we are facing are not. For me, the most frightening sort of dragons are the unpredictable ones. Right now, the most unpredictable dragons are living in the Boulder, White Cloud, and Pioneer Mountains. Even though I know the likelihood of triggering a slide on the weak layers here isn't high, the thought of entering big, upper elevation terrain in this zone makes me shiver. I know that I could probably go ski large, consequential terrain here and get away with it, but I'm not interested in rolling those dice. If I'm going to be taking risks, I want to be doing it in a way where my actions can have an impact on the outcome.

Today's forecast is dedicated to Kip. Enjoy the mountains and the fresh air in your lungs today. Smile, laugh, and hug your friends. Appreciate the freedom of the hills, but be sure to make eye contact with the dragons along the way.