Scott Hayes | [email protected]
Local Journalism Initiative Reporter
Monday evening鈥檚 Stories from the Mountains had its fair share of first-person avalanche tales and a healthy helping of handy advice on how to prepare for your backcountry sporting adventure.
Training was highly recommended, too. Speakers suggested and other websites to review the weather, dive deep into stats on environmental conditions and cross-check avalanche indices just as a start.
One topic that kept coming back: keeping your head in the game, and keeping it straight.
鈥淭his is our main point鈥� identify your bias,鈥� said Marcus Waring, visitor safety technician with Jasper National Park.
鈥淭hat鈥檚 going to be a reoccurring theme throughout this: what lens are we making all these decisions through? How badly do I want to ski this?鈥澛�
Waring paid as much attention to encouraging people to read mountaineering blogs as he did to getting them to look at themselves clearly in the mirror, metaphorically speaking.
鈥淚f there鈥檚 a race for tracks, or if you see a bunch of tracks on the slope, that doesn鈥檛 mean it鈥檚 safe to ski. That鈥檚 an easy way to bias your decision making.鈥�
鈥淲e get those things 鈥� that bias 鈥� 鈥極h, I tried it once. Worked out pretty good [the] first time,鈥� 鈥� said Deryl Kelly, Jasper National Park鈥檚 visitor safety supervisor.
Waring offered an acronym called FACETS. The first letter 鈥淔鈥� is for familiarity, which sounds reassuring but can be deadly.
鈥淵ou鈥檝e been there before, you鈥檝e skied this thing a bunch, or it looks like things that you鈥檝e skied before slips that you鈥檝e skied before. You鈥檙e familiar and overconfident.鈥�
Acceptance 鈥� the 鈥淎鈥� of the acronym 鈥� becomes more of a problem with mixed gender groups.
The other letters stand for commitment, expert halo, tracks and social proof. Commitment is when you think you鈥檝e gone so far that you can鈥檛 turn back. That鈥檚 a good mental exercise, Waring said. Expert halo is when there is one person in your group who is more confident or has a higher ability (or perceived higher ability), which can create an uneven leadership dynamic.聽聽
Tracks is when people are racing to the slope where tracks are already made.
鈥淭hat doesn鈥檛 mean it鈥檚 safe to ski,鈥� he said.
The last one is social proof, and it鈥檚 loosely tied to the first letter 鈥� 鈥淎鈥� for acceptance. It means that people often have the tendency to take greater risks when other people are watching.
鈥淚 don鈥檛 think I鈥檝e had a day where there鈥檚 not one of these factors that affects my day,鈥� Waring said.
During his presentation, Kelly made the same entreaty for the recreational public to be smart, savvy and, above all, patient.聽
鈥淚t takes time to learn how to be comfortable in these situations. You鈥檝e got to take the time. You鈥檝e got to read the bulletins. You鈥檝e got to read the blogs. You鈥檝e got to read all that stuff. Champagne powder鈥檚 out there. It鈥檚 not a mystery. It鈥檚 all out there. You just gotta wait for your timing, and it takes time, energy and enthusiasm.鈥�
In between those two presentations, Marmot Basin鈥檚 director of public safety Kerry MacDonald said that fear is a good thing, but only if it comes with knowledge and not panic.
鈥淭here鈥檚 a huge difference between fear and panic. Fear wakes us up. Fear turns us on鈥� makes us aware, heightens our senses, makes us pay attention. Panic shuts us down. We freeze; we do all the wrong things,鈥� he said, noting that the environment of Jasper National Park offers an environmental medium of snow that has an inherent uncertainty.聽
That means that you always have to keep your wits about you.
鈥淵ou鈥檙e never going to be 100 per cent right, and I think it鈥檚 really important that we all accept that, and hope that we鈥檙e wrong in small ways. Beyond that, we choose to play in the Rocky Mountains: big, persistent, gross crystals, where things are even worse than most places on the average, and the consequences are higher.鈥�
