It’s still a Mountain

I’ve spent this morning reading about avalanches that have claimed a few lives recently, one ‘in-bounds’ at Jackson Hole and a couple in the Canadian Rockies ‘backcountry’ that caught a couple groups of snowmobilers. In addition to the reports, I’ve been following the string of comments and reactions to these events. One particularly grabbed my attention by Steve Stenger:

“It’s all backcountry, we should treat it as such. This is what Dave’s untimely death shows us.  Let’s not get sucked into the hype and become complacent because The Mountain claims to be a resort. It’s a mountain.”

I couldn’t agree more.

We ski at establishments that do their best to ‘control’ environmental conditions, and while we as humans have unfortunately done a good job of affecting changes on this earth, we should never believe that we have total control with regard to natural resources. Rivers, mountains, lakes, oceans-you name it, we have to understand that we are a part of it, not its master.

The best tools we can have is education, understanding, and an appreciation of the natural world.  No matter if its cancelled flights at Christmas time, building your house on top of a steep cliff, or skiing at a resort in the mountains.  Its Mother Nature we interact with daily, and She will always make the rules.

I’m not here to say such deaths or misfortune might be avoided if we all understood this, but I am positive that in some way we might benefit from this wisdom.  And while I try to live by this view, accidents like an avalanche within Jackson Hole certainly offers a harsh reminder and prompts me to retain a critical eye.  For regardless of activity and who holds the liability waiver, an inherent risk lives among us always.