Avalanche Safety For Snowmobile Riders

Friday, January 09, 2009
Recreation

This article was Archived on Monday, February 09, 2009

Snowmobile riders have unique avalanche risk-factors built into their sport including speed and today’s high powered sleds capable of reaching altitudes and snow depths once impossible to reach.

Every rider can and should carry a shovel, probe, and avalanche transceiver. Sled riders also need to recognize and compensate for the unique risks built into their sport. For example, flying through the winter woods at 15 miles per hour, fully suited, wearing a heavy helmet and surrounded by the roar of a snow sled makes it difficult to notice common avalanche warning signs, such as collapsing of the snow. It is also difficult to communicate with fellow riders as conditions change from one area to the other.

Here are some simple behaviors to reduce avalanche risks inherent in the sport.

1. In Montana, over half the people killed in avalanches would be alive today if only one snowmobile rider at a time was on a slope. This one precaution saves lives.
2. If all snowmobile riders carried rescue gear, and knew how to use it, the number of fatalities would be significantly reduced. There is nothing worse on an accident scene than finding someone dead from a shallow burial where a transceiver may have saved a life.
3. Avalanches are all about timing. There are times when snowpack is stable and others when it is unstable. Learn to recognize the signs of recent avalanche activity and unstable snow conditions and avoid traveling in that terrain.

• Avalanche training helps a snowmobile rider to make informed decisions based on real data instead of wishful thinking. To put this training to use, informed and experienced riders must let go of common myths. They must understand that: they can not outrun an avalanche on a snowmobile,
• snowmobile riders are seldom found next to their sled in an avalanche,
• any slope can slide and become an avalanche.

If you are snowmobiling in avalanche terrain you need to be prepared. Take the simple steps proven to make a difference in whether you live or die.  

For more information on avalanche training for snowmobile riders in Montana, go to the USFS Gallatin National Forest Avalanche Center at www.mtavalanche.com ; The West Central Montana Avalanche Center at www.fs.fed.us/r1/lolo/avalanche/advisory.htm and the Glacier Country Avalanche Center at www.glacieravalanche.org/ .