This is a bit of a continuation from my last post, when I mentioned a highly geared-up skier having a rough time descending Schuykill. Rather than ridicule this skier, I’ll just compare two hypothetical skiers. Their avalanche skills and knowledge and routefinding skills are all the same for the sake of this argument.
Skier ‘A’ has all the gear: avalanche beacon, ABS backpack, SPOT personal locator beacon, avalanche cords, helmet, body armor, avalung, nose plugs, etc. Of course, skier ‘A’ hasn’t put any time into getting good at… skiing. Every turns this skier makes in an adventure- he may fall, he may not.
Skier ‘B’ has a beacon, but that’s about it. Skier ‘B’, however, has put a lot of time in on the lifts and is an expert skier in any condition or situation.
So which one is safer? I’ll venture to say that skier ‘B’ is the safer one, by a lot. Stories abound of skiers falling and creating a slide, or a snowmobiler getting stuck highmarking and starting a slide while trying to dig out. If a slide were to start, skier ‘B’ would have a fighting chance of skiing out of it, while skier ‘A’ would almost certainly be stuck in it.
Which isn’t to say that skier ‘B’ couldn’t be even safer with all the gear, it’s just that skier ‘A’ should consider investing in another safety item with a big bang for the buck- a season’s pass and a few lessons.
Skill is far more important than gear, but these two elements are not mutually exclusive. Good judgment is the true essential.
Gotta go ski.
Skier B for sure. Evidenced today as Tom set off a sizable slab off the top of schuykill. Of course he ripped it and was out of the zone before the slide even started moving. If someone had dropped into the same pitch but pussyfooted around they would be taking a slow rough ride through the trees….