Backcountry SkiingRespect the Snow

Snow Safety Sundays

(Last Updated On: November 15, 2015)

There are inherent risks to backcountry skiing, one of the primary hazards being the potential for an avalanche. Despite many people’s beliefs, skier or snowboard-triggered avalanches can be avoided with the right decision-making and tools.

We recognize that we have inspired a lot of people to head into the backcountry, and that’s an accomplishment of which we are proud. We also recognize that we have a long list of followers who look to us as role-models in the backcountry skiing world. While we don’t often emphasize snow-safety on our blog, we practice routinely in our decision-making prior to and during every backcountry outing. And that is the reason we’ve decided to start our “Snow Safety Sundays” campaign.

Every Sunday evening at 6 pm, we will highlight an article about Snow Safety that we find useful, to be posted through social media on Facebook and Twitter. The articles are from many external sources, and will run the whole gamut, from the basics, to gear, and details on digging snow pits. But, many of the articles we’ve chosen will focus on looking inward to our own decision-making processes, learning how to avoid heuristic traps, as most of the time, we are actually our own worst enemies.

We will begin our campaign tonight, and use the hashtag #snowsafetysunday throughout, covering 20 Sundays, and 20 helpful articles.

Our goal is to the spread the word about the importance of Snow Safety, and the seriousness of the decisions we make in the backcountry- because we need to escape this uncontrollable and chaotic world of mass-shootings and terrorist attacks, seeking solace in the outdoor world. And we CAN do THAT safely.

We hope that you will join us in our campaign by liking, sharing, and retweeting articles we post. We also hope that you will also become influencers by research and share your own favorite articles on Sundays, also using the hashtag #snowsafetysunday.

We will begin #snowsafetysunday right now, with this helpful infographic from The Visualistan, featuring some useful information and some things to get your thoughts going. Like, did you know that 2/3 of people involved in avalanche fatalities weren’t carrying a beacon?
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So, get out there, enjoy the rest of your weekend, and stay safe!


Here are some of our favorite Snow Safety tools:

Brittany Walker Konsella

Brittany Walker Konsella

Aside from skiing, biking, and all outdoorsy things, Brittany Walker Konsella also loves smiles and chocolate :) Even though she excels at higher level math and chemistry, she still confuses left from right. Find out more about Brittany!