An avalanche of trouble
A made-in-Canada system for “reading” avalanches creates a false sense of security for people travelling into the back country, says a psychology student from Red Deer College.
Speaking at the college’s fourth annual Student Perspectives Conference Saturday, second-year student Meaghen Henry took part in a team that looked at the Avaluator, a card snowmobilers and skiers can carry with them to assess the potential for an avalanche.
Working with professor Bob Uttl and his brother, Jan, Henry set out to evaluate the Avaluator, which was created out of a study commissioned by Parks Canada.
“What we’re finding is, actually, a lot of the significant clues that the Avaluators use isn’t really saving a lot of people lives, according to our research. It’s not actually going to save them in a lot of situations.”
While Parks Canada states that using the Avaluator can reduce the risk of being caught in avalanche by 77 per cent, the Red Deer College group found the risk was reduced by only three per cent, said Henry.
Additionally, people go into the back country without the knowledge or the tools they need, including beacons and shovels, she said.
The only people who can reach you quickly enough to save you from an avalanche are the people you are travelling with, said Henry.
They need to be able to find you and they need to be able to dig you out, she said.
Snowmobilers in particular make a number of mistakes, including travelling too closely together and rushing to aid a travelling partner who gets stuck.
Often enough, the additional compression of having a large group of people and snowmobiles concentrated in a small area can be just the push that’s needed to create an avalanche, said Henry.
And when everybody’s that close together, there is no one left to dig them out, she said.
Analyzing the Avaluator has been both a class project and a personal mission for Henry.
“My dad snowmobiles a lot. My dad’s brother was actually caught in an avalanche a little while ago and managed to outrun it.”
So many people out there are neither mentally nor physically prepared for a mountain of snow to crash over them, and there are so many significant things that they overlook, she said.
“No one brings shovels. You don’t think about bringing shovels, and when avalanches set, they’re like cement. You can’t dig people out with your hands. So, you know, by the time you’ve moved all these big pieces of snow, your best friend is dead, because they’ve been under there for two hours.”
Henry presented her team’s research in a poster session on Saturday.
She and her team hope to present their findings to more people, including the team whose research helped create the Avaluator.
Contact Brenda Kossowan at bkossowan@reddeeradvocate.com
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