We talk about avalanches a lot on this website. From reposting the CBAC’s daily discussion to sharing scary/educational videos, we want you to have access to as much information as possible because we don’t want anyone to die. Every time someone dies out in the backcountry, different emotions and opinions spill out onto social media and within communities, with typical responses along the spectrum of “they died doing what they loved” to insensitive but necessary Monday morning “quarterbacking“. The bottom line is that it sucks, no matter what. Hindsight is always 20/20, but every time someone goes out into the backcountry, they have to walk the line in order to survive.
Above Photo: Tom Runcie and Dujardin brothers, Will and Ed, start up Teton Pass. Taken by Trent Bona.
A beacon on the resort is never a bad idea, either. Photo: Abby Dell
Project Zero is a collaboration across the snow sports industry among avalanche forecast centers, educators, equipment manufacturers, industry associations and non-profit’s in North America. It’s goal is to reduce avalanche fatalities to ZERO. It’s a lofty goal that some might argue is theoretically impossible, but that’s not the point. More backcountry users are going out into the backcountry every winter whether snowshoeing, snowmobiling, ice climbing, mountaineering, or skiing and riding, and there has been a corresponding rise in avalanches. The overall goal is to make a positive shift in reducing the number of avalanche fatalities every year.
Project Zero debuted at Snowsports Industries of America (SIA) ’14 last February after almost a year and a half of SIA Backcountry Committee roundtable meetings and conference calls. The The American Institute for Avalanche Reasearch and Education (AIARE) Director of Operations, Tom Murphy, explained: “The industry wants to create a corresponding safety message with the equipment it’s selling—and that’s where Project Zero comes into play.” Basically, as more and more people buy gear and get training from different people or stores, a goal is to provide a central resource for the inexperienced or experienced backcountry user can go to for and avalanche safety information. Another goal is change the behavior of the general public through the culture and education related to how we deal with avalanche risks. While zero avalanche deaths is the ultimate goal, creating a common message across the industry and education providers is the path to that goal.
BackcountryStartsHere.com is Project Zero’s first campaign initiative. It highlights five “Backcountry Basics”: 1) Get the Gear, 2) Get the Training, 3) Get the Forecast, 4) Get the Picture, 5) Get Out of Harm’s Way. This might seem like common sense for a lot us, but it really hits home when one or more of these are ignored and it leads to injury or worse. Crested Butte local and Project Zero project manager, Rachel Reich, explained to us in an email: “Many of us are working towards the same thing – a reduction in avalanche fatalities, yet we’re just creating noise if we don’t work together. The collaborative effort of Project Zero and Backcountry Starts Here has the potential to make a huge impact as we push towards one goal, amplifying the message to make it louder.”
It seems every year we are adding more names to the list. Just over the weekend a deadly avalanche period in France took the lives of 9 people, including Tecnica Blizzard and Patagonia athlete Dave Rosenbarger. This came just a few weeks after 2 US Ski Team members passed away in an avalanche in Austria. Rachel Reich told us how she was inspired to become more involved with backcountry education and safety by the recent death of Liz Daley in September. “Liz was a huge inspiration to me and I always admired how she would turn around on lines. Live to ride another day,” Rachel told us. International ski legend and Irwinite, Seth Morrison, recently pontificated on the subject of turning back in a recent Freeskier article: “There’s nothing wrong with saying, ‘Fuck it,’ and going to the bar.” You can take that as you wish, but the message is still there; don’t be afraid to turn around.
Take a moment to visit BackcountryStartsHere.com whether you’re a novice looking for knowledge or a veteran who might need a little review. It could save a friend’s or your own life!
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