{"id":43674,"date":"2019-02-11T14:52:19","date_gmt":"2019-02-11T22:52:19","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.rei.com\/blog\/?p=43674"},"modified":"2020-05-22T13:04:23","modified_gmt":"2020-05-22T20:04:23","slug":"should-you-wear-a-beacon-while-skiing-the-resort","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.rei.com\/blog\/snowsports\/should-you-wear-a-beacon-while-skiing-the-resort","title":{"rendered":"Should You Wear a Beacon While Skiing the Resort?"},"content":{"rendered":"

Riding the Lenawee Mountain Lift to the top of Colorado\u2019s Arapahoe Basin Ski Area, I heard the sharp crack of explosives popping around Loveland Pass. On the backside of the <\/span>mountain, ski patrollers were busy clearing out the foot of fresh snow that had fallen the night before in an effort to open the resort\u2019s steeper terrain to skiers and riders. There was a reason I was at A-Basin, braving holiday crowds and battling lift lines rather than venturing into the backcountry. Those pops reassured me that I\u2019d made the right decision to ski inbounds today. <\/span><\/p>\n

Avalanche explosives are just one of the tools ski areas use to mitigate risks to the throngs of skiers and riders shredding their terrain. Nonetheless, on that day, I decided to tuck my avalanche beacon into my pocket\u2014just in case. It was the first time I\u2019d ever worn my beacon to ride chairlifts. <\/span><\/p>\n

On January 17, a <\/span>large avalanche<\/span><\/a> ripped down a steep line, called K3 chute, off New Mexico\u2019s 12,481-foot Kachina Peak, <\/span>burying two skiers, who later died from their injuries<\/span>. The chute is inbounds at Taos Ski Valley and the skiers were in open terrain that had been mitigated throughout that season and as early as that morning, according to a <\/span>statement<\/span><\/a> from Taos Ski Valley.<\/span> When I heard that news, I was reminded of this: There is no such thing as guaranteed safety.<\/span><\/p>\n

Out of the more than 250 avalanche fatalities in the U.S. during the last 10 ski seasons (from 2008\/2009 to 2017\/2018), eight have occurred inbounds, according to <\/span>statistics<\/span><\/a> compiled by the Colorado Avalanche Information Center (CAIC) and the National Ski Areas Association (NSAA). Six of those deaths happened in inbounds terrain that was open to skiers, while two occurred in zones that had been closed by ski patrol at the time of the incident. Look back even further and you\u2019ll find that <\/span>21 skiers<\/span> have been killed in inbounds slides since 2000, according to CAIC.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

This doesn\u2019t mean getting caught in an avalanche at a ski resort is a common thing\u2014it\u2019s still very rare. In the last 10 seasons, inbounds avalanches make up only 3 percent of all avalanche deaths, according to CAIC data. In the same period, NSAA estimates there were approximately 556 million skier visits across the U.S., bringing the odds of being killed by an inbounds avalanche to 1 in 46 million. By comparison, the 10-year industry average for overall fatalities of inbounds skiers and riders\u2014due to collisions, falls and other accidents\u2014is 38 people<\/a> per year, according to NSAA, which is less than one fatality per every one million skier visits.<\/span><\/p>\n

\"A

Inbounds avalanches are extremely rare, but experts say snow is never 100 percent safe.<\/p><\/div>\n

Ethan Greene, a former ski patroller, longtime avalanche forecaster and CAIC director since 2005, said fatalities only tell part of the story: The center doesn\u2019t collect data on inbounds avalanches that didn\u2019t result in a fatality because ski areas aren\u2019t typically required to report those to their local avalanche center. \u201cWe do everything by cooperation,\u201d Greene said, which means resorts that don\u2019t want to report their inbounds slides to CAIC don\u2019t have to. \u201cIf we go investigate something at a ski area, it\u2019s usually because they asked us to come or potentially because the Forest Service wants us to.\u201d<\/span><\/p>\n

The result? The center doesn\u2019t know how many unintended avalanches take place inbounds at ski resorts\u2014that data simply isn\u2019t recorded. \u201cThe ski areas have very good snow safety programs,\u201d he said, referring to resorts\u2019 practices of sending ski patrollers to bomb or ski cut avalanche-prone slopes to prerelease slides and help mitigate risk for the general public. \u201cThey are constantly working to provide a safer product for people. That said, it\u2019s the mountains and you can\u2019t ever make it 100 percent safe.\u201d<\/span><\/p>\n

Greene said there are things skiers can do to help protect themselves from the possibility of inbounds avalanches. The most obvious way to mitigate your risk, he said, is to stay in open terrain and not duck ropes. Patrollers continuously monitor snow conditions around the mountain and their first step toward ensuring skiers don\u2019t unwittingly spark a slide is to close at-risk terrain. <\/span><\/p>\n

For certain skiers and riders on certain days at the resort, Greene also recommends carrying the same <\/span>avalanche safety gear<\/span><\/a> you would carry into the backcountry, including a beacon, shovel and probe. When riding with your beacon, it should be on and set to transmit. \u201cIf you\u2019re going into hike-to terrain, skiing steeper stuff or if you\u2019re an expert skier\u2014especially on a powder day\u2014wearing a beacon and skiing with a partner is not a bad idea,\u201d he said. <\/span>RECCO\u00ae reflectors<\/span><\/a>\u2014small patches sewn into outerwear and other products\u2014can also fulfill some of those same purposes around resorts.<\/span><\/p>\n

In the event of an inbounds slide, Greene said ski patrol\u2019s first step is often to check the slide path with avalanche beacons and RECCO detectors, which can help make pinpointing buried skiers more precise. Skiing with a partner, being cautious of hazards like cornices and tree wells and taking a local avalanche awareness course<\/a>\u00a0are other smart calls. I spoke to a handful of ski patrollers at several resorts for this story and many had similar sentiment: Ski resorts are controlled for avalanche danger, but snow is snow and you can never guarantee 100 percent safety.<\/span><\/p>\n

In the end, Greene said, skiing a resort on a powder day rather than venturing into the backcountry is still the safer bet. \u201cI don\u2019t want people to not have confidence in ski areas,\u201d he said. \u201cBut you can\u2019t reduce the risk to zero.\u201d <\/span><\/p>\n<\/span>","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Riding the Lenawee Mountain Lift to the top of Colorado\u2019s Arapahoe Basin Ski Area, I heard the sharp crack of explosives popping around Loveland Pass. On the backside of the mountain, ski patrollers were busy clearing out the foot of fresh snow that had fallen the night before in an effort to open the resort\u2019s […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":26,"featured_media":43726,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[11],"tags":[602,364,66],"internal-tag":[],"class_list":["post-43674","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-snowsports","tag-backcountry-skiing","tag-snowsports","tag-tips"],"parsely":{"version":"1.1.0","canonical_url":"https:\/\/rei.com\/blog\/snowsports\/should-you-wear-a-beacon-while-skiing-the-resort","smart_links":{"inbound":0,"outbound":0},"traffic_boost_suggestions_count":0,"meta":{"@context":"https:\/\/schema.org","@type":"NewsArticle","headline":"Should You Wear a Beacon While Skiing the Resort?","url":"http:\/\/www.rei.com\/blog\/snowsports\/should-you-wear-a-beacon-while-skiing-the-resort","mainEntityOfPage":{"@type":"WebPage","@id":"http:\/\/www.rei.com\/blog\/snowsports\/should-you-wear-a-beacon-while-skiing-the-resort"},"thumbnailUrl":"https:\/\/www.rei.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/4\/2019\/02\/Bondi_041615_0634.jpg?resize=150%2C150","image":{"@type":"ImageObject","url":"https:\/\/www.rei.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/4\/2019\/02\/Bondi_041615_0634.jpg?fit=1500%2C1000"},"articleSection":"Snowsports","author":[{"@type":"Person","name":"Michelle Flandreau"}],"creator":["Michelle Flandreau"],"publisher":{"@type":"Organization","name":"Uncommon Path \u2013 An REI Co-op Publication","logo":""},"keywords":["backcountry skiing","snowsports","tips"],"dateCreated":"2019-02-11T22:52:19Z","datePublished":"2019-02-11T22:52:19Z","dateModified":"2020-05-22T20:04:23Z"},"rendered":"