Is it ever ok to high mark a known slide path?

[capulin overdrive]

Watched guys high mark a south facing slide path over the weekend, and wondered if I was a wimp or those guys were stupid.


CAIC had north facing being bad, and this path was pretty thin coverage.


What ya think?

[adrenalated]

Of course it's safe to highmark slide paths sometimes, just like it's safe to ski slide paths sometimes. Depends on conditions.

I have no idea if the guys you're talking about were making smart decisions for that day or not.

[peace_coast]

it's an inherently risky activity, just like skiing these things is. some people think it's never okay to go ski massive exposed slide paths, some people think it's okay to ski them in certain conditions, some people ski them and barely think about the stability. I'd imagine slednecks are much the same. maybe they didn't think about it at all and just got away with it, or maybe they did their homework and decided it was probably safe enough to be within their personal risk tolerance and then brapped it up.

[Gerome]

Is the slide path in California and it's a week after the last storm with freezing overnight temperatures and warm daytime temperatures? Go for it!

[dewam]

The true purpose of snow stability evaluation is to realize what you can ski, not what you can't.