Latest Issue Of Skiing

[FRP]

I think its the most recent one, but its been out for a few weeks now. Anyways in an article ("ten top pros, ten top tips") skiing published one of the most irresponsible and misguided tips I have ever read. "How to not Become an Avalanche Statistic" (or something like that) with Seth Morrison tells skiers how to outrun an avalanche. 1. Ski as fast as you can in avalacnhe terrain 2. If you do get caught in a slide point it at a 45 degree angle for the edge 3. If the slide starts above you or in the middle you can point it down the fall line to get away. The photo shows Seth straightlining away from a slab looking all badass. It's riddled with disclaimers about avoiding avalanches and only using the advice as a last resort and Seth Morrison is a god so you probably won't be able to ski like him. Still it seems incredibbley irresponsible given Skiing's generally inexperienced readership. Really pissed me off.

[Mrthemike]

It says you shouldn't straight line it unless you can ski like him. If you have any common sense you wont try to outrun an avalanche.

Didn't seem very irresponsible to me, it's really a matter of common sense.

[Mcwop]

It says you shouldn't straight line it unless you can ski like him. If you have any common sense you wont try to outrun an avalanche.

Didn't seem very irresponsible to me, it's really a matter of common sense.

What do you do?

Obviously, one should try to avoid avalanches altogether. But if a slide occurs, what is the last ditch effort? Isn't it to ski toward a safe zone - at what speed?

Honest BC Jong question.

[str8line]

I think its the most recent one, but its been out for a few weeks now. Anyways in an article ("ten top pros, ten top tips") skiing published one of the most irresponsible and misguided tips I have ever read. "How to not Become an Avalanche Statistic" (or something like that) with Seth Morrison tells skiers how to outrun an avalanche. 1. Ski as fast as you can in avalacnhe terrain 2. If you do get caught in a slide point it at a 45 degree angle for the edge 3. If the slide starts above you or in the middle you can point it down the fall line to get away. The photo shows Seth straightlining away from a slab looking all badass. It's riddled with disclaimers about avoiding avalanches and only using the advice as a last resort and Seth Morrison is a god so you probably won't be able to ski like him. Still it seems incredibbley irresponsible given Skiing's generally inexperienced readership. Really pissed me off.

Seth's techniques are a critical part of his minimizing the risk of getting caught in an avalanche when he's filming in Alaska or Canada...and they work...for Seth...on 45+ degree slopes. Any savvy big mountain pro or experienced skier does the same thing.

BUT,

I agree with you. If you need to read about it in Skiing magazine you are not going to benefit from Seth's techniques. It might give you a false sense of security, which could lead to disaster.

Totally irresponsible on their part IMO.

If they are going to teach you about safety in the backcountry they should get real and do a much bigger piece that doesn't glamorize avalanches.

[Sutter]

the key is the readership. no one reading SKIING is going off the grid that often. and if they are, like any of us, it's on their own damn free will. you can't look at a piece like that and think it's actually useful advice. don't take the article so seriously. when you're reading some trashy rag like Maxim and they tell you the best way to get off is through self asphixiation, don't go finding some rope just yet. SKIING hasn't really found its identity yet with their new EIC. They do some quality articles, but they're also trying to be a bit of lad mag for skiers and that article is senseless fluff that's more about Morrison being "a badass" than it is about actually avalanche safety, hence the disclaimers.

[FRP]

I'm not saying that seth's advice was wrong, he's obviously one of the best big mountain skiers in the world and has succesfully used his techniques many times, but when is that going to help a reader of skiing mag. Its not. Its just going to instill false confidence in a misguided gaper.

AND

I understand that its a fluff piece and that nobody is going to learn switch 5's from sarah burke's tips or how to actually find good snow in the backcountry from andrew mclean or anything from a one page blurb with some nifty graphics by a pro skier. (On a side note I do remember a useful tip from str8line last year about seeing more than the spaces in between the trees but also the snow depth, terrain, bumps etc. to figure out when and where to sink in your edges and scrub speed. It's something I've been doing naturally for a while now, but it really helped me articulate advice better to my friends.) But it's different when the advice could lead to inexperienced skiers getting themselves into trouble.

And I'm not afraid to admit that I like reading skiing magazine.

[Mrthemike]

What do you do?

Obviously, one should try to avoid avalanches altogether. But if a slide occurs, what is the last ditch effort? Isn't it to ski toward a safe zone - at what speed?

Honest BC Jong question.

Scoot out of the way

http://www.skiingmag.com/skiing/ask_...110805,00.html

Why can't I outrun an avalanche?
Why can't I outrun an avalanche?


Avalanches play dirty, my friend, and they deserve all the explosives we can hurl at them. A typical slab slide can reach 20 miles per hour within three seconds of breaking loose from a slope. Three seconds after that, it can hit 80 miles per hour-a lot faster than most people can ski. According to Bruce Tremper, author of Staying Alive in Avalanche Terrain, "You'll need to be mighty cagey to get out of the way. People have been known to scoot off to the side in time, but to outrun one, you need to be a world-champion downhill racer." Which isn't to say Bode Miller can safely cavort in avalanche terrain, either. As Tony Daffern, author of Avalanche Safety for Skiers and Climbers, explains: "The problem with slab avalanches is that as soon as the snow breaks up and loses its internal cohesion, your skis sink deeper." Meaning you can go fast and still get sucked under. So remember, the best way to survive an avalanche is to outwit it by skiing a safer slope.

[XtrPickels]

If they have to publish the disclaimers after the tip, i wonder why the published it at all. The disclaimer proves it was a liability and not sound advice.

I think they're trying to up their Gnar factor. Hey, Look! We're Cool! We got Seth to give crazy tips!

The page should have said:
Buy a beacon
get a probe and shovel
take a level 1 class... Kinda bland, kinda boring, but true. Too bad bland and boring doesn't sell (Except in Ski Mag)

[smmokan]

Kind of ironic that the "outrun an avalanche" article is in the same issue as the BC gear guide.

And you can't really discredit this with their lack of gnar-subsrcibers... seeing as though everyone who has the CO pass this year gets a free sub. I'm sure there are plenty of newbies venturing out in to the BC who get this mag.

[Xover]

If they have to publish the disclaimers after the tip, i wonder why the published it at all.

exactly what i thought when i first read it
bad judgement call on Skiing's part imvho; they seem to be doing that alot lately - right Lil Stevey? right Jules?

[powder11]

Still it seems incredibbley irresponsible given Skiing's generally inexperienced readership. Really pissed me off.

is watching Seth do it on film any different given the same people reading Skiing are viewing Warren Miller? that article is for the "most extreme guy in the office" it gives him a prop while hitting on the temp. your giving the readership a bit too much credit if you think that article is going to convince skiers to go try it out.

[Mrthemike]

<shrug> I thought it was interesting. They have a friggen disclaimer. Who cares. A magazine is supposed to be entertaining and informative, it's not supposed to be a guide on how you should survive an avalanche, thats what classes are for.

[Buster Highmen]

So since I don't ski just like Seth, I should never straightline?
-The Ski Lodgician.

[Mrthemike]

So since I don't ski just like Seth, I should never straightline?
-The Ski Lodgician.

As long as you aren't trying to outrun an avalanche. :-P

[XtrPickels]

is watching Seth do it on film any different given the same people reading Skiing are viewing Warren Miller? that article is for the "most extreme guy in the office" it gives him a prop while hitting on the temp. your giving the readership a bit too much credit if you think that article is going to convince skiers to go try it out.

If only we were from Canada too...
... Ever see the video of the kids trying to jump over a car speeding at them because they saw it in a movie? How about my friend who went to the hospital after trying to do a backflip off a swing... just like he saw in movies.

Ohhhhh say can you seeeeeee, by the dawns early ligghhttt.......

[Big E]

Tend to agree w/ FRP on this one, I had a similar reaction on seeing that "tip." Honestly, if you're inexperienced in the BC and an avy releases above you, who knows what you might be thinking. Planting the seed of "try and outrun it" seems dangerous.

I also thought the other tip by one of the Crist bros about how to slalom through the gapers seemed similarly irresponsible by encouraging people to just rocket through packs of beginners and otherwise preoccupied people littering the slopes. That is a situation almost everyone on the hill is faced with every day.

All that said, though, you are still (supposed to be) responsible for yourself, your actions, and their consequences.

[LeeLau]

So, Skiing magazine puts in some dumb comment from Seth.

Would it change your opinion if it was Powder or Couloir? Not that those fine magazines would do something like that.

How do you all feel about movie productions showing "sluff management" skiing without anything about avvy danger?

[Kya]

The issue seemed to be a Backcountry Themed issue. There were other pieces about avi gear, building a snow cave, digging a snow pit (though they called it a shovel sheer test but I thought it was more of a compression test)

Anyway, who cares if they write about straightlining out of an avalanche. I don't see the big deal really.

[powder11]

If only we were from Canada too...
... Ever see the video of the kids trying to jump over a car speeding at them because they saw it in a movie? How about my friend who went to the hospital after trying to do a backflip off a swing... just like he saw in movies.

Ohhhhh say can you seeeeeee, by the dawns early ligghhttt.......

your right. nobody in canada would think to blame a skiing magazine for some fuckwit who gets themself killed after reading an article. Im surprised anyone here thinks like that. I sat in on a focus group for skiing magazine back when they decided to change their format. skiing magazine is now gearing their content towards the type of skier who posts here. whether or not skiing magazine can pull that off remains to be seen. Id like to think most exp BC skiers already know that having an exit strategy is crucial when skiing steep terrain, but you never know.

[marshalolson]

The issue seemed to be a Backcountry Themed issue. There were other pieces about avi gear, building a snow cave, digging a snow pit (though they called it a shovel sheer test but I thought it was more of a compression test)

Anyway, who cares if they write about straightlining out of an avalanche. I don't see the big deal really.

i thought the "shovel sheer test" was funny as shit.

here is how to do it... (with a plastic shovel )

here is absolutely no info on how to read the results

here is a tiny disclaimer at the bottom telling you to take a class.

[Kya]

i thought the "shovel sheer test" was funny as shit.

here is how to do it... (with a plastic shovel )

here is absolutely no info on how to read the results

here is a tiny disclaimer at the bottom telling you to take a class.

I laughed at the plastic shovel too.........thought that was worse then the Morrison piece altogether.

But I agree with the Canadian dudes. IMO by saying skiing mag was irresponsible we are in a way saying that it is okay to blame your stupidity on anything but yourself.

Oh, wait. That is the American Way.

[dropinskiout]

that whole section struck me as ridiculous/irresponsible.

It seems like Skiing has just been a utterly useless rag full of advertisements with zero useful content this year. This issue before with the article about the guy in the gorilla suit poaching Yellowstone Club was stupid. The pictures of the gorrilla suit guy skidding some turns down groomed blue/green runs were just steller, and the end result of "they didn't care to stop us" made for an amazing climax. I mean really...they couldn't find anything better to take up 3/4 pages? I'd bet the majority of the people here could write a better article (hell, 99% of the TR's would've done the trick).

Sorry for the rant...that article has been bothering me since i wasted time reading it.

[road trip]

1. Ski as fast as you can in avalacnhe terrain

Actually, this tip was the part that baffled me.

Ski as fast as you can in avalanche terrain.

Okay. Now remove what is in italics above.

Hmmmm...

[marshalolson]

But I agree with the Canadian dudes. IMO by saying skiing mag was irresponsible we are in a way saying that it is okay to blame your stupidity on anything but yourself.

well true... but the point is that these mags (not just skiing) are ENCOURAGING people to go into the B/C without proper equipment or skills...
notice any tips on how to AVOID avy terrain? how to find and/or dig people out?

no, its like slap a few pieces of gear on and go for it.

which is fine, i think natural selection is wonderful, but most people tend to think its a tragedy.....