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Tagged: snowboarding

Recreation
12:55 pm
Wed November 21, 2012

Avalanche Deaths Inspire Safety Efforts In Backcountry Skiing And Snowboarding

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Joel Hammond is the Northwest sales representative for Salomon Sports. He says his job comes with a responsibility: to educate consumers about the dangers in the backcountry.
Credit KUOW photo/Sara Lerner
Joel Hammond is the Northwest sales representative for Salomon Sports. His truck displays stickers memorializing his friend, Chris Rudolph. Rudolph was one of three skiers who died in February’s avalanche near Stevens Pass.
Credit KUOW photo/Sara Lerner
Stevens Pass local Tim Carlson is prepping for the Swatch Freeride World Tour. He was with the skiers who died in February’s avalanche, and is featured in the video below..
Credit KUOW photo/Sara Lerner
Joel Hammond’s truck displays stickers in memory of his friends. Three skiers died in February’s avalanche in the backcountry near Stevens Pass.
Credit KUOW photo/Sara Lerner
Joel Hammond’s truck displays stickers in memory of his friends. Three skiers died in February’s avalanche in the backcountry near Stevens Pass.
Credit Photo/Joel Hammond
A memorial ski displays the names of the three who died in February’s avalanche near Stevens Pass.
Credit Photo/Benj Wadsworth
Scott Schell is the program director at the Friends of the Northwest Weather and Avalanche Center, and is an avalanche education instructor. He’s now looking at the aviation industry to find new tools about group decision-making under pressure.
Credit KUOW photo/Sara Lerner
Scott Schell teaching a three-day avalanche education course at Stevens Pass in March 2011. He’s showing students how to dig a “snow pit” which helps them assess avalanche danger.
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As the slopes open, skiers’ and snowboarders’ giddy enthusiasm is overshadowed by an accident near Stevens Pass last season.  Three people were killed: Jim Jack, Johnny Brenan and Chris Rudolph.  They were caught in an avalanche in the nearby backcountry — the wilderness just outside the Stevens Pass ski resort, unmonitored by ski patrol.  Jack, Brennan and Rudolph were all well-known and experienced skiers in the Washington ski scene.

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