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Backcountry warnings

Mother Nature can be a cruel partner. She'll blow in and bless the backcountry mountains with powder enticing the adventure seeker in all of us to strike out and play.
opinion_editorial1

Mother Nature can be a cruel partner.

She'll blow in and bless the backcountry mountains with powder enticing the adventure seeker in all of us to strike out and play.

Then in the same breath the very veil she coats our playground with will, with raging force, become a tomb or a weapon of death.

I've lost count now of how many times I have written about those taken in the backcountry, how many mothers, fathers, sisters, brothers and friends I have interviewed about those lost.

They always seem to be the "good ones, dying doing something they loved" — a comfort for some I suppose.

Each and every year newsrooms wait for the news of the first avalanche death in B.C. It seems as inevitable as the very snow, which is always the precursor to the story.

What, I wondered last Friday as I worked to find out more about Whistler's first avalanche death victim Duncan MacKenzie, would it be like for just one year not to have to write this story.

Not to try and second-guess why these vivacious lovers of nature push the limit too far and pay with their lives.

Not to try and imagine what it must be like for our RCMP officers to tell the family a thousand miles away that a loved one is dead.

Not to try and understand why our search and rescue volunteers push their own safety boundaries in an effort to reach someone who needs them before darkness falls.

Last year Whistler Search and Rescue went out more than 30 times with March being the busiest month. The calls involved 42 missing people and search and rescue consumed more than 1,283 hours of volunteer time. Helicopters were used in 23 of those searches. The most common demographic for searches were males aged 18 to 29, though there was an increase in the number of women and older people requiring rescues as well.

If the provincial government were to replace the volunteer SAR resources across B.C. it is estimated that it would cost in excess of $5 million in direct annual salary dollars.

There is no doubt that more and more people are heading into the backcountry to recreate and that is a great thing. It also partly explains why rescue numbers have climbed provincially. British Columbia is one of the most beautiful places on earth so it is easy to understand the draw it has on those of us who long for nature without the stamp of civilization.

But surely there must be a responsibility upon all those who head out of bounds to be able look after themselves, be able to self-rescue and to make decisions that do not put lives at risk.

And I would argue that having the most up-to-date training and all the gadgets is not a guarantee that all will go well. Mother Nature doesn't check in to see if you have a transceiver with you, or SPOT, or avalanche training.

Of course, backcountry users should have all these things but they don't make you a superhero able to clear an avalanche in a single bound.

Some have argued that those who are rescued should be made to pay for the rescue or fined. But said B.C.'s Solicitor General Shirley Bond in an email to the Pique: "While it might be appealing to consider introducing fines or penalties to individuals who knowingly take these risks and require rescue, it's important to remember that such a system might make them less likely to call for help and more likely to undertake their own risky attempts, which could result in further preventable injury or death. Backcountry experts agree the key to balance in the debate over backcountry regulations is education and ensuring those who venture into B.C.'s wilderness know what the risks are and that they take the necessary precautions to mitigate those risks."

From all the information we have many of those caught in the four reported avalanches since Friday knew what they were doing. Indeed MacKenzie was a ski patroller.

So Lady Luck has a hand to play as well.

But here is the thing — you couldn't go to a single website or information line searching for backcountry conditions in the last week and not know that it was dangerous out there.

The information was everywhere. The Canadian Avalanche Centre was saying things like: "Travel in avalanche terrain should be avoided until this next storm passes and things settle out. Careful route finding will be very important for the next while."

Said Whistler Blackcomb's site Friday: "It is a little spooky out there..."

Isn't the point of living close to the backcountry to go out and enjoy it and be home for dinner, as one search and rescue leader said to me recently?

It defeats the purpose of the joy found in our wilderness playground for this not to be the experience. If the weather looks bad, if the warnings are there, stay home, cross-country ski in the Callaghan, ski Whistler Blackcomb — there are thousands of amazing backcountry days to come.

Listen to the experts: When Whistler Search and Rescue puts out a press release saying they are alarmed at the lack of judgment being shown by backcountry users sit up and take notice — it's only happened twice in 35 years.

Whistler is mourning the loss of one of its own, and there is a measure of relief that others caught in recent avalanches will recover, though the road may be long.

Here is hoping that Mother Nature will be more welcoming in the weeks and months to come.