inside the ski industry

It took all of 24 hours for my mother-in-law to call asking if I knew anyone in the Stevens Pass avalanche. The conversation was one that I already had inside of my own head 22 hours earlier when I found out. 

My conscience: That could have been you. If you were there you would have been skiing with that group and you would have dropped in first.

Me: I guess I should get one of those ABS bags.

My conscience: The whole trick to surviving avalanches is not getting in one

And that’s how this discussion needs to go. Avalanches fucking suck, so skiers must do everything they can to avoid them. When I was in Chamonix, the joke was that beacons were worn so people could find bodies, not to save anybody. But the ABS bag was a life saving device in this incident. The group was following the BC skiing unwritten rules. So why wouldn’t I get one of those ABS packs?

It’s the right thing for me to do. But the concern immediately becomes whether people will skip proper education and route selection due to the false sense of security ABS packs will provide. 

One of the SB dudes just got back from the legendary Banked Slalom event at Mount Baker, WA. He was buzzing with stoke, which is odd considering he’s a long time snowboarder, editor of the mag and this was a slalom event. But that’s the point - it could be a sledding event…doesn’t matter. What does matter is that it’s been happening for nearly 20 years and was started as an excuse to get together and party. Now its got almost 400 entrants and there’s still partying. But the best part, and the part skiing needs to replicate is the variety of participants. What other sport/event in the world puts world champions against 10 year olds in the same race? Head to head even. How would you feel if you smoked Terje in a snowboard slalom race at age 10? Granted the kids get handicaps…but you’re still lining up head to head with your idol.

More of this ski industry.