A People Checklist for the Avalanche Triad

Last post I talked about a different way of looking at the avalanche triad, with terrain in the middle and the condition of the snowpack, weather, and people around the outside.

Snowpack, weather, and terrain have known criteria where avalanches are more likely.

But what are the people conditions that make avalanches more likely? I spent the winter asking avalanche professionals, and narrowed it down to six people disaster factors. These are attributes of partners, or yourself, that increase avalanche risk.

In the absence of these disaster factors, the people are acting as a team. Teamwork is important for making good decisions. A group of people that are not working together as a team will make worse decisions and should consider avoiding avalanche terrain.

It looks like this in the triad:

This is the third of four posts on concepts I wrestled with while rethinking the avalanche problem for my Avalanche Decision Making Field Book.