Paul Hooge Guest Blog The Ski Patrol is always at highest risk in-bounds, but few are ever caught in a slide. However, a patrolman at CB was buried up to his chest in a slide on steep terrain under the Paradise lift this December. The Patrol returned to the area and foot-packed it along with other short, but steep runs in the area.. At Jackson Hole, a woman was killed in an in-bounds slide this December and a few days later, the cornice above an on-mountain restaurant caused a massive slide in the early morning hours prior to opening and damaged the interior and exterior of the structure. (You can go to www.tetongravity.com/forums and find ‘headwall slide in Jackson’.) There have been other deaths from slides in-bounds this season, and considerable loss of life out-of-bounds keeping area owners on edge. But why the sudden increase in in-bounds avalanches? Part of the problem is the weather, which has produced heavy and frequent snowfall adding to unstable layers of snow pack. But there are other factors involved, not the least of which is the rise in popularity of extreme terrain skiing. You were at the top of your game in the 1960’s if you could ski the blacks, the bumps, and powder; all with good form and of course on a pair of 210’s for men and usually 190’s for women. Through the 70’s and 80’s that was still good enough, but the bar has continually been raised by freestyle skiers, doing complex inverted aerials, bump and speed competitions with an increasing desire to ski more challenging terrain. The Telemark revival of the late 70’s and 80’s provided a better tool for accessing the back country and introduced more skiers to the “extremes”. Crested Butte promoters seized upon the increasing desire for more challenges and during the late 80’s and early 90’s began marketing the area’s steeps and extreme competitions to a national audience with significant success. Before long, other communities began opening formerly roped areas to the skiing public and the rest is history. In 1968, the vision of the extremes was captured in Summit Film’s “Ski the Outer Limits” and followed by their second film, “The Moebius Flip”. There were other films that presented visions of the extreme in ski sport, but Summit Film’s two classics set the stage for what Warren Miler, Stump, Matchstick, and others would present later as they defined and refined what skiing the extremes would mean. While ski films thrilled and encouraged the public, a technological development in the 90’s would change ski sport forever and this, of course, was the ‘shaped ski’. The shaped ski and its variations, provided the perfect tool for anyone who wanted to enter the “double black diamond” ski revolution. The black diamond pin no longer cuts it and now it’s all about the extremes. Thus, the current problems with increasing avalanches in-bounds (as well as out) have as much to do with vastly more extreme terrain being incorporated in-bounds, and skier demand for that terrain as they do with winter storms and deep snow pack. Avalanche fatalities may result in law suits, but they won’t discourage skiers from taking risks. I’ve seen kids on the North Face and The Headwall in Crested Butte who can’t be much older than five or six years old. The fact is that a new die has been cast and skiing will never return to the expectations of the past. Skiers will have to educate themselves, with help from the Industry, about the risks involved in skiing extreme terrain and extreme conditions. Be aware, pay attention, know the snow, educate yourself, and make sure you have the technical capability and fitness level needed to face the challenges of the extremes. I’ll see you on the North Face!