Leo Pare ignited a bit of a hot button issue with his column about risky behavior and recreational pursuits.
I was really torn about which side of the fence to straddle on this debate. So I decided to wrestle with the issue in my own column.
Every winter we will be presented with very tragic stories about avalanche deaths. It’s a fact of life that snow, like a basic tenet of the plumbing trade, runs downhill.
Our Rocky Mountains offer an impressive amount of winter snow that will run downhill in massive amounts at incredible speeds.
The risk of avalanches is one of the dangers faced by snowmobilers in winter. It comes with the territory and eventually it boils down to any combination of luck and decisions.
The trick is to minimize bad amounts of either (luck or decisions) in the mix. It may help sledders stay alive during their Indiana Jones-worthy snow adventure.
It pays to know the conditions of the snow pack, but that knowledge does not provide immunity from danger.
The laws of gravity are pretty rigid so, when the time is right, gravity will decide to do what it does so well- make things fall.
A giant tidal wave of snow will be a game-changer that will outrun anything short of the Starship Enterprise in the mountains.
Fast sleds may provide a sliver of hope to a spunky snowmobiler, but does anybody really want to stake his life on the immutable laws of physics and the ability to outrun a monster wave of snow?
The short answer is yes. In fact, many sled owners are quite certain that they have the right stuff when it comes to flirtation with death by snow.
It is also true that many snowmobilers have cheated death by an incredible combination of good luck or lucky decisions.
Let’s face it, the vast majority of winter recreational types return from their mountain adventures alive and well.
The problem is the highly publicized ones that don’t make it home. They become a lead story on the news for all of the wrong reasons.
The highly unwelcome media barrage that their families will face is likely the most painful situation that they will encounter in their lives.
The survivors will be asked to explain the inexplicable: why did their family members place themselves at such grave risk?
As an outsider, it seems inconceivable that sledders would engage in such risky behavior as “high-marking”.
To me, this activity is similar to the Russian roulette game played in the movie The Deer Hunter.
The game involved American POWs in Vietnam and a deadly match in which a handgun got one more bullet added to the chamber for every round of the game. The initial game had a violent twist in which one POW decided that he had tempted fate long enough to use the gun against his captors.
His basic expectation was the next round was a live round and he was right. The result was a roomful of dead captors.
That risk concept can be carried forth into a dangerous game of high-marking in the mountains.
Sooner or later something is going to happen and people are going to die.
But, after a discussion of all of the great reasons not to tempt fate in the mountains, I am ultimately left with one conclusion: have at ‘er boys.
While I categorically condemn your reckless disregard for your own lives, I will defend your right to die for such an incredibly foolish reason.
On the other hand, sympathy will be reserved for your families- left to explain why you chose to risk your life in what amounts to a very tragic cartoon moment that only works for Wile E Coyote.
More of Jim Sutherland at mystarcollectorcar.com