By MOLLY ABSOLON
Sometimes you hear a crack or a roar. More often the first sign is snow shifting around your feet. The snow starts in a slab and then breaks into blocks that knock you off your skis, careening down in a slide moving as fast as 60-80 mph. If youâre lucky, you live through it, plastered with snow; if not, youâre entombed, hurtled over a cliff, killed.
There have been 36 avalanche fatalities in the United States this winter, a streak of avalanche deaths not seen since 1918.
The accidents all occurred at a time when forecasters had rated the avalanche danger considerable or high. Both ratings mean avalanches are likely and travel in avalanche terrain is not recommended, and yet people, including me, chose to venture out despite the warnings. The question is, why?