The mountain is not a frog

It's about the human factor in avalanches and dangerous situations on the mountain. What purely subjective decisions are made that have nothing to do with an objective view of the overall situation? Avalanche researcher Ian McCammon has described these heuristic traps - self-imposed rules based on experience that often cause warning signals to fade. The study 'Evidence of heuristic traps in recreational avalanche accidents' can be downloaded as a pdf here.

McCammon examines 598 avalanche accidents and assigns each accident a 'hazard score'. This value describes the number of danger signs that were present at the time of the accident - a kind of proxy for the avalanche danger to which the accident victims were exposed. Most accidents occurred with a hazard score of 3-4, so at least some danger signs were present.

The people involved in the accident were divided according to their level of training or experience, with the categories being as follows: "No idea at all", "knows that there are basic dangers", "has attended beginner-level courses and observed basic safety rules" and "well trained, extensive courses, has carried out stability tests and actively practiced risk management". In addition, the group sizes were recorded.

From McCammon's statistical analyses, various behavioral patterns have emerged, as well as some traps that we fall into again and again. In the English-speaking world, the acronym FACETS (Familiarity, Acceptance, Commitment, Experts, Tracks/Scarcity, Social Facilitation) has become commonplace. Unfortunately, the abbreviation doesn't work so well in German (VREEBUS?).

Never the less, everyone has probably found themselves falling into one of these traps. Most of them are found on almost every day we spend together in the snow. Obviously, they all are. Let's recall them and spice them up with our own experiences.

safety topics

presented by

Oskar again: we're still practicing the release distances. (On the ski: Sebastian Huber) — Oskar again: we're still practising the release intervals. (On the ski: Sebastian Huber)

Lukas Ruetz

The familiarity of the terrain "I know my way around there' (Familiarity)

Experienced, well-trained and competent skiers and mountain guides have died in avalanches on their local mountain. This is not a cliché but a fact. People often ignore atypical sources of danger, for example an unusual wind direction that makes normally safe slopes toxic, because they have skied this slope blind at any time of day or night and don't even think that it could go down. (It happened to me.) This factor is doubly dangerous in that it comes into play especially when you are traveling alone and thus stay on familiar trails.

In McCammon's study, it turned out that 69% of the accidents investigated happened in terrain that the people involved said they were very familiar with. According to McCammon, well-trained people are particularly susceptible to the "familiarity" factor.

Resignation due to peer pressure "The others are driving too." (Acceptance)

Resignation means that you surrender your perhaps insecure feeling to the often unintentional pressure of the group "to go on", "to pull in" or "to drop the cliff" resignedly and act against your gut feeling. Familiar, dangerous, but gets better over the years.

In McCammon's statistics, the 'social proof' trap plays an important role. In addition to classic peer pressure, factors such as "are there other people around at all", or "are there already tracks" are also dealt with here. Again, well-educated people tend to be more susceptible here, see also the FACETS 'scarcity', 'experts' and 'tracks'.

Determination "I won't get another chance like this in a hurry" (Consistency/Commitments)

Some unfavorable circumstances can play a role here. Freeriding costs money and effort, and you don't always have the epic conditions on those rare days off that the media say you get every day. Once everything comes together, you are reluctant to turn around just below the summit because of the slight avalanche risk or not to drop into the mercilessly beautiful colouir. So you often take unnecessary risks against your better judgment. If everything goes well, you're a tough dog. If it doesn't go well, you're a dead dog. There is a not inappropriate saying in our circles on this point, which is true either way: A mountain is not a frog. It won't run away from you.

According to McCammon, this factor applies equally to all group sizes and training levels.

The experts "He already knows what he's doing"" (Experts)

Here I'm not talking about guided freeride trips, where you rightly pay to hand over a large part of the responsibility so that you can relax and enjoy the best powder. That's what freeride centers and well-trained people are there for. Our example is about the fact that a leader emerges in almost every small group that travels independently on the mountain. This doesn't have to happen on purpose, and it can happen to anyone. Maybe it's the loudest person, or the local, or the one who did an avalanche training course at the Alpine Club two years ago and has just bought a new avalanche airbag. In tricky situations that require quick decisions, this can put everyone involved in an awkward position. Here, it is important to discuss openly in advance or on the way who - if anyone - has which skills and can also use them. An important point.

Confirmation "Two tracks in the snow lead down from a steep height' so everything is safe." (Tracks)

A classic. "There are tracks, I can ski there." On the one hand, word should have gotten around by now that fresh tracks are no indicator of the safety of the slope. A slope only becomes safer when it is skied on regularly throughout the winter, thus preventing the formation of sliding layers. Secondly, and more frequently, tracks are often used as signposts by those unfamiliar with the terrain. Unfortunately, this can end badly, as nobody knows whether the original tracks lead to nowhere or nowhere at all. This happens very often on one of the most notorious mountains in the Freireiterei, the Krippenstein. Here, on good days, lost freeriders are picked up from rock faces by helicopter every hour because they have followed an unknown trail. (The first confused freerider may even still be standing there, and the two of you wait for the expensive air cab. But that doesn't make it any cheaper or less stupid either)

Attention Baldric, don't get carried away by the Scarcity heuristic! — Watch out Baldric, don't get carried away by the Scarcity heuristic!

Pete Houghton (altitudinalnoodles.wordpress.com)

Impatience due to an unusual situation "First!"" (Scarcity)

And then comes that rather rare situation in which you find yourself with all your pent-up
powder fanaticism in front of an untracked slope and want to take off as quickly as possible. Behind you are the chasers. In front of you, the white paradise. It's now or never. In this case, all rational decision-making strategies are often ignored. That's understandable, but it doesn't change the fact that you need to switch your head on for at least a few minutes right now before you give in to the adrenaline rush. It's hard, I know.

This factor also affects all groups. McCammon also points out that the feeling that you are entitled to something and the urge to defend it against others is deeply rooted in the human psyche and is also frequently found in other areas of society.

Social Facilitation

This is the strange human habit of behaving differently in the presence of others than you would on your own. In the snow, according to McCammon, this is particularly relevant for very well-trained and experienced people. A fit group of ambitious and experienced ski tourers can be pushed more easily by another, equally fit group and you take a higher risk together simply because the others are there too.

It was mentioned at the beginning: Many, if not all, of the points on this (quite expandable) list are fairly obvious. And yet it's not a mistake to think about it from time to time when you're out and about and to voice any uncertainties in front of the group. Good freeskiers and ski mountaineers also develop the often-described gut feeling from these psychological aspects, which helps them to become good old freeskiers and ski mountaineers.

McCammon on FACETS, from the second part of the highly recommended Powder Magazine features on the human factor.

Stephan Skrobar is a state-certified ski instructor and ski guide, rides in the Fischer Freeski Team, is an alpine instructor for the Styrian Ski Instructors Association, team manager of the Pieps Freeride Team and head of Die Bergstation Freeride & Alpin Center. Stephan also runs a communications agency and loves cultivated punk rock. Both (Stephan and punk rock) are not always to be taken seriously.