Is video sharing increasing danger of injury

“It’s mostly the hardcore riders, people who know better,” Bruce Tremper, director of the Forest Service Utah Avalanche Center, said recently of the emerging trend of experts testing their skills against the backcountry, no matter the conditions. “In the past, we felt once you’re in the hardcore category, you’re more low risk for us. But now with the films and the videos, everybody is pushing it to the extreme.”

from Avalanches on the Rise for Thrill-Seeking Skiers in The New York Times today:
www.nytimes.com/2012/02/21/sports/skiing...eking-skiers.html?hp

Interesting observation but something that I feel is not limited to the hardcore professional class. I have noticed on recent trips people disregarding the plea to ski a slope one at a time so they can get their head cam footage of skier in front.

Anyway the article is worth reading. You might learn something (I have never heard the phrase high-country snow until now

Have you noticed people are willing to push the limits solely to get better, more extreme, footage?
Has YouTube and Vimeo indirectly increased the possibility of injury for backcountry skiers?

Thanks for posting this. Its a really interesting topic and on the surface of it I'd have to agree with you. The thing is though for every video I've watched of someone hucking a cliff or out-skiing an avalanche I've watched at least one avy assesment tutorial vid or how to properly do a particluar test. I've really enjoyed the Avalanche Guys on Youtube which is Doug Chabot and crew doing a quick video analysis on accidents and snowpacks.

I think there might be a balance there somewhere between promoting and preventing accidents. The ability to get great info in a visual format is huge as books just don't cut it for some people. I guess just like beacons, shovels, probes, airbags and more the helmet cam/Youtube is best used in the hands of responsible people.

Haven't noticed a shift on my trips, but then again we tend to be pretty conservative weenies. But FWIW, the term "Kodachrome courage" (aka "Kodak courage" in more recent time as Kodachrome faded from reality) far pre-dates video on the interwebs. And way before even Flickr appeared I recall watching folks stand in the middle of the firing range in order to get great action photos with the right background etc. I think that the results of these moments are more widely publicized now, but I'm dubious about claims that non-pro folks are taking significantly more risks than they used to, or to put it another way, that they were taking significantly less in the pre-Youtube past.

An interesting hypothesis but needs to be backed up by statistics to have any validity.
Not sure the statistics will back it up frankly.

If you take your hypothesis to the next level....what about websites like TGR and TAY?
Do trip reports of exception locations, e-gloating about exceptional conditions etc., promote people to try and get the same or get the same adulation?

More people in the backcountry.... but have avy victims increased significantly????
Statistics please!!!!

Equipment doesn't make decisions.

Some people get it.
Some people don't.

I'm seeing more tracks into "loaded" slopes where there has been no evidence/sign of ski cutting.


Spooky

Avalanche Guys rock, thanks for the intro Baltoro. I enjoyed few videos yesterday, kind of wish someone was doing something similar for the Cascades or SW BC.

I think I have to specify that that I was thinking specifically about the helmet or chest mounted cams, Hero Pro and similar. They have pretty wide fixed lenses, so the cameraman has to ski very close, 3-5 turns, to catch the action. Otherwise the front skier looks like an ant.

And yes I am aware the phenomena is not new, it just seem the competition is far wider than ever. And yes I think some people do get the extra motivation because of the easy to reach audience on the internet.

I have read Bruce's book and articles and I have a respect for his expertise. I found his remark a bit surprising because it just might be that he is seeing a new issue to deal with when making decisions in an avy terrain. Maybe there will be a new chapter in the next edition of Staying Alive in Avalanche Terrain; Don't Be A Hero Pro.

I think it is becoming an issue for some groups, whether there are statistics to back it up or not. In any case the statistics will trail reality by few years.

Avalanche educators grapple with social media’s influence on backcountry travelers’ decision making

Emery Rheam’s video showed teenagers spinning backflips into deep powder blanketing an avalanche starting zone on Teton Pass in Wyoming.

The thousand people watching in the Breckenridge conference center — snow scientists and guides gathered last week for the annual International Snow Science Workshop — winced, shook their heads and grumbled.

Those kids, Rheam said, raced down the slope and posted their exploits online, feeding a game of one-upmanship that puts them in competition not just with each other, but the entire internet. It’s a scenario that plays out on social feeds, but has real-life consequences that worry avalanche forecasters and educators.

It’s too easy for an older generation to pooh-pooh social media. That’s especially common among graying avalanche forecasters and educators who often sit in judgment of what they see in movies and on Instagram, Facebook or Twitter.

www.denverpost.com/2016/10/10/colorado-a...arding-social-media/

Essentially everything old is new again

www.alpenglow.org/skiing/silver-skis-2005/

People competing with each other and pushing each other to take high risks that result in injuries and death seems to be a long standing pattern in human behavior. Whether the media is paper or digital signals.

Avalanche Guys rock, thanks for the intro Baltoro. I enjoyed few videos yesterday, kind of wish someone was doing something similar for the Cascades or SW BC.

You're in luck; while the Gallatin Avalanche Center was a pioneer, most (all?) of the US avalanche centers now have similar products, updated at differing rates.

NWAC's Youtube channel:
www.youtube.com/channel/UCXKN3Cu9rnnkukkiUUgjzFQ/videos

For completeness:
UAC Youtube:
www.youtube.com/user/utahavalanchecenter/videos

CAIC Youtube:
www.youtube.com/user/CoAvalancheInfoCente/videos

Every time the Kodak clicks you lose a little bit of your soul.   John Prine, one of his songs.

The cams that I use to catch footage are just there for documentary purposes only and never affect any decision on what we ski or avalanche analysis. If it does you will wind up dead.

My goal is always to ski, and get footage along the way, not the other way around. Yes, it makes hard to get good footage cause skiing comes first, and sometime you just can't stop.

Best example of that last year cam at Targhee. There for a IFSA CFS comp with CU Boulder son. We got an early load up the chair at 8:30 AM after it had dumped over 20 inches that night. The venue required a short cat ride another 500 vertical feet and only 20 people at a time but there about 30 of us.

So the first competitors got on and the Patrol said we could ski. I had my cams but they were packed away. But we realized that we just got the greenlight for a killer run or two if we went fast.........no time for the cams..........."let's rock". And we did, two runs down 20 inches over a perfectly smooth groomed base. Man was it fun.

Another perspective on the same paper that was referenced in the Denver Post article.
www.adventure-journal.com/2016/10/how-so...avalanche-accidents/