Comments on: Avalanches and risk

By: Chuck

Chuck — Wed, 25 Feb 2026 16:29:12 +0000

There are currently avalanche warnings for my area. It has been a dry and warm winter so far, but last weekend we got significant snow, and now it is warm again, not a good combination. Avalanches are a fairly common occurrence, sometimes they close the canyon road. It is amazing how hard the snow packed down by an avalanche is, like concrete. Lots of crosscountry skiing, snowshoeing, and snowmobiling here.

It isn’t just snow. Before the trails got snowed in I noticed some big boulders had come down. The warm days, cold nights, had loosened them.

By: Watt

Watt — Wed, 25 Feb 2026 15:01:39 +0000

I’ve never thought about avalanches one way or the other. Roiling water is my fear. I can barely stand to watch the 1953 movie “Niagara,” for example.

By: Watt

Watt — Wed, 25 Feb 2026 15:01:18 +0000

I’ve never thought about avalanche one way or the other. Roiling water is my fear. I can barely stand to watch the 1953 movie “Niagara,” for example.

By: Sailorcurt

Sailorcurt — Wed, 25 Feb 2026 11:43:42 +0000

1. Everyone dies. Dying while doing something you love, in my humble opinion, is no tragedy. My personal goal has always been to die in a violent motorcycle crash (single vehicle of course) on a twisty road somewhere in the mountains. Unfortunately for me, I’m a pretty damn good rider, so no luck so far. If I ever succeed, don’t mourn, celebrate.

2. Nature is actively trying to kill you at every moment of every day. Forget that at your peril. Personally, I think living life to the fullest is worth the risk rather than sitting at home in a nice, relatively safe, bubble, but going forth and adventuring does entail risk that you must be willing to accept.

3. Life is a contact sport. The only way to stay “safe” is to refuse to play…but then, what’s the point?

I think growing up on a farm had a lot to do with forming my attitudes about life. When you’re that close to the cycle, I think it makes it easier to accept as perfectly natural the concept that everything that lives, also dies. Dying isn’t a mishap in life, it’s the inevitable conclusion.

It’s kind of ironic that they typically put two dates on people’s gravestones, but what’s actually important is what happened between them.

By: Marlene

Marlene — Wed, 25 Feb 2026 07:47:08 +0000

Ski helmets: More on Neo’s stats, at 8:06 pm:
“Only five of those 35 killed on U.S. slopes in the 2023-24 season were not wearing helmets.”
So, that season, helmets didn’t help much. Of course, fatal accidents are not limited to head injuries.
I haven’t skiied since the 80’s, and had not realized that recreational skiing had become helmetized. I wouldn’t choose to wear one, but then again, I rarely did tree skiing.
Biking — I absolutely wear a helmet!
The Netherlands story from TommyJay is interesting — choosing not to require bike helmets, year ago. I wonder if that has changed.
In 2020, my husband had a serious bike accident in our hilly neighborhood . I was there, thankfully. He & bike went a full rotation ( NOT intentionally ), & the landing was awful! He would be dead, if not for his helmet.
Suffered several bad injuries, still. Punctured lung, fractured vertebrae, concussion. Broke the bottom of 1 side of his skull, damaged an eye nerve causing double vision for some time.
And of course, some nasty lacerations.
He was in ICU, then a “step down” room for nearly a week.
(COVID restrictions at the hospital were brutal on me. Bad timing!)
Had tons of doctor and PT appointments for several months.
I’m very grateful he doesn’t remember the accident! We got back to biking, eventually.

By: Lee Also

Lee Also — Wed, 25 Feb 2026 07:36:03 +0000

I got caught caught in quicksand once. Almost lost a sandal.

By: huxley

huxley — Wed, 25 Feb 2026 05:02:05 +0000

I have read that the old movies and TV shows used oatmeal to simulate quicksand.

That’s how the George Pal team simulated lava flows in “The Time Machine.”

By: R2L

R2L — Wed, 25 Feb 2026 04:53:35 +0000

Selfy, did they use the one minute cooking variety?

By: Selfy

Selfy — Wed, 25 Feb 2026 04:29:32 +0000

I have read that the old movies and TV shows used oatmeal to simulate quicksand.

By: Thos.

Thos. — Wed, 25 Feb 2026 02:55:24 +0000

about ten years ago i read a report that the widespread adoption of ski helmets had not changed the rate of head injuries to any statistically meaningfull degree.