A lot of people in scotland, seem to be clueless about the dangers of avalanches when travelling in the backcountry. They seem to think. Just because it’s scotland, that there is no real threat of getting caught in a slide, when it is still a real possibility. Just like any ware in the world. Maybe we don’t get as much snow as america, canada or europe. Just because there isn’t much snow about, they seem to think avalanches are none existent. A lot of people don’t realise that the wind plays a big part in creating unstable snow conditions, as dose the temperature rising rapidly in the matter of hours and many other factors.
The biggest offenders are the climbers. They cause the most avalanche fatality’s, in scotland. More than ski tourers, skiers and snowboarders put together.
For example:
There was a big avalanche that killed 3 climbers on buchaille etive mor on january 24th 2009. The avalanche danger for the 24th was cat 3, with snow showers above 300 metres with a strong south-westerly wind. With new accumulations of soft slab formed in sheltered locations, with several weakly bonded layers within the snowpack. The greatest accumulations of unstable snow is above 850 metres on north-west through north to east aspects.
Some one needs to open the eyes of these clueless climbers, ski tourers, skiers and snowboarders who travel in the scottish BC to the dangers. A lot of people in this country seem to think carrying avalanche safety gear is necessary.
