SFBv420.0I dig callouts
Please tell us more how your years of experience has taught you skier compaction prevents avalaunches,has much effect on basal depth hoar, or really has much effect on any given slopes ability to slide.
Are skier compacted slopes 10% safer? 50?
Bonus points for augmenting your opinion w/ data from any avvy professional
I can't tell if you are being condescending there or not. I am not going to reference my opinion nor provide facts because I am too lazy and I can 100% guarantee you that there is no % that a slope is safer given any influence on it. That is the beauty of snow science, there are no hard numbers. While IllBilly followed up with a nice post, both of you seemed to pull some info out of my post that never existed so I will clear things up.
I never said skier compacted slopes are safe. I said it made a difference compared to virgin slopes. I said it is not something to bank on for safety and that I ski every slope in the way that I expect it will slide. Where do I get this opinion that skier compaction makes some sort of difference on the snow pack? Ski patrol ski cuts and boot packs early season to help prevent a basal weakness. Ski cutting is a common practice for testing slopes or releasing controlled avalanches. Avalanche professionals around the world maintain the size of cornices in areas they are working. Infrequently skied areas inbounds and out often slide much easier than common routes. When I tail guided we would often put in a large effort to ski certain zones to knock over surface hoar before it became loaded and a buried layer.
Once again, don't bank on it. Hell, don't bank on anything. Do be aware that there are potential differences and all the reasons why.
I felt the need to call you out because I got the impression you thought slack country was safer because SAR can get to you quickly.
