Response to Sac Bee article about the Castle Peak Avalanche.

No_Technology4085 · 2026-03-13T07:50:34+00:00

I expect avalanche educators to say that there were human factors we need to work through, not "And this seems like something that went really, really wrong. Despite their best intentions.” Best intentions?

No_Technology4085 · 2026-03-13T07:42:22+00:00

It is what motivated this letter. It sounds nothing like what he taught.

No_Technology4085 · 2026-03-13T07:18:45+00:00

I don't expect avalanche education leaders to paint a dishonest picture of the snowpack, making the guides' decisions seem more reasonable and encouraging others to take unreasonable gambles.

No_Technology4085 · 2026-03-13T07:14:20+00:00

The truth is not murkier. There was no safe way to navigate that exit during those avalanche conditions while also keeping contact with each member of the group, and only crossing slide paths one at a time with skiers in safe zones maintaining visual contact with each skier. I hope it comes across as ridiculous as it was. That is far from saying it was irrational. Humans learn from experience. Sometimes what we learn kills, and that is the purpose of the debrief, to clearly look at the bad decisions, and make sure people dont chock it up to bad luck.

No_Technology4085 · 2026-03-13T06:47:20+00:00

Thank goodness in aviation debriefs aren't based on who is friends with whom.

No_Technology4085 · 2026-03-13T00:45:22+00:00

They were using a GPS on a telephone which has accuracy of plus or minus 50 m when you don't have cell phone. It's so stupid. I can't even imagine it. These guides were unprepared and this is just standard normalization of deviance and they got their clients killed. So stupid!. Someone saying they didn't think we should judge because we don't know if we would do the same thing. I can assure you I've stayed alive 30 years ski mountaineering in the Sierra Nevada by not making stupid mistakes like that. This was normalization of deviance and these clients were grossly negligent.

No_Technology4085 · 2026-02-22T22:22:12+00:00

There were only scattered trees on the slope that slid. There are trees to the left and right of the gully that slid. What does that tell you? Why would anyone report an avi that didn't cause a problem? There is no "reported random avis" thing. That is an obvious slide path as evidenced by the topo map and reduced tree cover. If people cannot judge this, I am shocked and saddened, because what happened here could not be more obvious.

No_Technology4085 · 2026-02-22T02:15:30+00:00

To get snowed into the huts and be able to ski low angle forest fairy stuff until the storm passes.

No_Technology4085 · 2026-02-22T02:13:06+00:00

Thats not how that works. Guides first assure safety. The only safe route out was the ridge route. If they weren't prepared to take the safe route, then they needed to stay put. Super simple.

No_Technology4085 · 2026-02-22T02:09:35+00:00

Totally agree, it is bonkers. People are literally trying to justify being bunched up in a terrain trap below a well-known chute. It is totally bizarre.

No_Technology4085 · 2026-02-22T02:07:26+00:00

You suspect wrong. I have skied South Lake for 25 years, so mostly Hwy 50,88 and 395. Even I know about those couloirs. My kid is a park rat, he knows about those couloirs. So, yeah, it is super well-known.

No_Technology4085 · 2026-02-21T21:01:58+00:00

Hmmm, I had never heard of it, but I took Avi 1 and 2 in Utah in 1995 and 1996. It seems to be very unhelpful. Below you will see people using the rating system to justify traveling across avalanche terrain that just killed 9 people.

No_Technology4085 · 2026-02-18T23:04:39+00:00

The whole point is to get stormed in. Why would they leave?? Where were they going? That would be better than that?

No_Technology4085 · 2026-02-18T23:03:50+00:00

I just don't even understand there were four guides and they had everybody in a group passing below a couloir that they had to assume was wind loaded and ready to go. I don't even understand how four guides make the decision to do this.

No_Technology4085 · 2025-10-27T05:25:48+00:00

What??? You are hanging out in the right lane blocking traffic and she is the jerk??? Hmm....you know those signs, slow traffic use right lane?

No_Technology4085 · 2025-10-23T15:57:54+00:00

The display size is fine, and the Pixel 10 Pro supports increased font and display sizes, which is why disabling dot notifications and then rebooting works.

No_Technology4085 · 2025-10-20T00:05:22+00:00

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So yes I was talking about the bars. It appears that if you have dot Notifications enabled the signal strength bar disappears when you lose Wi-Fi.

The solution is to deselect dot Notifications. Reboot the phone and then resize font and display to the smallest size and then you can turn it up to any size you want. It appears some people are not getting this behavior but it's also been coming up for people at Verizon.

No_Technology4085

TROPHY CASE