The Lure of Dutch Draw

I was deeply saddened to learn of the death yesterday of a 31-year-old snowboarder in Dutch Draw, a backcountry area along the Park City Ridgeline and often accessed from the 9990 chairlift at Park City Mountain Resorts.  My deepest condolences to family and friends. 

This one hit me in the gut harder than most, I think in part because there have been so many deaths in Dutch Draw over the years.  The Utah Avalanche Center has an extensive record of avalanche fatalities in Utah (available here) and it appears this is the 4th since 2005.  The accident reports suggest that in all cases, the victims entered the backcountry after riding the 9990 chairlift.   

Although knowledge of terrain, weather, and snowpack is important for evaluating avalanche risk, our judgement and ability to perceive risk is often clouded by other factors.  Avalanche accidents happen when the perception of risk does not match the reality.  Ian McCammon has investigated the role of heuristics, mental shortcuts, rules of thumb, and other factors that contribute to avalanche accidents, identifying six that can be abbreviated into the easily recalled acronym "FACETS" (image below from 14erskiers.com).  

Source: https://14erskiers.com/blog/wp-content/uploads/2016/12/FACETS-.png

I can identify situations over the years in which each of these contributed to questionable decision making on my part.  If I were a Vulcan, I might be able to objectively evaluate risk, but I'm human.  Powder or touring objectives can be like the apple in the Garden of Eden, a forbidden fruit that is very difficult to resist.  

Dutch Draw is an area these traps are well disguised by the cheese.  In-bounds powder gets tracked quickly, yet you can see powder beyond the ropes.  Tracks/scarcity begins to ratchet up your desire to go out of bounds.  You've been skiing in-bounds and the snow seems fine.  You've built Familiarity with the snowpack, but one that has much lower avalanche risk due to skier compaction and mitigation efforts compared to what lies beyond the ropes.  You've developed false sense of security.  For Acceptance, you want to boast to friends about the great powder run you had in Utah, so you're more likely to push it.  Yes, you just passed a backcountry gate warning of considerable hazard, including a sign you could die, and you think the snowpack is a bit sketch, but you've come this far and turning around is hard.  You've made the Commitment.  That morning, you rode on the lift with a local and regular resort rider who said that yes, people often do ski Dutch Draw.  Locals surely know something right?  They have an Expert Halo.  Your college buddy from Boston thinks it will be fine and eggs you on in a form of Social Facilitation.  

Those are hypothetical examples.  The factors contributing to avalanche accidents vary.  Dutch Draw is a place where powder fever is very contagious.  You can see fresh powder from the resort and it is easily accessed.  It is hard to say no.  

When I think about times I've exhibited questionable judgement in the backcountry, they have usually been due to heuristic traps.  The consequences have fortunately not been severe, and in many cases I can thank partners for speaking up and raising concerns.  In others, perhaps it was just luck.  

We have been dealt a house-of-cards snowpack for the 2020-2021 ski season.  It is weak and snowpacks like this do not heal quickly nor homogeneously.  When it starts to snow again...and it will start to snow again...recall the FACETS and try and think like Mr. Spock rather than Captain Kirk.