The avalanche quandary

Is there a science behind understanding what causes avalanche? Perhaps, but that’s not all that’s necessary to avoid getting caught into one, in my opinion. 

Then, is there an art in not getting caught into one? Yes, and that one’s called pure luck. 

With already two casualties this season in Park City, 21 in the United States and on Monday a 45 years old, famous Italian mountain climber Carlo Alberto Cimenti, who got caught and died in another avalanche in Sestriere, I would say that there’s only one good method for surviving such a fate, it’s plenty of good common sense, extreme prudence and still a good modicum of good luck. 

Another one, of course, is to avoiding playing in the back-country. All the other good reasons for trying to justify the hapless victims of most avalanche unfortunately don’t wash and shouldn’t be considered part of a reliable road map before embarking into some unknown mass of snow…