What Were They Thinking?

(Aired March 15, 2010)

I've always been a pretty conservative kind of guy. In just about everything I've done, I've not taken many chances and haven't stepped too often off the plank to see where I'd wind up. So to me, going to see an event like the Big Iron Shootout near Revelstoke on the weekend wouldn't even be in the cards. I guess I don't have that adventurous streak that some of those have who would have been at Boulder Mountain on the weekend.

But even those who enjoy the risks of going into the backcountry must give their heads a bit of a shake given the severe avalanche warnings that came out late last week. With about 10 slides in that general area since Friday, why in God's name would you place yourself in what some say was a death trap? You have to have a snowmobile to get in. There's virtually no chance of escape if an avalanche should hit. It was a perfect storm, it seems, on Saturday.

Two people died, many were injured, and you and I as taxpayers will have to pay a fortune for the cost of the rescue effort. All because some people needed some kind of adrenalin rush watching snowmobilers race up a mountain.

We won't know for a while yet whether the snowmobilers themselves triggered the wall of snow that rushed down onto the spectators below. But surely someone must have wondered whether or not this was the place to be, given all the warnings.

This is an unsanctioned event, one that has received negative publicity in the past. Four years ago, thousands of dollars in damage was caused by snowmobilers attending the event. I don't know how you patrol this kind of thing, but it's obvious that some steps need to be taken to put restrictions in place, especially in circumstances that have prevailed all winter long on B.C. slopes.

Conditions this winter have caused numerous warnings to be put out, advising skiiers and snowmobilers of the danger. But it's obvious that to some, the excitement is worth the risk. After Saturday's tragedy, you have to ask yourself if the excitement really was worth it.