Adventurers from all over the world come to Canada's Selkirks -- a mecca for ski touring that offers unlimited mountain terrain and lots of snow. On a clear, cold morning in January 1998, six experienced back-country skiers set out across one of its heavily loaded slopes and were caught in a Class 3 avalanche, burying all of them in its path. Vivien Bowers takes us through the tragic series of events, focusing on one of the young women who perished in the slide, and the avalanche's aftermath. Bowers tells of the arduous search-and-retrieval effort, the "big-city" media invasion, and how the victims' family and friends, and the inhabitants of a nearby small town, attempted to bring meaning and resolution to the tragedy.
Along the way Bowers illuminates a natural phenomenon that has threatened human endeavors throughout the world. Interwoven with the narrative is the science behind the event, including avalanche triggers and the complex process of avalanche prediction. Her book also raises unsettling questions about acceptable risk, about human fallibility, about living fully and dying young-and about what might entice a group of knowledgeable, experienced skiers to place themselves in the path of an avalanche.
Authors
- Bibliography, etc. Note
- Includes bibliographical references
- Control Number Identifier
- CaOOCEL
- Dewey Decimal Classification Number
- 971.1/68
- Dewey Decimal Edition Number
- 22
- General Note
- Issued as part of the desLibris books collection
- Geographic Area Code
- n-cn-bc
- ISBN
- 9781926685250 9781550545180
- LCCN
- QC929.A8
- LCCN Item number
- B68 2003eb
- Modifying agency
- CaBNVSL
- Original cataloging agency
- DLC
- Physical Description | Extent
- 1 electronic text (229 p.)
- Published in
- Canada
- Publisher or Distributor Number
- CaOOCEL
- Rights
- Access restricted to authorized users and institutions
- System Control Number
- (CaBNVSL)slc00222880 (OCoLC)471123717 (CaOOCEL)416850
- System Details Note
- Mode of access: World Wide Web
- Transcribing agency
- DLC
Table of Contents
- Contents 7
- Preface 11
- Prologue 15
- January 2 1998 15
- T H U M B S U P 19
- Saturday December 27 1997 19
- F I R S T F L A K E S 36
- A V A L A N C H E E Y E B A L L S 44
- S N O W S L E U T H S 54
- R I S K Y B U S I N E S S 63
- M O C K R E S C U E 72
- Saturday December 27 72
- T H E P U R S U I T O F P O W D E R 84
- Y E L L O W L I G H T 95
- Sunday December 28 95
- T O T A L L Y A W E S O M E 102
- Tuesday December 30 102
- B R I N G I N G I N T H E N E W Y E A R 111
- Wednesday December 31 111
- T H E M O U N T A I N S H R U G G E D 120
- Friday January 2 120
- S U C H D E V A S T A T I O N 136
- Saturday January 3 136
- F L Y I N G L O W 155
- Sunday January 4 155
- I F I T B L E E D S I T L E A D S 169
- Monday January 5 169
- W A I T I N G F O R T H E W I N D O W 184
- Wednesday January 7 184
- N E E D L E I N A H A Y S T A C K 196
- Thursday January 8 196
- R E V E R B E R A T I O N S 215
- Afterword 230
- Further Reading 234
- Acknowledgments 236
- About the Author 239
