[fourteen410]

[cascadeclimber]

The mountains are not Disneyland. The latter runs on the illusion of risk, while nearly all of it is mitigated. Mountains have risk. It cannot be entirely mitigated. Even inside ski areas (Crystal Pro Patrol wiped out all of Chair 6 a few years ago doing control work). If you go into the mountains you are taking risks. If you want to be able to assess them in order the make choices that conform to your risk tolerance, take classes or learn from others. But just because you are on a popular trail or climbing route, or there are some signs or wands or boot/skin/snowshoe tracks, or rangers patrolling, or others are nearby or just went the way you are going, or you are near a freeway does not mean, ever, that there is no risk. Many people seem to confuse the presence of some structure (as listed above) with reduced or lack of risk. That's incorrect. If real risk isn't your thing, then Disneyland is your place. That's not a criticism, just what I see as true. I like Disneyland...just not for the same reason I like the mountains.

[Randito]

[car68]

The exit 52 barrier is a huge snow berm. That end of the road is not plowed in the winter. The exit 47 barrier is only intended to keep vehicles out. The county plows up to the bridge because some of the homes on that road are occupied year round. Several years ago the county and USFS agreed to put those up and barriers on Tinkham due to the large number of vehicles trying to drive those roads and getting stuck and calling 911. It was never the intent to restrict foot traffic. Which would be impossible anyway.

[Randito]

[car68]

The berm is more effective. The signs are either gone or buried by now.

[Randito]

[HikerJohn]

The whole video amazes me in that this guy expected someone to warn him of avalanche clearing work-- HELLO????? If it was a natural avalanche, no one would have been there to warn you . It's an avalanche prone area! Perhaps the USFS should put out a sign at the bottom of the trail saying "Warning-- entering avalanche territory", but if this is the case, they'd have to do that on just about every trail in the Cascades-- in some of the recent conditions we could have experienced Climax, tree-clearing avalanches that would have swept all the way to the bottom of valleys. Perhaps it would be easier to put a big electronic sign next to highways leading to the wilderness: "Warning-- if you leave the main roads, you may put yourself at risk-- be prepared"... Naw, they just wouldn't read it.... Sigh.....

[Cyclopath]

By that logic you don't have to yell "rock!" when you knock one loose and there might be people below because bad things can happen to hikers. There's a fundamental difference between warning somebody about your actions actions vs something you're not doing. There's also a fundamental difference between planning something and knowing exactly when and where it will happen vs maybe it will happen on a specific trail and day and maybe it won't.

[Randito]

[rossb]

I think the only question is whether they should put a little notice at the beginning of the road ("Caution -- Avalanche Control Today"). For all we know, they did. This sort of thing is done all the time when they do blasting, for example. From what I can tell from the video, it wasn't necessary though. This was not an avalanche that filled the valley, nor would it ever fill the valley. It also wasn't that fast moving. The main thing is, from above, you had a good view of the entire avalanche path. That, plus a verbal warning (that even I could here, with my very bad hearing) dramatically reduced the risk to the general public. The comparison to a few days earlier was interesting, but misleading if you felt like the situation was dangerous. A few days earlier, people were venturing up the path because it was a nice day, and the risk of avalanche was low. That wasn't the case when they did the avalanche control work. It was a high avalanche risk day, which is why very few people were there (two). Even with all that, the workers could see any person who was crazy enough to go that far on that day. It is understandable that people think they should do more, but the folks who did this know what they are doing, and were careful.

[Cyclopath]