Doctoral student at Montana State University and researcher for the United States Geological Survey Erich Peitzsch had a hunch that the average age of avalanche victims is increasing. His intuition was confirmed after a ton of research.
During the following talk Erich shows that average age of avalanche victims has increased from 27.6 years old between 1950-1989 to 34.3 from 1990-2018. The average age of fatalities among avalanche professionals was shown to be even higher at 37.7 years.
The video comes from 12th annual Professional Development Seminar in Ketchum hosted by The Sawtooth Avalanche Center (SAC). The seminar brings together nearly 40 professionals, including ski guides, forecasters, snow safety workers, search and rescue personnel, researchers, and USFS staff. Presentations covered snowpack and streamflow modeling, a case study of a local avalanche cycle, changing trends in the age of avalanche victims, using tree rings to track widespread avalanche cycles, and two talks to help us better understand how we make decisions. EXPLORE MORE PRESENTATIONS HERE:
images from montana.edu