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Introduction
Snow avalanches are the greatest source of danger for mountain enthusiast's in winter. Through education, fatalities are on the decline in most groups that venture into the mountains on those short days of winter; unfortunately, there is one group where this is not true.
Historically, avalanche victims came from the people who lived and worked in the mountains. The skier, snowboarder, backcountry skier, and ice climber were the most prone to become a victim of an avalanche.
Today the group with the highest rate of death by being a victim of an avalanche are snowmobile operators. The most likely cause of these deaths is not being educated in route finding, recognition and avoidance of hazardous slopes, and staying away from avalanche terrain when the avalanche hazard is high.
Looking at the the graph below shows the number of snowmobilers killed in an avalanche was 50% higher than the next group, the Back Country skiers.
Source: Northwest Avalanche Center
There are many resources available to educate yourself or if you belong to a snow mobile club have the entire club attend a mountain safety seminar. More information is available by following these links.
