I don't think the "going alone" aspect of this story really matters. Alone or with someone else with equal avalanche knowledge (which could mean "no" knowledge) wouldn't necessarily have done much in this case...other than maybe saved them if they were roped up in any way - but still not a guarantee:
http://tuckerman.org/accident/20022003.htm
Honestly, the amount of hikers and climbers that think about what avalanche danger is is a lot lower than the number of skiers. Go into any AIARE course and you'll probably see a 5:1 of skiers to hikers/climbers. I'm not saying this is good, it's just that skiing 35-45 degree slopes of powder is a skiers dream... while it's better to climb boilerplate or just ice.
I don't know the victim's avalanche awareness, but I am pretty sure from seeing what happened, that he probably hadn't taken any classes on the subject or else he would've been a lot more cautious about going in there in those conditions.
Sometimes we get lucky and we get by, but sometimes we don't. It's sad to see that he didn't come out of this and learn a lesson instead of dying. I set off a small slab on Central gully last year after a small snowfall and a rating of Moderate in the ravines... I scared myself s&*#less and learned from it.
Quote:
Originally Posted by dmc  And if the rangers head over to HR and see hangfire and or other scarey snow features - they aren't going to look for someone without being sure it's safe first... |
I agree. The rescuers are very aware that their safety comes first in these situations. In this case they left the scene Friday night since they couldn't look at the ravine and assess the danger, so they came back Sat morning. If someone is stuck out there and there is constant snowfall and High avy danger everywhere, they'll just make that person wait. I am not saying they see no risk in rescues, it's just that they are very good at what they do and they know they won't endanger more lives in the process.