by Raymond Alexander Kukkee

Created on: March 05, 2011

Why Snowmobile “HighMarking” Causes Fatal Avalanches

The sport is deadly, and it is called “highmarking” .  Snow machine enthusiasts live to challenge  pristine expanses of beautiful snow, especially if it happens to be on the side of a steep mountain slope.  In spite of  how deep and unstable a snowy slope may ultimately prove to be,  it attracts  attention, and offers an exciting challenge, particularly to individuals  with modern, more powerful snowmobiles.   It is intoxicating entertainment to mount that challenge and make a “high mark” as far up the slope as possible in spite of it’s hidden dangers, which include the initiation of  deadly and often fatal avalanches.   

Sadly, avalanches occur regularly.  Avalanche season claimed another three  individuals operating snowmobiles in British Columbia, Canada.  The snowmobile operators  were riding in  the snowy back country near Golden, B.C.  on Feb. 18th, 2011,  and became fatalities in an avalanche that was caused by their own  activities.    A fourth individual survived and was hospitalized.  Clearly, this type of scenario happens too often. Avalanches also claim the lives of skiers and snow-boarding enthusiasts who are in the wrong place at the wrong time.

In any tragic event,  "hind sight" is always perfect, but  in retrospect, the B.C.  tragedy could have been avoided.   Far more serious attention   needs to be drawn to the dangerous sport of “high-marking”  and the  problem of recurring fatalities it causes  in  the snowmobile community.   Snowmobile owners, snowmobile associations,  the dealers selling these powerful machines,  and  insurance companies alike  must all bear the responsibility of becoming  involved in publicizing the danger involved in "highmarking”.

In North America, over thirty  lives have been lost to avalanches in the last two years, the majority of them  being snowmobile operators. Similar tragedies continue to occur every year.  Why?   

In simple observation, it seems that logic and awareness of danger evaporates as the enthusiast  charges up the slope at full speed on that new, ever-more-powerful snow machine,  attempting to out-do all comers.   Competitions  are

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