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Numerous recent articles in the mainstream media paint a bleak picture of a catastrophic avalanche season in terms of fatalities. It is being blamed on the covid pandemic, like so many other things these days. This blog article will take a look at just how bad the current season really is, and why the number of fatalities alone may not be an honest indicator in the absence of a bit of a deeper look. The question of why the season is the way it is will be left, for the most part, for a follow up article.

The number of fatalities as of March 1, in the US, is 33. Given that the average for the previous ten years is 14.8, and that the previous high during those years was 26, this does seem to be extremely tragic.

However, the number of fatal accidents as of March 1 is 25. While this is significantly higher than the ten year average of 13.5 there is a large amount of variation over those ten seasons. The previous March 1 high was also 25. So in terms of the number of incidents the 2020-21 season ranks at the top so far, but it is not above the previous high. A bad season for sure, but not as overboard as it’s being made out to be.

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