“It Was a Way to Keep His Spirit Alive”

Outside Podcast

Sports, Wilderness

4.4 • 2.1K Ratings

🗓️ 24 February 2021

⏱️ 27 minutes

🔗️ Recording | iTunes | RSS

🧾️ Download transcript

Summary

In 2001, when Caroline Gleich was 15 years old, her half-brother Martin died in an avalanche while skiing in the Utah backcountry. That tragedy didn’t prevent Gleich from becoming a professional skier—quite the opposite—but it has led her to develop a unique approach to managing risk. The truth is, avalanches are largely predictable: they only occur on certain slopes and under certain conditions. The problem is that such slopes and conditions coincide almost perfectly with the most fun skiing and snowboarding in the backcountry. This often leads people to make dangerous decisions, especially when they’ve been lucky so many times before. In this second episode of a two-part special exploring our relationship to the hazards of avalanches, Gleich talks about her long journey to becoming comfortable in the backcountry and how she believes we can stack the odds in our favor, even in the most unpredictable environments. This episode of the Outside Podcast is brought to you by Lake Hartwell Country, a largely undiscovered region in the mountains of South Carolina that’s one of the best adventure playgrounds anywhere. Visit lakehartwellcountry.com to start planning your trip now.

Transcript

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0:00.0	This episode of the outside podcast is brought to you by Lake Hartwell Country, a largely
0:05.2	undiscovered region in the mountains of South Carolina that's one of the best adventure playgrounds
0:11.1	anywhere. Tucked into the northwest corner of the state, Lake Hartwell Country offers a unique
0:17.2	getaway and an uncrowded section of the Appalachian Mountains. Here it rains more than 75 inches a year,
0:24.9	creating a verdant rainforest and, as you might expect, a lot of waterfalls. In fact,
0:31.6	there are more than a hundred of them. Many can be reached with a short hike. To get to others,
0:37.2	you might spend hours walking empty trails or even paddling a kayak. Lake Hartwell Country is
0:44.2	truly a land of water. There are three major lakes, including its namesake Lake Hartwell,
0:50.7	which offers 962 miles of shoreline. That's more than the coast of California. It's known for
0:57.7	superb fishing and regularly hosts nationally renowned bass fishing tournaments. Then there's the
1:04.3	Chittuga River, a federally designated wild and scenic river that outside magazine regularly calls
1:10.8	out as one of our favorite paddling destinations. It's one of the longest free-flowing rivers in the
1:16.6	southeast and it provides visitors spectacular scenery as it plummets through steep gorges.
1:22.7	There are also sandy beaches and quiet stretches for relaxing. Visit Lake Hartwell Country.com now
1:29.9	to start planning your adventure to the undiscovered South Carolina Mountains.
1:40.8	From outside magazine and PRX, this is the outside podcast.
1:46.9	If you survive the trauma, you have 15 minutes for your partners to dig you out. After 15 minutes,
1:57.5	your likelihood of survival goes way down. I really don't want to get buried and I don't
2:03.8	want to have to day out someone I love or anyone because it's yeah. It's a lot more difficult
2:12.4	than just not getting buried in the first place.
2:18.3	I said this last week, but I'm going to say it again. It has been a very bad winter for
2:24.4	avalanches in the United States. And if your knowledge of them, like mine, comes mostly from James Bond
	...

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