Really wish media would stop reporting “an avalanche happened” vrs. “a party triggered an avalanche”... every mainstream report makes it sound like this was some natural event... this was triggered by the film crew...
I was just reading a blog post by the guide from a few weeks ago talking about preparing for this trip... very interesting to hear what his biggest concerns for the day were:
http://ascentsofhonor.org/2012/12/28/managing-a-full-plate/In particular:
"The primary focus turns out to be, of course, safety: no one gets bad frostbite, hit by a rock/falling ice/a thermos/or (heaven forbid) a camera (especially if it is turned off). Nobody gets caught in an avalanche, struck by lightning, blown off a ridge, or separated alone in a whiteout. Barring all that, every effort will be to encourage the audience to reach deep into their wallets and donate to the Special Operations Warrior Foundation. Every tweet, Facebook post, blog vignette, picture, blank screen to fill, will be towards that goal. Every effort will be to take this adventure and twist it around to convince every reader to convert their appreciation, honor and thanks into a contribution to the SOWF.
As the trip leader, I’m not unduly afraid of the hazards listed above. Those, I know how to manage.
No, my fears are: we won’t get the photos/video we want, the weather will not cooperate (in this case, it won’t be bad enough; Keith is so strong and skilled, anything less would be too straightforward), we won’t get posts out, we’ll get in a wreck on the drive up there, visibility will be zero, we inadvertently delete a huge pile of video, etc."