"Experience is the hardest kind of teacher. It gives you the test first and the lesson afterward." — Oscar Wilde
"There are things you can’t control, so you’d better know how you’re going to react to them." — Laurence Gonzales Deep Survival: Who Lives, Who Dies, and Why
"While some accidents are a result of not recognizing potential hazard, most occur because the victims either underestimate the hazard or overestimate their ability to deal with it." — Jill Fredston and Doug Fesler Snow Sense: A Guide to Evaluating Snow Avalanche Hazard
"Our brain loves to not decide things. We love to default, or revert to the mean, or do what we know." — Sara Boilen Powder Magazine, "Your Heart and Brain Are Working Against You in Avalanche Terrain"
"Reaching the summit is optional. Getting down is mandatory." — Ed Viesturs
"When people are free to do as they please, they usually imitate each other." — Eric Hoffer
"When I’m by myself, I’m very cautious. Add a trusted partner, and I’m willing to go places I probably wouldn’t before. Add a group of six people and a couple of attractive females, and I’ll do just about anything." — Bruce Tremper via Jill Fredston Snowstruck: In the Grip of Avalanches
"Every day, each of us is an accident trying not to happen." — Dale Atkins via Jill Fredston Snowstruck: In the Grip of Avalanches
"We construct an expected world because we can’t handle the complexity of the present one, and then process the information that fits the expected world, and find reasons to exclude the information that might contradict it." — Charles Perrow Normal Accidents
"'Does anyone not feel good about this' not 'are we all good with this'" — Sara Boilen NSAW 2020, "Your Brain is a Double Agent"
"All to go, one to no." — Sara Boilen NSAW 2020, "Your Brain is a Double Agent"
"[A whiteout is] not just snow but snow in a tantrum, snow angry at being used for too many pretty winter scenes in postcards and poems, snow proving it can be mean and serious." — Julia Alvarez via Jill Fredston Snowstruck: In the Grip of Avalanches
"If he underestimated the hazard, he was also vulnerable to overestimating his ability to deal with it. In this context, as Gonzales writes, 'the word "experienced" often refers to someone who’s gotten away with doing the wrong thing more frequently than others.' We think of experience as a classroom, yet it can also be a prison." — Jill Fredston and Laurence Gonzales Snowstruck: In the Grip of Avalanches
"Automobile safety studies tell us that if we drive a mere two miles, we generally make four hundred observations and forty decisions. In the same stretch, we typically make one mistake—maybe we pull up too close to the car in front, or don’t stop fully at a stop sign, or forget to flick on the turn signal. Usually, the mistakes are inconsequential, and even if we notice them, they don’t seem to merit a moment’s reflection. If someone pulls out of a side road and cuts us off one morning, we tend to shake our fists and pretend that we would never be so 'stupid,' but most likely the day will come when we are in a hurry, or preoccupied, or exhausted, and we will do the same thing." — Jill Fredston Snowstruck: In the Grip of Avalanches
"With his ability came an unasked-for authority. He was looked to as a leader and often relied upon to make decisions about potential danger." — Jill Fredston Snowstruck: In the Grip of Avalanches
"[When discussing whether to report an avalanche] I wondered if I would be ridiculed for not knowing exact specifics, or for getting my terminology wrong. Maybe my line wasn’t rad enough. Maybe I was exposing a secret by including names of access and route lines. Maybe I was simply overreacting altogether." — Matt Hansen Powder Magazine, "Getting Beyond the Emotional Game of Reporting an Avalanche"
"All you want is a yes or no answer to the question 'Is the slope safe?' Columnist Anna Quindlen has written, 'We are a nation raised on True or False tests.' As far as you can tell, most avalanche questions are answered with 'It depends.'" — Anna Quindlen via Jill Fredston Snowstruck: In the Grip of Avalanches
"The more intensely we want something, the more reasons we will likely find that make it okay." — Jill Fredston Snowstruck: In the Grip of Avalanches
"What we see often has more to do with what we have seen in the past or what we hope or expect to see than it does with what is staring us in the face." — Jill Fredston Snowstruck: In the Grip of Avalanches
"To treat your facts with imagination is one thing, to imagine your facts is another." — John Burroughs
