Admittedly, the “who dies where and why” comment is a bit of a value judgment. I don’t think wild places should be reserved only for those who recreate responsibly (keeping themselves and other safe) but I do think it is the responsibility of each BC adventurer to be as safe as possible. It is frustrating that the safety line seems to segregate so cleanly between sledders and skiers (at least according to accident literature and avy class enrollment). But it is not fair to lump all sledders into the irresponsible pile.

More to the point, if you are riding a snowmachine, you are a snowmachiner – regardless of what else you are doing (skiing, hunting, checking traplines, etc.). A major issue in this discussion, at least in terms of land use, is what kind of wilderness we are talking about. No matter how you slice it, snowmachines have a greater impact on the wilderness characteristics of our wild places (they are loud, can access more remote terrain, pollute, scare animals, here in AK they mess up tundra, etc.). These are fungible qualities of the machines, not the riders (and it doesn’t matter how much Red Bull they drink). I think the value judgment is easy when you look at it that way – how much noise, wild life disruption and pollution will we tolerate in the hills? I say it shouldn’t be much. These are slippery slopes for sure, and there are major questions involved a person’s right to be in the wilderness but I think a very hard line can be drawn (and indeed has been) between motor/no motor – it just doesn’t seem that complicated.

Of course I know various age groups do both activities (categorizing was done to make a point) — my field observation is that the snowmobile skiers tend to be the younger set, while the anti snowmobile activists tend to be baby boomers. Just a generalization for sure.

So when I ride a snowmobile to access a backcountry ski area, am I a sledder or a skier? My point is that I’m both, and so are a lot of other people, and that when the two activities are mixed it becomes harder to make value judgments and segregate uses.

As for who dies where and why, what’s your point? That snowmobilers are inferior to backcountry skiers because more of them die in avalanches? Perhaps there are just more of them and they go bigger. Or too much Red Bull?