PhD project: What do people do and not do in avalanche terrain? Revealing real life decision – making preferences by using participant observation of ski touring
The overall PhD project uses Ethnographic methods like participant observation, informal interviews with core ski touring informants and prior tracks in the Alps and US, and illegal snowmobilers in Norway. The data was collected as openminded as possible over several years to reveal new theory regarding behavior and decision-making in Avalanche terrain. More real-life data is requested within the avalanche research community. This project aims at assisting avalanche education in the quest to reduce fatalities by detecting new and known cognitive shortcuts avalanche course participants are blind to see due to culturally rooted habits and tradition.