Item: HUMAN FACTOR SOLUTIONS FOR RECREATION IN AVALANCHE TERRAIN: DESIGN INPUTS FOR SKIERS AND SNOWBOARDERS
-
-
Title: HUMAN FACTOR SOLUTIONS FOR RECREATION IN AVALANCHE TERRAIN: DESIGN INPUTS FOR SKIERS AND SNOWBOARDERS
Proceedings: Proceedings, International Snow Science Workshop, Whistler, BC, Canada, 2026
Authors:
- Ian McCammon [ Salt Lake City, Utah, USA ]
- Sara Boilen [ Sweetgrass Psychological Services PLLC, Whitefish, Montana, USA ]
Date: 2026-09-28
Abstract: When avalanche accidents happen to parties under conditions they were trained to avoid, suspected causes are frequently gathered under the term human factors. But despite decades of emphasis in avalanche courses, so-called human factors remain a problematic topic to understand, teach and avoid. A companion paper argues that many human factors may be emergent phenomena where dynamic interactions among social, cognitive, and environmental factors combine to create critical risks that cannot be reliably anticipated from initial conditions. This paper reports on an exploratory mixed-methods product development study aimed at identifying key design inputs for a future field tool that helps backcountry skiers and snowboarders recognize and mitigate emergent risks in avalanche terrain. Interviews (n = 18) identified 268 unique pain points and struggles experienced around tours in the backcountry. These results were filtered for emergent factors and mapped to 12 capabilities reported in the empirical literature for high-risk, high-performance settings. A survey of backcountry skiers and snowboarders in the U.S. (n = 918) prioritized importance and satisfaction of desired outcomes and a latent class analysis identified four provisional response profiles and associated product delivery preferences. Design inputs include prioritized user-reported needs, candidate emergent risk management capabilities, provisional response profiles, and stated learning and field-tool preferences. Future work in this project will include prototype development, behavioral evaluation and effectiveness testing.
Object ID: ISSW2026_O8.4.pdf
DOI: https://doi.org/10.15788/1790098671
Language of Article: English
Presenter(s): Ian McCammon
Keywords: Human factors, Safety-II, mixed-methods, emergent risk, intervention design
Page Number(s): 1423 - 1430
-