Behavior in Avalanche Terrain: An Exploratory Study of Illegal Snowmobiling in Norway
Snowmobilers make a grim and significant contribution to avalanche fatality statistics in Norway. However, there is limited knowledge on the behavior of this group in avalanche terrain and the factors influencing this behavior. Our study documents what snowmobilers do and not do in avalanche terrain...
Published in: | International Journal of Environmental Research and Public Health |
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Language: | English |
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Online Access: | https://hdl.handle.net/10037/27348 https://doi.org/10.3390/ijerph19106040 |
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ftunivtroemsoe:oai:munin.uit.no:10037/27348 2023-05-15T17:43:28+02:00 Behavior in Avalanche Terrain: An Exploratory Study of Illegal Snowmobiling in Norway Michaelsen, Bjørn Stewart-Patterson, Iain Rolland, Carsten Gade Hetland, Audun Engeset, Rune Verpe 2022-05-16 https://hdl.handle.net/10037/27348 https://doi.org/10.3390/ijerph19106040 eng eng MDPI International Journal of Environmental Research and Public Health (IJERPH) Michaelsen, Stewart-Patterson, Rolland, Hetland, Engeset. Behavior in Avalanche Terrain: An Exploratory Study of Illegal Snowmobiling in Norway. International Journal of Environmental Research and Public Health (IJERPH). 2022;19(10) FRIDAID 2046807 doi:10.3390/ijerph19106040 1661-7827 1660-4601 https://hdl.handle.net/10037/27348 Attribution 4.0 International (CC BY 4.0) openAccess Copyright 2022 The Author(s) https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0 CC-BY Journal article Tidsskriftartikkel Peer reviewed publishedVersion 2022 ftunivtroemsoe https://doi.org/10.3390/ijerph19106040 2022-11-17T00:01:31Z Snowmobilers make a grim and significant contribution to avalanche fatality statistics in Norway. However, there is limited knowledge on the behavior of this group in avalanche terrain and the factors influencing this behavior. Our study documents what snowmobilers do and not do in avalanche terrain, how their behavior relates to managing complex avalanche conditions and if there is a mismatch between avalanche competence, education and riding preferences. This ethnographic study observed snowmobiler tracks and thus avalanche terrain usage in Northern Norway during 2018 and 2019, supported by open-ended conversations with target group riders. Results show that high-marking lost popularity to technical riding, which seems to be perceived as safer despite increased exposure to complex avalanche terrain and conditions with persistent weak layers in the snowpack. The detected mismatch between preferences and avalanche knowledge/attitude will remain an obstacle to future accident prevention efforts unless behavioral changes are addressed. This study of a predominantly illegal activity sheds light on how to explore and observe hard-to-reach illegal activities and should be of interest to a wider audience from other research disciplines. Article in Journal/Newspaper Northern Norway University of Tromsø: Munin Open Research Archive Norway Grim ENVELOPE(-64.486,-64.486,-65.379,-65.379) International Journal of Environmental Research and Public Health 19 10 6040 |
institution |
Open Polar |
collection |
University of Tromsø: Munin Open Research Archive |
op_collection_id |
ftunivtroemsoe |
language |
English |
description |
Snowmobilers make a grim and significant contribution to avalanche fatality statistics in Norway. However, there is limited knowledge on the behavior of this group in avalanche terrain and the factors influencing this behavior. Our study documents what snowmobilers do and not do in avalanche terrain, how their behavior relates to managing complex avalanche conditions and if there is a mismatch between avalanche competence, education and riding preferences. This ethnographic study observed snowmobiler tracks and thus avalanche terrain usage in Northern Norway during 2018 and 2019, supported by open-ended conversations with target group riders. Results show that high-marking lost popularity to technical riding, which seems to be perceived as safer despite increased exposure to complex avalanche terrain and conditions with persistent weak layers in the snowpack. The detected mismatch between preferences and avalanche knowledge/attitude will remain an obstacle to future accident prevention efforts unless behavioral changes are addressed. This study of a predominantly illegal activity sheds light on how to explore and observe hard-to-reach illegal activities and should be of interest to a wider audience from other research disciplines. |
format |
Article in Journal/Newspaper |
author |
Michaelsen, Bjørn Stewart-Patterson, Iain Rolland, Carsten Gade Hetland, Audun Engeset, Rune Verpe |
spellingShingle |
Michaelsen, Bjørn Stewart-Patterson, Iain Rolland, Carsten Gade Hetland, Audun Engeset, Rune Verpe Behavior in Avalanche Terrain: An Exploratory Study of Illegal Snowmobiling in Norway |
author_facet |
Michaelsen, Bjørn Stewart-Patterson, Iain Rolland, Carsten Gade Hetland, Audun Engeset, Rune Verpe |
author_sort |
Michaelsen, Bjørn |
title |
Behavior in Avalanche Terrain: An Exploratory Study of Illegal Snowmobiling in Norway |
title_short |
Behavior in Avalanche Terrain: An Exploratory Study of Illegal Snowmobiling in Norway |
title_full |
Behavior in Avalanche Terrain: An Exploratory Study of Illegal Snowmobiling in Norway |
title_fullStr |
Behavior in Avalanche Terrain: An Exploratory Study of Illegal Snowmobiling in Norway |
title_full_unstemmed |
Behavior in Avalanche Terrain: An Exploratory Study of Illegal Snowmobiling in Norway |
title_sort |
behavior in avalanche terrain: an exploratory study of illegal snowmobiling in norway |
publisher |
MDPI |
publishDate |
2022 |
url |
https://hdl.handle.net/10037/27348 https://doi.org/10.3390/ijerph19106040 |
long_lat |
ENVELOPE(-64.486,-64.486,-65.379,-65.379) |
geographic |
Norway Grim |
geographic_facet |
Norway Grim |
genre |
Northern Norway |
genre_facet |
Northern Norway |
op_relation |
International Journal of Environmental Research and Public Health (IJERPH) Michaelsen, Stewart-Patterson, Rolland, Hetland, Engeset. Behavior in Avalanche Terrain: An Exploratory Study of Illegal Snowmobiling in Norway. International Journal of Environmental Research and Public Health (IJERPH). 2022;19(10) FRIDAID 2046807 doi:10.3390/ijerph19106040 1661-7827 1660-4601 https://hdl.handle.net/10037/27348 |
op_rights |
Attribution 4.0 International (CC BY 4.0) openAccess Copyright 2022 The Author(s) https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0 |
op_rightsnorm |
CC-BY |
op_doi |
https://doi.org/10.3390/ijerph19106040 |
container_title |
International Journal of Environmental Research and Public Health |
container_volume |
19 |
container_issue |
10 |
container_start_page |
6040 |
_version_ |
1766145551448932352 |