Theses and Dissertations at Montana State University (MSU)
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Item Travel behavior and decision-making biases of lift access backcountry skiers on Saddle Peak, Bridger Mountains, Montana, USA(Montana State University - Bozeman, College of Letters and Science, 2018) Sykes, John Massey; Chairperson, Graduate Committee: Jordy Hendrikx; Jordy Hendrikx, Jerry Johnson and Karl Birkeland were co-authors of the article, 'Travel behavior and decision-making biases of lift access backcountry skiers' submitted to the journal 'Applied geography' which is contained within this thesis.Backcountry skiers recreate in a complex environment, with the goal of minimizing the risk of avalanche hazard and maximizing recreational opportunities. Traditional backcountry outings start and end in uncontrolled backcountry settings, with responsibility for avalanche safety and rescue falling in the hands of each group of skiers. Lift access backcountry skiing (LABC) is a particular genre of the sport in which ski resort lifts are utilized to access backcountry recreation sites. By shifting skiers mentality from the traditional backcountry setting to a LABC setting, the line between whether the ski resort provides avalanche mitigation and rescue services or not, becomes less clearly defined in the minds of skiers. We observe the travel behavior and evaluate the decision-making biases of LABC skiers via GPS tracking and survey responses. Participants were recruited in the field, at the boundary between the relative safety of the ski resort and the uncontrolled backcountry terrain beyond. A geographic information system (GIS) is implemented to analyze the travel behavior of participants, with the aim to detect changes in behavior, as indexed via terrain used under different levels of avalanche hazard. Logistic regression and multiple linear regression are used to model travel behavior and decision-making biases as a function of observed terrain metrics. Data was collected over 19 days from February 2017 to February 2018 at Saddle Peak backcountry area, a prime LABC location at the southern boundary of Bridger Bowl Ski Area, Montana, USA. Avalanche hazard during data collection was either moderate (119 tracks) or considerable (20 tracks). Regression models indicate subtle changes in the terrain preferences of participants under elevated avalanche hazard, with increased travel on ridge features and decreased use of convex features. These indicate a positive response, minimizing the risk of an avalanche involvement by managing slope shape. Survey responses indicate that female participants and those with greater backcountry experience have a significantly lower percentage of their total GPS track in complex avalanche terrain as defined using the avalanche terrain exposure scale. Participants who perceived the ski patrol as providing avalanche mitigation in the backcountry area adjacent to the resort had a significantly higher percentage of GPS track in complex avalanche terrain.Item Using time lapse photography to document terrain preferences of backcountry skiers(Montana State University - Bozeman, College of Letters & Science, 2018) Saly, Diana Ilona Patricia; Chairperson, Graduate Committee: Jordy Hendrikx; Jordy Hendrikx, Karl W. Birkeland, Stuart Challender and Jerry Johnson were co-authors of the article, 'Using time lapse photograpy to document terrain preferences of backcountry skiers' submitted to the journal 'Journal of outdoor recreation and tourism' which is contained within this thesis.Avalanches are one of the greatest hazards for those recreating in snow covered mountainous terrain. In the past 20 years an average of 13 people in Canada and 27 people in the US are killed in avalanches each winter. Meanwhile, uncontrolled backcountry avalanche terrain use has significantly increased demonstrated by increased demand for avalanche education and increased sales in backcountry equipment. Lift-accessed backcountry (LABC), or avalanche terrain easily accessed from the ski resort, has seen increased usage since resorts opened boundaries in the mid-1990s. This has led to increased research interest in how people are using backcountry avalanche terrain. A simple method to reduce exposure to avalanche hazard is avoidance, however total avoidance is seldom practical. Professionals and recreational skiers alike mitigate avalanche hazard by managing exposure to terrain containing the avalanche hazard. Current research studies use GPS tracking to study the terrain metrics of backcountry skiers. This GPS research is limited to studying volunteers and professionals that willingly track and submit their trips. This approach ignores many users and thus presents a biased picture of use. This paper develops a method to capture the terrain metrics of all skiers on an avalanche-prone backcountry slope. A remote time-lapse camera focused on a high skier-use backcountry slope, (Saddle Peak, in the Bridger Mountain Range of southwest Montana, USA) captured skiers descending Saddle Peak in ten-second increments. Skier locations were digitized from the photos, then transformed onto a geo-referenced digital elevation model (DEM) such that terrain metrics could be applied to each skier location. Analysis of terrain metrics for each skier point compared slope, profile curvature (downslope), and plan curvature (cross slope) over days with different forecasted avalanche hazard. Terrain metrics on Considerable avalanche hazard days differed significantly from Moderate or Low avalanche hazard days (p-value < 0.001). Transformed data fell within a 49-m horizontal accuracy for all skier point locations with a 95% confidence interval. By capturing all skiers on a slope without their knowledge, the data collected provides a large and diverse data set of the terrain preferences of backcountry skiers under varying conditions.