High Country News: Can human judgment handle avalanches?

“Ian McCammon, a former National Outdoor Leadership School instructor with a Ph.D. in mechanical engineering, knew from contemporary research that human beings synthesize patterns and devise simple rules of thumb, also known as mental shortcuts or heuristics, in order to make numerous decisions quickly. In the early 2000s, McCammon analyzed 715 recreational avalanche fatalities in the United States between 1972 and 2003, identifying six common heuristic traps.”

Read more here.