Reviewing the News w/ Cody Townsend, February 2026 (Ep.395)

5 comments on “Reviewing the News w/ Cody Townsend, February 2026 (Ep.395)”

1. My (season rental) cabin is in Soda Springs about 2 miles from the site of the Castle Peak avalanche, though about 1000 feet lower. I was up here until ~12 hours before the slide (got out just before everything shut down) and my kids are in programs at the same mountain as the parents who were killed. Like Cody and Jonathan I don’t know anybody involved firsthand but I do know people who do. Needless to say the community is shattered right now. My reaction is pretty darned close to Jonathan’s at 49:00.

   Jonathan is correct that none of the individuals in this group were newbies. I don’t think that the “Academy moms” were particularly knowledgable about avalanche safety, but they had done these trips many times before.

   I agree 100% with Cody about the group’s decision to go out to the huts when they did, and I would have done the same. The Frog Lake huts are a very hard reservation to get, and Blackbird guides has an unconditional 60-day no-refunds policy. Storms that are forecast to be “huge” regularly fizzle out, and vice-versa. As Cody says the things to question are why they didn’t stay put or take the safer-but-longer route out. Under similar circumstances I would like to think that I would have just dug in and stayed put for an extra day. I’ve been pinned down for a couple days in a storm before (in a floorless Megamid that we had carried as an emergency shelter), and it was unpleasant, but I was alive at the end.

   It’s important to emphasize how uncommon that sliding layer that had developed just before the storm was by Tahoe standards. Snow that had fallen several days before had transformed on some aspects and at higher altitudes to a sugary layer more similar to what you would expect in a Continental snowpack like Colorado’s, with high potential for propagation collapse (“whoomph”) and remote triggering. Probably worth noting that it appears but isn’t confirmed that the party remotely triggered the slope above them.

   Folks from Tahoe who relied on their “local experience” might have badly misjudged the risk, and I’ve heard several locals with decades of experience remark that they would have thought that route back from Frog Lakes was a go in a storm like this. I looked closely at that layer myself earlier on Monday, and thought it was exceptional and far enough outside of my personal experience that I wouldn’t even attempt to judge the risk.

   Like Cody I’m shocked that an operation as strong and reputable as Blackbird could have made that mistake, though. They were all AMGA qualified and AIAIRE instructors who educated and experienced with the full range of potential conditions, not just what usually happens in Tahoe. They actually posted an Instagram video on Monday correctly highlighting the presence and uncommon (for Tahoe) nature of that layer.

   I can’t help but wonder if there was commercial pressure to get the guides back out so that they could meet the next group of clients on time, leading to deviance from best safety practices. I know this is a bad time to be assigning blame, but we also ultimately need to understand how human cognitive biases play into tragedies like this and how to correct for those going forward.

2. A couple legal points. Cody, I am not sure where you obtained your medical/mountain rescue training but in California you do not have a legal duty to rescue/aid strangers. This lack of duty applies even to people with special training like doctors, firefighters, EMTs etc. If you do not have a preexisting duty of care to the victim, you have no duty to render aid as a bystander. This is not the case in all jurisdictions, some states require people to give aid in some situations.

   If you do decide to render aid in California, you are actually legally shielded from most ordinary liability. You can only be found liable if you act with gross negligence or wanton disregard. There is a separate provision that gives even stronger immunity to doctors and first responders. These laws were enacted specifically to encourage good Samaritans.

   Criminal negligence in California is a significantly higher standard. To be found liable for homicide, you have to act “in a way so different from the way an ordinarily careful person would act in the same situation that his or her act amounts to disregard for human life or indifference to the consequences of that act.” There is a slightly lower standard for drunk driving that causes death.

   With regards to the case in Austria. I do not know the law that the defendant was found guilty under. But some of the facts of that case are very disturbing. Declining the helicopter rescue in particular could meet the standard of “indifference to human life” if the defendant were aware his girlfriend was in need of aid. Depending on her condition at the time the defendant turned away the rescue, it could meet the higher definition of intent to kill.

3. After Tahoe, I switched from Gaia to OnX (moving 750+ tracks) based on OnX having an alpha angle-like layer feature. Alpha angle estimating is tough , especially in trees and a blizzard. But really surprised the guides didn’t have people well lower in that mini valley. Maybe a creek boxed em in? But I’d think the company would have maps with a high avy risk runout line to stay below.
   You can only get avalanched by snow at or above you, and with sufficient gravity (ie slope angle).
   So tragic. I feel for the whole community.
   On Austria, I like the precedent. Leading a MUCH less experienced and prepared person up a big mtn in weather at night is criminally negligent and I hope word gets out!

   • A lot of locals up here have remarked that that specific slope doesn’t slide very often, so it might not be rendered as a “high avy risk” runout. The conditions that day included an uncommonly (for Tahoe) low-friction sugary weak layer, that probably made the maximum safe alpha angle lower than it usually is (for Tahoe).

4. And If I Had Legs… movie is absolutely brutal. Watched with my wife (a mom). Ooof. It was well done. But I think my life would’ve been slightly better if I hadn’t watched.