Freshies. So seductive.
Greed
Greed is an easy dragon to understand, especially on a powder day when the sun is shining. The statistical fact that more avalanche tragedies happen on sunny days with new snow underpins the concept of greed. The phrase, “There are no friends on a powder day” is funny, but illuminates the effect of greed.
Greed is the fear of “not enough”. We fear that we will not get our quota of powder turns as it compares to other groups. After a long period without any snow it becomes more likely that we may undermine our own ability to make rational decisions when there eventually is snow, making “going for it” easier, and escalating our tolerance for risk.
Our greed dragon also comes into play when we race ahead of other groups in order to get first tracks. Our focus on the “race” and fear of not getting our share of the untracked snow can erode good decision-making.
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