When Steamboat Springs, Colo., snowmobiler Christian
George was airlifted out of the backcountry in January after being
lost for four days, he said he had survived with two cigarette
lighters and a candy bar. Next time, he told the Denver Post, he’ll
take more lighters. Jackson, Wyo., film producer Sava Malachowski
adds a few more items to the snowmobiler’s packing list in his new
video Rules of the Snow: a friend, for starters, and food, water,
snowshoes, a shovel and avalanche rescue gear. Malachowski, a
member of Jackson’s search and rescue team, says he made the video
in response to rising snowmobiling accidents in the Yellowstone
region. “The more I got out there, the more I saw people getting
hurt,” he says. “We started picking up bodies.” The film has
another message: “Stay out of the wilderness,” says Bridger-Teton
National Forest manager Richard Roberson. For a copy of Rules of
the Snow, contact SavaFilm, P.O. Box 836, Wilson, WY 83014
(307/739-2256).
This article appeared in the print edition of the magazine with the headline Playing by the rules.
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