Black Diamond Presents: The Human Factor, a five-part multi-media story that investigates the decisions skiers make in avalanche terrain. The Human Factor started on November 11th, and has released a new chapter on every Tuesday for the last five weeks. This weeks segment, Chapter 5, is the last installment of the five-part multi-media story and was released on December 9th.

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-Written by David Page

"BOTH AMIE ENGERBRETSON AND GARRETT GROVE became hyper-aware of the consequences of their decisions—after it was too late. Grove watched as the slab broke apart above him. Everything sped up until he went over the cliff and tumbled to a stop. At first, even with his skins on and his heel risers up, he managed to stay on his feet. The rational side of his brain was able to focus on trying to cut left, to fight his way out of the slide, to consider the height of the cliff he was about to be flushed over, and to catalog the ways he was likely to die or be injured.

The emotional side, meanwhile, began delving into the impact his death would have on his wife, Bridget, and on his family and close friends. He had time to feel again how heavily the 2012 tragedy at Stevens Pass had weighed on his home in Leavenworth, and the death of Dan Zimmerman on the southwest face of Mount Cashmere, and the death of Jake Merrill. How these losses had affected friends in so many of their daily decisions, how it had stripped the joy of skiing from so many people."

Read the rest of The Human Factor, Chapter 5: Tied To The Mast, on www.powder.com