Tag Archive for 'avalanche'

Avalanche Beacon Practice (part 2)

Published on November 7, 2012 by a ok.

Practicing using your avalanche beacon in the field usually su*ks.

Obviously, you’d rather be skiing in all that snow. That’s why you’re out in the powder covered mountains with ski gear, ski clothes, and partners in the first place. So there you are, shivering your way through a session, thinking that you should have worn a thicker layer or two for beacon practice day. ‘Practicing’ sure seems to involve a lot of standing around for those who aren’t actively learning to search. Even when your time comes, you walk and search kinda slowly and methodically. It doesn’t really warm you up.

Not only are you cold, but when it’s your turn to search, you’ve got to dig and claw through freezing snow. This only adds to the sense of discomfort. Meanwhile, you catch a glimpse of clear blue sky and wonder if you couldn’t put avy beacon practice day off until a “tomorrow” that never comes. But you’ve already done that a hundred times…

‘Yes, we have to do this,’ your silent, inner ski partner insists. As mentioned in part 1, beacon practice is essential to backcountry skiing survival. Because when that fateful avalanche moment arrives, you’ve got to know exactly what you’re doing, as if it’s happened before. As if you’ve trained for it.

But does avalanche beacon practice have to happen only in winter, in snow, in the freezing cold? I’ve wondered about that in a chilled state while practicing, on numerous occasions. This year, I decided to try out an idea. Dry land avalanche beacon practice. In sunshine. In moderate temperature, where a sense of being chilled wouldn’t affect our interest in participating. Where we wouldn’t go home after two rounds of search practice.

Can practice be conducted when there’s no snow on the ground? Throughout our day, I never spotted a beacon unless I’d first located it via its signal. Photo captured by J-Bo.

Idea in hand, I roped Continue reading ‘Avalanche Beacon Practice (part 2)’

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Beacon Practice (part 1)

Published on November 2, 2012 by a ok.

If you happen to live in a ski town, or even a city closely associated (and proximate) to skiing such as Salt Lake, Portland, or Denver, it’s often possible to find avalanche workshops. During these ‘skill tune-ups,’ salt-of-the-Earth types take extended minutes to delve into, and hopefully refresh, the audience on avalanche knowledge they’ve already learned in Avy 101. (If you haven’t earned at least Level 1 avalanche certification, you’re not doing yourself or your backcountry snow partners any favors. Get on it!)

SLC. Home to many avalanche workshops. One of the bonuses of having a city located right next to the mountains.

Level 1 avalanche certification and workshops aside, there’s little better way to become skilled in transceiver use than to actually head out to the field and get some time in with beacon practice. Like many things, from investing to surgery to bungee jumping, learning is one thing. Doing it for yourself the first time? It takes a real leap of faith.

Not a blind leap, mind you. A leap of faith in oneself; that faith built up by previous learning experiences. Yeah, I might jump out of an airplane with a parachute without the slightest bit of instruction, but only if the plane were going down with zero chance of the pilot saving the day, or if someone had a gun to my head. Otherwise, I’d go with Continue reading ‘Beacon Practice (part 1)’

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One of the Worst Ski Days of My Life

Published on April 17, 2012 by a ok.

It’s difficult to nail down my exact worst day of skiing. Short of a full burial by avalanche, every other episode probably pales in comparison. I say probably because that’s what I’ve heard from survivors.

Anyway, it had to happen sooner or later.. Perhaps it’s fitting that shortly after my best pow day of the season, I treated myself to one of the worst ski days of my life. After all, the idea fits the theme of this season perfectly: best year ever last season, worst year ever this season. Why wouldn’t my life resemble Mother Nature and her manic ways?

Much of the day, this was as good as it got. Is that an overhanging cornice? Underhanging? Is there a difference between ground and sky? Are you certain?

I’ve had days like this before, but as far as I can remember, this one provided just that little extra tickle to the funny bone, assuring that it wouldn’t be classified as just an ordinary off-kilter day. In my view, days like this are largely about sheer Continue reading ‘One of the Worst Ski Days of My Life’

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Denied

Published on April 13, 2012 by a ok.

Aiming for something fun and interesting to ski, Swain and I ended up retreating in the face of unstable snow – widespread cracking on a large slope – and simply skied low angle powder in the vicinity of both Red Baldy and Patsy Marley. I think we spent more time pushing our way out through deep snow than actually making turns. Did I mention that the warm snow stuck to our skins mercilessly on the up, despite the addition of skin wax? Right around 9,000 feet, there was a  noticeable change in the snow consistency, switching from a heavy, cream cheese consistency to light Utah finery. Didn’t matter, both types stuck to our skins. It was a thrill a minute.

Jon gets more skin wax happening.

Fortunately, we received compensation both for being denied, as well as having to push our way downhill. On our final run to the car, we were both treated to full-on face slushies as Continue reading ‘Denied’

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Colossal Inbounds Avalanche Knocks Down Chairlift

Published on March 5, 2012 by a ok.

All winter long, it’s been Europe, Europe, Europe (read, France) getting all the snow. Unfortunately, when a huge snowpack chooses to come down, it comes down in a big way. This video, shot at St Francois-Longchamp, France, is from Friday, March 2nd. It shows an avalanche colliding with an operating chairlift, knocking down several lift towers. You don’t see that every day.

Inbounds avalanche knocks down chairlift

Looks like those riding the chairlift were rescued successfully. Found some video of the resultant rescue efforts. I’ve watched practice rescues of this sort at American ski areas; they seem pretty straightforward..

Chairlift rescue

 

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Avalanche Shovel Dynamics

Published on February 23, 2012 by a ok.

Ah, the humble avalanche shovel. Probably the most boring, least interesting piece of gear involved in ski mountaineering. Virtually everyone carries one, but does anyone ever think about these tools? I think most people buy one, toss it in their backpack because it’s required avalanche rescue equipment, and forget about it for the most part. Today is as good a time as any to re-evaluate that single piece of gear.

A good shovel design – the shaft is kept inside the blade sleeve, eliminating fumbling.

Efficiently cruising about in the mountains on skis involves more than simply utilizing the lightest gear. Light gear is important, but perhaps more so is the design of that gear.

Avalanche shovels offer up Continue reading ‘Avalanche Shovel Dynamics’

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