Comments on: Selective Stopping Spots

By: justin

justin — Fri, 13 Mar 2009 23:06:49 +0000

Great article, love seeing people point out the little things you can do to increase the safety margin in the hills

By: Mark D.

Mark D. — Fri, 13 Mar 2009 21:31:31 +0000

As far as which direction to face, the IFGMA guides including Pelle, all explained that you want to face in towards the slope, with your tails up against the wall/rock. IMO it was better to have the client already in the best position if something happened, in lieu of hoping that they would respond appropriately, if they could even reposond.

The guides reasoning was that it placed you in a better stance to respond. If the snow grabbed your tails it would throw you backwards down the slope. Verses if the snow grabbed your tips and pointed you down the slope; you could fall on your back, you would be feet first, and in a better position to rollover and arrest (with your whippet).

By: Andrew

Andrew — Fri, 13 Mar 2009 03:57:32 +0000

Hi Mark – I’ve never thought about which way to face when you stop, but in general, I’d say face the direction where you feel you can move to a safe spot if an avalanche comes down. In some cases this might be further into the wall, in others you might need to move outward.

By: Mark D.

Mark D. — Fri, 13 Mar 2009 03:20:17 +0000

Andrew … you are on a roll here, great info! All of the guides that I’ve had in La Grave required us to always stop above them everywhere we went. Now that you’ve covered where to stop, how about a tip on which direction to face. I’ve always been told to face towards the slope and not towards the wall/rocks.

By: Darrell

Darrell — Thu, 12 Mar 2009 22:17:04 +0000

When I first started patrolling and doing avy work the old timers hammered into me three rules: One at a time, Always keep your partner in sight, and Never stop above your partner. Two others I’ve added to the mantra over the years are: Always have an escape plan, and move from safe zone to safe zone.
I’m glad these points are being brought up, hopefully the slackcountry crowd can hear them.

By: Charlie

Charlie — Thu, 12 Mar 2009 16:55:55 +0000

Useful advice. Thanks. Not stopping above your partner is an age-old commandment. The idea of attempting to guarantee that your partner can’t inadvertently hurt the team is an excellent one, and one I hadn’t heard before.

By: Kyle

Kyle — Thu, 12 Mar 2009 15:35:21 +0000

Excellent post; as more and more people step out of bounds at resorts, little things like this frequently get forgotten. It’s tempting to think of the slack as a secret powder stash instead of being uncontrolled. Do the little things right every time, and you will be about 1000x safer than if you don’t!