Author Archive for Andrew

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7 – Hedge Fund Skiing

Published on February 22, 2012 in 07 Avalanche Avoidance. 7 Comments

Part 7 of 10 in a series of personal avalanche avoidance theories.

After going on a financial disaster reading bender for the last three years, I started noticing a lot of similarities between investors and skiers:

  • Risk versus Reward
  • Smart people getting whacked
  • Dumb people getting lucky
  • Greed
  • Herd instinct
  • Competition
  • Tons of underlying information available.

Perhaps the biggest similarity is that both financial markets and snowpacks are too complex and too connected to ever be able to forecast them with 100% accuracy. There will always be “one-in-a-million” events in both. Where they do differ is in the end result of getting it wrong – instead of getting bailed out and emerging richer than ever, with avalanches you die. It’s quite unfair. Continue reading ’7 – Hedge Fund Skiing’

6 – Trust Your Instincts

Published on February 21, 2012 in 07 Avalanche Avoidance. 3 Comments Tags: .

Part 6 in 10 of my personal avalanche avoidance theories..

Deciding to ski an avalanche slope based on gut instincts alone is a bad habit to get into, but there is one occasion when you definitely should trust your avalanche instincts: when they are telling you NOT to do it. This is akin to Spiderman’s spidey senses which buzz when danger is imminent, but are more like avalanche senses. If it is a green light day, low danger, nice slope, etc., and something just doesn’t feel right, it is worth listening to. Continue reading ’6 – Trust Your Instincts’

Burning Pow

Published on February 19, 2012 in current conditions. 5 Comments

After a bunch of unmounting, binding shuffling, a few misdrilled holes (damn) and some gear swapping, I finally had a chance to take out my lightweight setup last Saturday. I could still shave a few ounces, or maybe even a pound, out of it, but the skis, boots, bindings and skins are currently weighing in at 12.5 lbs all told. The basic setup:

  • Scarpa Alien boots
  • Dynafit TLT Vertical bindings
  • 167cm K2 Backlite skis
  • K2 skins

I need to swap out the “heavy” Vertical bindings for a pair of titanium TLT’s I have, which will drop quite a bit of footweight off the system.  The Backlites are great for all around skiing (not a full-on race ski by any means) and are kind of a Wayback Lite. A cool thing about having a lightweight setup is that I can tour with an ABS Powder Line 5 airbag pack and not take a big weight penalty. Continue reading ‘Burning Pow’

Norway in May?

Published on February 17, 2012 in Trip Reports. 0 Comments

Ice Axe Expeditions is gearing up for two more ski & sail trip to Spitsbergen (Svalbard) off of the northwest coast of Norway this spring.  These trips will be similar to the inaugural voyages they put together last year and will feature skiing way above the Arctic Circle at almost 80 degrees north in one of the more unique and wild places on earth.  Each trip consists of a group of about eight people, including two guides, plus a crew to handle the boat and take care of all of the cooking, cleaning and anchoring. Continue reading ‘Norway in May?’

5 – Staying High with Athey

Published on February 17, 2012 in 07 Avalanche Avoidance. 5 Comments Tags: .

Part 5 in 10 of my personal avalanche avoidance theories…

If you’ve spent time skiing in the Wasatch Mountains, you’ve most likely crossed tracks with Bob Athey, aka The Wizard of the Wasatch. Bob has excellent snow science skills and observations, but more than that he is the grand master of avalanche avoidance through terrain management/route finding. After decades of skiing here, he not only knows every little ridge and pass, but he also knows how and when to connect them all up. Like rats supposedly being the only survivors of a nuclear war, when avalanche conditions are high or extreme, Bob is still out scurrying around in the mountains dodging the apocalypse. Continue reading ’5 – Staying High with Athey’

4 – Coombs on “Nibbling”

Published on February 16, 2012 in 07 Avalanche Avoidance. 1 Comment Tags: .

Part 4 of 10 of some of my personal favorite avalanche avoidance techniques.

The late, great Doug Coombs was well known for skiing bold lines, but he also had a lesser known strategy for avalanche avoidance. One day when we were talking about steep skiing and the importance of easing into a new area, he said “I’m a nibbler. I like to nibble around the edges first to get a feel for things.” Continue reading ’4 – Coombs on “Nibbling”’

3 – Dawson on “It Never Gets Better”

Published on February 15, 2012 in 07 Avalanche Avoidance. 0 Comments Tags: .

I triggered avalanches five out of five of my first backcountry trips to Colorado. One of the more insulting ones involved having a car-sized pocket of crusty snow pull out and dump me into the surrounding rocks. The mountainscape was more rocks than snow at the time and it didn’t even seem conceivable that snow could avalanche, but it did. Continue reading ’3 – Dawson on “It Never Gets Better”’

2 – Building a Quiver

Published on February 14, 2012 in 07 Avalanche Avoidance. 3 Comments

Part 2 in a 10 part series of personal avalanche avoidance theories…

Most skiers are familiar with the concept of owning a quiver, or variety of skis.  Quivers often include powder skis, rock skis, fatties, all-around, racing, resort, tele, twin tips, etc..  The idea is to have the correct ski for the ever changing conditions. Continue reading ’2 – Building a Quiver’

1 – Above Average Skiing

Published on February 13, 2012 in 07 Avalanche Avoidance. 3 Comments Tags: .

Part 1 in a 10 part series on some of my personal avalanche avoidance theories. These are not meant to replace avalanche classes and mostly fall under the “Human Factors” category.

Human triggered avalanches are far more likely to occur on a 38-40 degree slope than any other. The numbers drop off rapidly on both sides of this average, and at the ends of the spectrum, statistics show that a 50+ degree* slope has roughly the same odds of having a human triggered avalanche as as a 30 degree slope. For every 340 human triggered avalanches on 38-40 degree slopes, there are about 10 on slopes steeper than 50 degrees or less than 28. From a steep skier’s perspective, this seems too good to be true: just stick to the steeps and you’ll be fine. Continue reading ’1 – Above Average Skiing’

Launch Pads

Published on February 10, 2012 in 05 Uphill. 2 Comments

Ripping skins at the top of a climb is ideally done on a summit or flatish ridge, but it doesn’t always work out that way.  There are a lot of times where I end up stopping on a steep slope next to a cliff or in the middle of a steep pitch to change over from skins to booting or ‘poons, and in those cases, I like to dig what I call a “launch pad.”   In order of importance, launch pads serve three purposes:

  1. Provide a flat, secure spot to sort gear
  2. Dig a quick half-assed snow pit
  3. Stay warm Continue reading ‘Launch Pads’