StraightChuter.com - Backcountry Skiing & Beyond » 07 Avalanche Avoidance

My Most Valuable Piece of Avalanche Safety Gear

Andrew — Wed, 29 Dec 2010 11:00:25 +0000

Without a doubt, solid partners are the A-#1 best piece of avalanche gear out there. This doesn’t mean partners who can dig you out quickly, but more partners who are less likely to get you or themselves buried in the first place. Good partners come in all sorts of sizes, shapes, sexes, speeds and ability levels, and sometimes being an uber-rad skier is actually a detriment in a partner. I’ve been on two trips with partners who were very accomplished skiers, yet were livid that I wanted to ski low-angle terrain after waiting out multi-day storms with high winds. One of the better descriptions of an ideal partner came from a eulogy for a French skier whose friend described him as someone who “knew when to hit the gas, but also knew when to hit the brakes.” Last year in the Wasatch was a classic example of riding the brakes almost all season long – I went through two sets of brake pads and almost ruined my rotors because it was such a weird snowpack. The challenges came in finding fun, safe routes and exploring new terrain instead of skiing steep lines. There’s a time and place for almost everything.

Derek Weiss probably wishing he had deep, soft powder in the Cortex Couloir.

Contrary to logic, it is way easier to find partners willing to ski steep, exposed, scary terrain than the boring mellow stuff. I was reminded of this while reading Powder Magazine’s feature story on “The Return of the Extreme Skier” which said the newest thing is to ski extreme slopes in deep powder. A 6″ sluff on a 50 degree slope packs a big punch and can easily knock you off your edges. A 24″ fracture charging down a tight chute with a rappel at the bottom? Forget it. The underlying rationale is that steep lines in deep powder is the ultimate rush, which is true, but personally I’m very, very selective about when I do it.
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First Run Strategy

Andrew — Tue, 30 Nov 2010 12:00:14 +0000

Within any single backcountry ski run there usually exists multiple options for skiing more or less avalanche prone terrain. On the first run of the day, I’ve often formed an opinion on the snowpack by doing mini tests and making observations on the way up (as well as reading the UAC report in the morning), but until I’ve actually made a run, I like error on the conservative side whenever possible.

Here’s a photo of our first run of the day on Nov 27th.

The danger was rated “moderate” that day and we didn’t see any signs of instabilities on the way up, including stomping a few cornices. But, there was some obvious wind transport going on (see scoured slope to the right) and some fat wind-loaded pillows that didn’t respond to ski cutting. That center to right-side line looks pretty tasty, but I’d avoid it, especially for a first run.

Another thing I didn’t like about that rightside line was that it had rippley snow. This stuff is kind of spooky as it usually stays in place, but can often times pop loose as an isolated hardish soft slab and although it may not go far, in this case it could carry you into the trees.

Within this slope itself, I would divide it up into three zones – avoidance red, cautionary yellow and safer green.

The red slope has the deepest snow and the least escape options if the slope did fracture. The yellow area has perhaps less rocks, but then again, P-Tex is cheap, so that doesn’t matter that much. The green zone has much less wind loading, thinner snow (not always a good thing) and the option to deek left into the trees if the slope moves, or deek right into the yellow zone if it feels solid. (“Deeking” is Canadian for turning.)

For the first run of the day, I’d ski a green zone line with lots of ski cutting thrown in, stopping in safe spots a few times to see if there is any delayed reaction cracking or moving and keeping an eye out for islands of safety. If the first run feels good, I’ll spend the rest of the day skiing yellow zone terrain. Skiing red zone terrain is like kicking the hornets nest – you will eventually get stung and if it is almost the same experience as yellow zoning, why take the chance?

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Low Angle Circuits

Andrew — Wed, 03 Mar 2010 12:00:49 +0000

Due to the strange snowpack we have this year in the Wasatch, I’ve been skiing new, although not necessarily exciting, terrain. I have yet to dig a pit as almost every time I go out I’ve felt collapsing, seen natural slides, triggered avalanches with ski cuts or dropped cornices, and/or seen shooting cracks. Between that and reading the UAC report, it is obvious that the unusual storm patterns have created unusual avalanche conditions and it is best to be patient. People have been getting away with skiing some steep, north-facing lines (generally The Goods in the Wasatch), but I’m still leery of them.

Doc Brock rockin' the 25 degree Muff Mower.

Instead, I’ve been collecting some obscure crusty lines and piecing together long, low angle skiing circuits. At first this doesn’t seem like that much fun, but it is a perverse challenge to put together an 8,000′ tour that never gets over 30 degrees and doesn’t involve repetitive laps. More than anything, these tours are good to have in your repertoire for future high avalanche danger days. So far the skiing has always been better than expected and the snow quality itself is good, although shallow and sensitive.

Yawn. When life gives you dangerous, low angle conditions... go straight down them.

One of the keys to doing low angle tours is finding partners who are into it as well. Finding partners for steep, exposed, fall-to-your-death terrain is easy, but finding people who are patient and willing to slog can be tough. It is also hard to sleuth-out terrain in that coveted north-facing, mid elevation, moderate angle, sheltered realm that is new and therefore uncrowded. The South Face of Superior is big and obvious, but The Eyebrow, Slimy Ridge and Freebird Trees are carefully guarded secrets because they can only handle a few sets of tracks. Most of the time this type of skiing is just table scraps, but this season it has been the main course.

I am heading over to Beijing, China to present the “Golden Rhino Award for Best Climbing Spirit” on behalf of Mountain Hardwear and will be back on March 8th. Until then, pray for snow.

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Arches and Avalanches

Andrew — Wed, 03 Feb 2010 12:00:48 +0000

One of the cruelest avalanche tricks out there is the old “I was just minding my own business skinning up a nice valley when suddenly both sides collapsed thousands of feet above me and I was buried 20′ deep.” It is a mean spirited trick as the skier may be on flat ground far away from the starting zone, and to add insult to injury, it is often fatal. This particular type of avalanche is different from the “wrong place, wrong time” slide where a skier happens to be below a slope when it decides to cut loose, because in this case, the skier is actually triggering the slide remotely from hundreds/thousands of feet away.

From studying Architecture, this phenomena reminds of an architectural arch, where all of the compression forces are balanced and held in place by a keystone at the top. Exhibit A below:

A collapsing valley is basically the same thing, except the arch it turned upside down, and instead of carved stones, you have a cohesive slab of snow. When an unsuspecting skier walks along the base of the valley, he is essentially knocking out the keystone that holds the valley walls up, as illustrated below:

This type of avalanche is very difficult to accurately predict, but not that hard to avoid. If the snowpack has pronounced collapsing (like the Wasatch has had this season), it means that keystone is being punched out and it would be better to stick to the high ground. The chances of getting caught in a slide like this are about a million to one (unless you live in Colorado, where it is more like 50/50) and the best defense is to be forewarned.

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Belayed Ski Cuts

Andrew — Tue, 12 Jan 2010 12:00:32 +0000

At times when you want to do a ski cut, but there is no island of safety to ski to, a belayed ski cut comes in handy. Prime candidates for belayed ski cuts are narrow, steep couloirs with no hiding spots, or the opposite end of the spectrum, wide open faces.

For this type of ropework, simplicity and expediency is desirable as if you get too complex and time consuming, you might decide that it’s not worth going to the effort of pulling out the rope, and thus skip it. For this reason, I keep ski cutting belays as basic as possible – skip the harness and tie the rope directly around the cuttee’s waist, and then use a hip belay from above. Total ingredients – one rope and about 60 seconds.

Mark Holbrook doing a belayed ski cut on a day when he forgot his ski pants.

The idea with a belay is to help pull the skier off the slab when and if it breaks. Hopefully it will break either right at his feet, or just above him, so the pressures of arresting the skier will not be that great (compared to arresting a belayed rock climbing fall).

For almost any type of belayed skiing, a hip belay works well as it allows the belayer to pay out rope quickly and smoothly. My technique of choice is to not have the belayer tie-in, but instead to leave the end of the rope free, so that when the person is done with the ski cut and the rope is all paid out, the belayer lets go of the rope and the skier goes down with it trailing. This serves two purposes; first, it acts as an old school avalanche cord which may help if the skier is caught and buried in a slide, and second, once the first person gets to a safe spot, he can coil the rope while the next person skis down, so there is no wasted time.

Mark "Chuteski" Holbrook trailing a rope after a belayed ski cut.

For a general purpose belay/mini rappel/day ski touring rope, I use a 50-100′ length of 8mm accessory cord. It is not the strongest rope in the world, but it is compact, cheap and readily available. Bigger, beefier ropes are better, but if the bulk keeps you from carrying them, then what is the point?

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Ski Cutting

Andrew — Mon, 11 Jan 2010 12:00:03 +0000

Along with cornice stomping, I also do a lot of ski cuts before skiing a slope. Ski cuts are quite a bit dicier than cornice stomping as you have to actually get down on the slope and try to trigger a slide. Because of this, I am usually fairly confident that a slope won’t slide before I give it a ski cut, but do so anyways as a matter of habit. You never know.

If there is no “island of safety” to ski to, it might be better to find another slope rather than ski cut your way into the middle of an exposed slope and stop. Another critical element of ski cuts is to do them as aggressively as possible, like, really down-weight on the slope as you move over it. This is akin to bounce testing aid-climbing gear where the idea is to load it up as hard as possible so that if it is going to blow, you want it to go when you are expecting it, not as a surprise later on.

In the photo below, the “X” marks show where I’d really bounce on the slope. Notice on this slope I’d lose quite a bit of vertical with this ski cut (probably 100′ vertical feet), but it is important to both keep your speed up AND bounce as hard as possible, which means you are going to blow some vert in the process. The ridge at the end of the red line would form a so-so island of safe – not bad, but not great either. I’d prefer a cliff or rock to hide under.

Stopping and waiting for a few seconds after a ski cut is a good idea as sometimes slopes are slow to wake up and react. On a couple of occasions, I’ve cut a slope and when nothing happened, I rolled my first turn into the end of the cut, only to find that I’ve turned directly into a late blooming fracture. When this happens, you are heading the wrong direction and have lost your island of safety. Not so good.

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Cornice Stomping

Andrew — Tue, 05 Jan 2010 12:00:26 +0000

Stomping cornices is by far and away my favorite and most used snow stability assessment technique. Test slopes are a close second, but there is a lot to be learned from dropping a big fat ol’ cornice directly onto a loaded slope and seeing what happens. I like cornice stomping as it is something you can do on the fly as you are skinning along, plus it is perversely satisfying in a pyromania like of way. Cornholiomania perhaps.

If the slope below the cornice has little to no consequences, I’ll usually go right up to it and start stomping. I’ve taken a few rides, but if it is a mellow little slope, it is almost more like cow-tipping and the learning experience is well worth it. If the slope is more dangerous (longer, trees, terrain traps, etc), I’ll hold onto a partner’s poles or approach it more cautiously.

How a cornice first fractures tells you a lot about the snow. In the photo below, the long shooting cracks are a sign of a brittle snow structure (at least on the cornice) which to me means to look out for stiff soft slabs below.

One of the biggest cornice surprises I’ve ever had occurred at the crest of Wolverine Cirque on a morning when the wind was howling. We knew that the Cirque was going to be loaded and didn’t intend to ski it, but on the way over to take a look at it, a cornice the size of a semi-truck exploded right under my ski tips a good 20′ back from the edge. We turned tail and went down the windward side, which turned out to be almost as treacherous as the wind had packed in little pockets that kept ripping out magic-carpet style and sending us for rides.

Backcountry etiquette dictates that you are suppose to just break a few cornices and leave the rest for later, or another party. This can be easier said than done as stomping benders are hard to stop until you finally snap out of it in a “Whoa, dude, what did I just do?” moment half a mile later, as Sir Stompalot demonstrates in the photo below. Go dog go!

A few years ago I had a chance to go out with the Solitude Patrol on their morning rounds and it was interesting to see that cornice abatement was one of their main strategies. They’d start with stomping, then get into shoveling if need be, and if none of that worked, they’d break out the dynamite.
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Selective Stopping Spots

Andrew — Thu, 12 Mar 2009 12:00:45 +0000

One of the basics of avalanche avoidance and good backcountry travel protocol is to always stop below your partner(s), not above them. The reason for this is two-fold; one is that you might blow your last turn and take out your partners from above, and the other is that the weight of a stopping person may cause the slope to fracture, especially if it is already weighted by another person. If this happens, it often breaks right at the top person’s skis and then takes the lower person for a ride. I had this happen once and it was almost a slow-motion comedy. I had stopped, then my partner skied up behind me, came to a stop, the slope fractured at this edges and I started to get swept away, but not before I said “Thanks.” to which he said “Sorry.” It had a happy ending as I was able to grab onto a tree, but ever since then, I go out of my way to stop in places where my partners will have a hard time stopping above me.

It is a subtle difference (and kind of a bad photo to illustrate the point), but stopping position “A” is much better for the first person than stopping point “B” although both are about the same as far as being protected from an avalanche coming down from above. Position “A” is tucked right up underneath a rock, which doesn’t leave the second skier any other chance BUT to stop below you.

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Leapfrogging to Safety

Andrew — Wed, 11 Mar 2009 12:00:06 +0000

Whenever possible, I prefer to ski a couloir or avalanche exposed shot in leapfrogging segments. The idea is that one person skis, then tucks out in a safe spot and watches the other person, then they do the same. Ideally, the stopping points will be staggered so that you can see your partner at all times as they are coming towards you and going by.

Polly booting up a couloir in the Atlas Mountains, Morocco. The numbers illustrate the sequence of descent and are probably exaggerated for this particular couloir - it could be done with about half the stops.

This process keeps the ski descent moving along quickly (time is of the essence in avalanche terrain) and allows both people to have clean lines. Another benefit is that you are never very far removed from your partner should they get caught in a slide. Skiing an entire shot all at once is great for minimizing your exposure, but if the following partner gets caught in a slide that buries him/her halfway up the chute, being down at the bottom means a long, slow hike to get back up.

One of the keys to doing this style of skiing is to have the first person only ski a short half-shot to begin with, which then sets the team up for the rest of the descent. It may not be the most social way to ski, but it is safer and efficient. When you are done, you can always talk at the bottom.

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Faith Base Skinning

Andrew — Mon, 12 Jan 2009 12:00:37 +0000

While skinning up a steep, exposed slope today in a total white-out, it occurred to me that we were engaging in Faith Based Skinning. Faith Based Skinning (FBS) is when you feel nervous about a slope, but continue on anyway because, well, nothing bad has happened yet. This is not such a great idea. I consider snowpacks to be guilty until proven innocent and although I’m tempted to take shortcuts, it is surprising how many times I’ve avoided random avalanches by taking a safer route up, even if it was much longer.

: A large avalanche covering some Faith Based Skinning tracks. It appeared to be safe, but why not give it the benefit of doubt and go a bit wider?

A close cousin to Faith Base Skinning is Faith Based Skiing (also FBS). Faith Base Skiing often happens during periods of increasing stability when people (like me) are sick of skiing Geh Flat Powder and decide to ski a steeper line. This in itself isn’t so bad, but I try to ease into steeper skiing by nibbling around the edges of more protected terrain, rather than center-punching a slope based on nothing more than faith that it won’t slide.

: Faith Based Skiing gone awry. Why tempt fate with an exposed line when other options are available?

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