Tips & Technique
Skin Set Up – Part One
I’m the first to admit that I’m anal-retentive when it comes to setting up my skins. Why? Because spending an hour or so in the beginning getting your skins just right means you never have to fool with them again and that they seldom fall off or fail in the field. I can’t remember the last […]
Deciphering the Avalanche Rose
The idea of an “avalanche rose” has been around for a while, but has been making its way into avalanche forecasts where it is one of my favorite quick-hit summaries of the current avalanche stability. The “rose” part come from the concept of a compass rose (north, south, east & west pointers with sub quads) […]
Self Retrieving Ski Anchor
I learned this sketchy rappel technique, where else, but in France, although in all fairness, it was a Swede who showed it to me. The idea is that with nothing more than a length of rope, you can set up a rappel in the middle of a snowfield, then after you’ve rappel, you can pull […]
Charting Automated Weather Station Data
When it comes to forecasting avalanche conditions, an important element is looking at the data and trends of the last 24 hours. For this, automated snow stations, as discussed yesterday, are great, but they present you with an snoot-full of data that can be hard to decipher. Instead, what I like to do is have Excel […]
BeaconReviews.com
I found out about BeaconReviews.com through an odd coincidence – the webmaster, Steve Achelis, is a mountain unicycle rider and was suppose to go out on a ride with us today, but couldn’t as he was reviewing beacons. I’ve never met Steve, but the website is excellent. I’ll probably get sued for saying this (like […]
Practice Saying Yes
The front of my refigerator is full of Fortune Cookie saying that have yet to come true. “You will enjoy financial success.” “You will spend your old age in comfort and material wealth.” Since these have yet to happen, they are still enjoyable if you append “in bed” to them, at least for a laugh. But, I […]
High Stakes Snow Anchors
When it comes to dedicated snow anchors, nothing beats the simplicity, strength and versatility of the classic Snow Stake, also known as a Picket, Snow Fluke or Snow Pig. They are the ultimate do-it-yourself piece of climbing equipment involving not much more than a length of angle aluminum, a drill, hacksaw and some beer. Placed […]
Ode to the Voile Strap
Duct tape doesn’t work very well for the cold, wet environs of ski mountaineering, but it hardly matters as there is something way better – Voile straps. In terms of classic designs, these are right up near the top and incredibly useful for almost anything, including holding your skis together. I prefer the Old Skool […]
Avalanche Beacons – My Personal Preference
Picking the right avalanche beacon is trickier than it may seem. I’ve used Pieps, Barryvox, Ortovox and BCA Trackers over the years and am not wedded to any particular brand, but instead look for the best beacon available at the time when I decide to upgrade. I hold onto my beacons for 2-4 years because […]
Pick Your Poison – Methods of Ascent (part II)
Learning to skin is like learning the alphabet-something you have to do before you start spelling words or linking tours together. It’s a lot like walking, but a bit different. Booting is walking, but unless you are on firm snow, your range will be severely limited as nothing saps your energy like post-holing in deep […]
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