07 Avalanche Avoidance
Ski Cutting
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 […]
Cornice Stomping
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 […]
Selective Stopping Spots
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 […]
Leapfrogging to Safety
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 […]
Faith Base Skinning
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 […]
Skiing During Wartime
The Wasatch Mountains have been getting some good storms lately and it has been dumping snow here all day. Yippy! I’ve had to plow out the driveway twice in eight hours, the wind is howling and the avalanche danger is on the rise. All of which means it is a good time to go skiing this […]
The Extended Column Test (ECT)
As much as anything, I love learning new snow stability test as I get bored doing the same old ones over and over. I use to do a lot of Reusch Block tests, but over the years they started getting smaller and smaller. Nowadays, I’m into digging a pit which is big enough to preform […]
Developing an Eye for Angles – Part 2
Part of the challenge of correctly identifying slope angles by eye is that they often look much steeper when viewed straight-on than they do from the side. (This is also a good photography trick – shooting straight-on, like from a helicopter or across a valley makes the slopes look lots steeper). A classic case of this is […]
Developing an Eye for Angles – Part 1
An experienced car mechanic can look at a nut or bolt from ten feet away and instantly tell you what size it is down to the 64th of an inch. It is not magic, but more a case of repetitive familiarity within a certain range. Cars tend to use bolts in the 1/4″ to 1″ […]
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) […]
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