The whippet

Wild life

2011-10-13T12:20:00.000-07:00

No, it’s not what you think; this is actually about animals, of the type you find in nature… I was up in the Massif des Bornes close to the Larrieux hut which recently closed for the season. This the kind of place that has almost no traffic in high season so now it’s absolutely deserted, if you're up there you’re probably the only one on the mountain. What’s good about this is that you end up seeing some wildlife especially since Skadi finally knows how to go into stealth mode instead of chasing them all away before I make it around the corner. So here are a few pictures of what I saw today (click to enlarge).

Small heard of Chamois (more on those below)

This is the Alpine Ibex (Capra ibex) or in french Bouquetin des Alpes. This is the fattest they get, through the winter they will loose up to half their weight so if they aren't overweight now they won't make it through the winter.

Same guy wondering why all the pictures?

This is the Chamois. They are goat-antelopes that are very common in the Alps but in a lot of other European ranges as well including the Balkans, the Carpathians and the Caucasus. These guys too overeat before they more or less stop for the winter.

A nice wiew of la Tournette from "behind" as in not from the lake of Annecy.

La Crête des Grands Oct. 6 -2011

2011-10-08T00:50:00.000-07:00

Went back to le Tour for a hike this time past Albert 1er hut (see the “Refuge Albert 1er” post on 9/25) and onwards an upwards to Crête des Grands (10,148). This is a 6,000 feet hike with a heinous last 2.000 feet in interminable steep and unstable rock fields. There is absolutely no trail and just for the fun of it, every once in a while the sub ridge will take you to some spectacular cliff out just so you have to down climb back and start over till you get a rout that actually works. By the time you’re on top and if you miss enough times first, like I did, then you’re wiped out just in time for a never ending 6,000 feet down. I did this one on this day because it was the last day in a closing weather window that would probably push this back, at least as a solo job, till next year. It worked out remarkably well as I had sun till noon (time I summitted). Then the clouds started moving in as I was going back down, and by the time I got gas in Chamonix it started raining (snowing on top)! I was expecting that to start the next day not within 30 min. of me being back, so sometimes the weather forecasting does work out pretty darn well.
Here are the pictures (click to enlarge).

On the way up towards glacier du Tour

You think they saw me?

It is getting good now...

From the top: View into Switzerland (see Matterhorn far left)

From the top: View of the lake d'Emosson

On the way back: Albert 1er with the glacier for backdrop

Company for lunch at the hut (he/she is tagged)

Glacier and Aiguille du Tour on the way back

Le Montevers Oct. 4 - 2011

2011-10-07T01:46:00.000-07:00

Le Montevers is best translated into the back of the mount which of course fits here since we are on the “backside” of Mont Blanc overlooking the largest glacier in the massif: “La Mer de Glace”. We hiked from the village of “Les Bois” in the valley to Montevers and then onto the “Signal Forbes” from which the view spans from Mont Blanc – Chamonix - Mer de Glace.

Here are the pictures (click to enlarge).

The Montevers cog train that comes in from
Chamonix, and no, we did NOT take the train up...

More infrastructure - the hotel opposite the
train stop and overlooking the glacier.

The glacier himself...

Aiguille du Dru (12,313)

Rock avalanche!

2011-09-27T03:22:00.000-07:00

On Saturday the 10th of September, as we were hiking up towards the Aiguilles Rouges a big bang that turned into an impressive roar could be heard coming from the other side of the valley. What was at first a small cloud emerging from les Drus (12,313), grew to an amazing amount of debris, dust and ice. This rock fall was "the end" of a larger one that happened in 2005 I guess six years is six seconds in geological time... In 2005 the Bonatti (an extremely competent italian alpinist) couloir came tumblig down.
The white arrows show the scar that is still visible from that cartastrophic event. The red arrow shows "the rest" that fell down on Saturday:

The 2005 event was the largest rock fall yet observed in Chamonix. I am told that in 2005 you could feel the ground shake from Geneva to Italy. The on we wittnessed on Saturday was the biggest since 2005 with 12,000 m3 of granit crashing down

here is how the cloud grew after the first impact seen above:

...and now it gets outright serious:

Here are the "unavoidables". Aiguille du Midi:

...and the Mt Blanc:

The “Refuge Albert 1er”

2011-09-25T14:10:00.000-07:00

Was back up to Cham yesterday morning, started from “Le Tour”; that’s way up the valley, your almost in Switzerland now. The hut (refuge in French) is named after Albert the first who was this swell king of Belgium. He was an avid mountaineer with a penchant for Cham and he was no fake either, he undertook some significant climbs in the Mt Blanc massif and elsewhere. In fact he was so real about his climbing that he died of it in 1934 while climbing in the Belgian Ardennes but not before he had taken out time to deed the hut to the Chamonix CAF (Club Alpin Français). Ever since then we have enjoyed this very strategically located hut and a good thought for good old Albert. This is one of 128 huts that the club maintains in France, of which I think about 30 are in or around Cham.

I went up the moraine following the “glacier du tour” and ended up a bit above the “Refuge d’Albert 1er. This hike is a bit over 5,000 feet with some climbing moves in its early part in pretty exposed terrain. Going up the moraine means a shorter but steeper hike so this is a demanding 5,000 feet and your pretty bushed when it’s all over. I made it a loop and went down through the ski resort but although a lot flatter, that turned out to add a ridiculous amount of miles to the visit. However as you can see in the pictures below, you do end up in a spectacular environment (click to enlarge).

Looking back and down at "Le Tour"

Water running off the Glacier du Tour

Lower Glacier du Tour

Nature's way of creating art...

Albert 1er within reach...

Aiguille du Chardonnet 12,542 (3824m)

Albert 1er the winter hut, this one is unmanned but you are wellcome
anytime in winter (there is even bedding ready for you in there).

Aiguille Verte 13,520 (3824m)

Virgin flight September 9, 2011

2011-09-20T10:03:00.000-07:00

Annecy being the home of the parasail (we call it parapente in this neck of the woods) and all, I figured that since my buddy Aurélien offered me to try out the feel I better take him up on the offer before he changes his mind…
We (he) decided that for additional interest we’d pick a line that he pioneered a couple of years ago. In 2009 he took off from the Crète des Tervelles; one because people said it couldn’t be done (no landing zone) and two, because it hadn’t ever been done. This is one line he got to open. I did ask him how he figured out the landing and he told me “Google earth”. OK, how? He just scanned the bottom of that valley till he found a field he felt was good enough for landing, went over to check it out, and declared it safe! Know that this field is just a bit over a couple of hundred meters (think yards more or less) minus the 20,000 volt power line that cuts it in half, the telephone line that follows the road not to mention the tree line. Once you’re done minusing it all you’re not left with a heck of lot square footage. Hence “everybody’s” assertion that it can’t be done. Anyhow not wanting to be the one whining about minor details like landing spots, I told him I could see his logic although I have to say that it takes a fair amount of squinting…
We got off a 6:30 am on the 9th, drove the 30 or so min. to the “hidden valley” and started the 3,500 or so feet hike up with equipment and all. We were up by 10:30 and messed with the sail and the winds almost for an hour before it was a go. Here are the pictures (click to enlarge):

For the scenery: Mt Blanc in the distance

Spread your wings

Ready or not...

Take off spot

Hanging by a thread (OK a few)

My favorite hiking boots

Room with a view

In our own shadow...

The landing strip

After "licking" the power line; land after it but before
the house... My car to the right on the ready.

On solid footing...

Max’s first GS in the Alps!

2011-01-25T03:50:00.000-08:00

After the move that kept us busy into the fall Max had been falling behind his team mates here in Annecy. By the time he got to start training on snow, his buddies already had 20 days of gate training on the glacier in Tignes… In any case, he got on with his first GS in the Alps at La Cusaz. How did it go? Well, he didn’t get slaughtered, he ended up 29^th out of 131. Below are the pictures and for those of you who wonder what nation the lime green race suit represents? But Slovenia of course, really goes without saying...

Illustrating the danger

2010-12-27T08:50:00.000-08:00

François Louchet of the “Laboratoire de Glaciologie et de Géophysique de l’Environnement, Université Joseph Fourier Grenoble/CNRS” (CNRS is the French equivalent to the US National Research Council) and Alain Duclos (Avalanche expert and consultant as well as founder of the data-avalanche.org site) have done a lot of research on avalanche dynamics and published extensively in this field. What I particularily like about their work is the constant effort to link the fundamental research to actionable data i.e. making sure that the knowledge translates into meaningful recommendations for actions on the field. All too often I feel we get bombarded with “avalanche science” that leaves us wondering how this knowledge makes us any safer. It doesn’t help that the knowledge presented sometimes leads to conflicting conclusions with the prior “knowledge”… In any case the article here describes slab release (avy) as a four stage process:

1. Skier’s weight ‘breaks” the weak layer and thereby disrupts an unstable balance
2. Break propagates now under the slabs weight (up and down)
3. A localized crown crack occurs
4. Crown crack propagates (left and right)

An interesting fact to remember is that these four conditions are all necessary for the release of an avalanche i.e. if any one of these factors is missing there is no avalanche no matter how “bad” or unstable the conditions. This is of real interest for two reasons:

It focuses the skier’s attention on what really matters.
It helps us take nearby slopes really seriously, not only the one we are on.

Click here to access the article by François Louchet and Alain Duclos as well as the animations I made to (hopefully) illustrate and therefore facilitate the understanding of this four step process.

If you only want to access part of above, here are the links to the individual items :
The article
Animation of 4-step process
Animation of avalanche on flat
Data-Avalanche

At long last

2010-12-12T08:57:00.000-08:00

After six articles about avy air bags on this very blog in 2009 + an avalanche + the broken leg that followed, I finally did it! I actually bought an avalanche airbag.

On Friday afternoon Jana drove me to Chamonix where I was going to the mother of all stores: Snell Sports on rue du Dr Paccard (kinda Main Street Cham). This place is incredible, it is large (three stories) and carries some of the coolest mountaineering stuff, including some you never heard of. I have so far never had enough time in there; I always had to leave before I felt “I was done”. Not only is it a wonderful place, the sales people in there are actual, real life experts on this stuff. Just the place for me to go to for a mission critical purchase.

After my series of articles (see the links at the bottom of this post), I was still uncertain as to which one to buy. There was the, by far, cheapest BCA that looked good although VERY new, it was not even on the market at the time I wrote the articles, and then there are the two leaders: ABS Systems and Snowpulse. I had decided I was not going to buy the BCA as it still is unproven and I could not find a single independent test on it. So I was left with ABS Systems and Snowpulse. ABS (the inventor of this product and creator of this market) is on the market since 1985 while Snowpulse has just a three years history on the market. There is a wealth of test data done using the ABS (showing a 98%+ survivability) and a lot of documented cases of avalanche survivals in the Alps using this bag. By force there is a lot less on the Snowpulse. However Snowpulse has some features that are appealing so I did not want to rule them out. After a lot of research I wrote down on a piece of paper:

- 170 litre volume – ABS System
- Remote release – ABS System
- “Head on Top Technology” – Snowpulse
- Additional testing? – Snowpulse

I had isolated these four last factors, all exclusively taking into account safety features or aspects, while consciously deciding to forget all differentiators that did not directly relate to The Mission i.e. keeping me alive! The first factor reflects the volume advantage that the ABS bags have over Snowpulse whose bag inflates to 150 l which is the European norm min. requirement (volume IS a crucial element here, I just needed to figure out how relevant a 20 l delta was). The second one is a feature that could be important and that only ABS has and that enables your ski buddy to remotely release your bags would he see you go down. Head on Top Technology (H.O.T.) by Snowpulse is the very high and wrap around shape that their bag has. It is supposed to keep your head higher than the ABS and also protected from trauma as it wraps around your head. Finally I was curious to find out if there was any additional third party testing that had been done on the Snowpulse that I would not have known about.
With this level of indecision I naturally went to Snell. There the in-house expert spent a solid hour going through design, construction, craftsmanship, research etc. The answers to my queries above?

- 20 litres matters especially if the bags don’t fully deploy. It has happened that they deployed to 85 – 90% due to extremes in temperature or obstruction in the bag or poorly folded bags from a prior use etc. 85 – 90% of 170 l is 145 – 153 l (85 – 90% of 150 l is 128 – 135 l i.e. a bit away from the norm).

- Remote release was deemed a marginal item because there is plenty of time to release early on when you find out that you are in an avalanche. I still like it a lot.

- Head on Top Technology can even be deemed a detriment as it does not keep your field of vision open neither your arms free enough for all-out swimming. Assuming you wear a helmet (which I am not so very good at) the advantage is just not there but the detriments are too sizeable to overlook.

- Additional research, other than that presented in my articles last year? Nonexistent. This was very important to me as virtually all the data and successes of these products then belong to ABS System.

One additional and important differentiator was pointed out to me: ABS has two bags (knew that) inflated by two separate valves (did not know that) which means that would something go wrong it still remains very unlikely that the ABS system would ever completely fail.

As you probably figured out by now, I bought the ABS System. I believe that in December 2010 it is the only alternative that is documented and known to work well, now and for the duration, with a 98+ success rate. It is possible that a few years from now, as more research and data comes to light, either or both BCA’s Float30 and Snowpulse’s bags will come out on top but that day is not today.
So, how does this work? Here is what you get (click to enlarge):

Bottom right is the “Base Unit” (the safety part) that is where the bags, the release mechanism and the valves etc are. To the left is the backpack that you zipper on to the Base Unit. Upper right hand corner (in the cardboard box) is the cartridge and the release handle (these are replaced after every inflation). Finally you get a bunch of (good) documentation including a very exhaustive DVD (top middle).

The consumables are the cartridge and the release handle:

I got to test one in store on my bag to make sure it all works and that I know how to release it. The replacement cost of this set is 89 euros (about $115 or so). ABS recommends you blow one of these per season although snell told me every 3 - 4 years should be fine provided the bag is stored in a clean, safe and rodent free spot... One end of the release handle has a red dot the other end tells you fabrication date and expiery date, mine says 2010 and 2014 respectively.

The cartridge has to be screwed into the top of the base unit and can stay there for the season:

Here you can see where the airbag comes out of (for an inflated view go to the very first image above or to the respective articles):

When folding the bags back in, I was told that the "accordeon" fold (as opposed to say a roll) is "preferable". I remeber from my sky diving days that the accordeon fold is pretty much the only fold and that will be my one and only method here...

The backpack comes with shovel and probe storage, A-Frame ski straps, ice axe strap etc. I picked the 30 l bag but can adapt any size from 15 l to 50 l plus compatible packs from Millet, Arva and soon Deuter. I had pretty low expectations on the bag but found out that it is a very good quality bag well designed for AT touring and/or ski alpinism. This is what the back pack looks like without the helmet pocket:

...and with the helmet pocket on:

Here is a sequence that shows how you attach the back pack to the base unit:

On the purely nice to have here a few things I liked or appreciated. First a very small thing but I found the exact same wistle as I have on my 30 l Black Diamond (1), I use it to call Skadi back when it is really windy. Second I like that it is hydration pack ready (2) and finally I like the heavy duty buckle system that seem to be a cross between an alpine harness buckle and a vintage airlplane buckle (3):

So, how much did I pay for this bewinged backpack? 699.00 euros for the base including cartridge and release handle plus 99 euros for the 30 l backpack i.e. a total of 798 euros (about $1,050 - $1,100 incl. taxes). The full product name for this bag is the "ABS Vario 30". I hope that anyone who reads this won't have to wait to get caught in an avy before going to the store. The chance to make it through the avy and to the store is just about 50% without it and a bit north of 98% with it...

The prior posts on avy bags are here:

How it works: http://the-whippet.blogspot.com/2009/10/avalanche-pack-how-it-works.html
Overview: http://the-whippet.blogspot.com/2009/10/inflatable-avalanche-pack.html
ABS System: http://the-whippet.blogspot.com/2009/10/avalanche-pack-face-off-1-of-3.html
Snowpulse: http://the-whippet.blogspot.com/2009/10/avalanche-pack-face-off-2-of-3.html
BCA Float30: http://the-whippet.blogspot.com/2009/10/avalanche-pack-face-off-bca-float-30-3.html
Conclusion: http://the-whippet.blogspot.com/2009/10/avalanche-pack-face-off-conclusion.html

The Great White Tumbler

2010-12-03T03:51:00.000-08:00

Pre Season Tour

Last Sunday I was “pre-season” touring at the Combe du Grand Cret in the Aravis mountain range with my ski buddy Skadi (my dog). This was supposed to be one of those solo conditioning tours getting fit and ready for the thick of the season to come. This was also my very first tour in the Aravis range and I was excited to get to explore this touring rich area. Up until now I had only been focusing on the Mt Blanc range around Chamonix with its, so far, very sparse snow cover making you almost wish for an avalanche risk of some sort which would imply some level of snow cover. The only avy report available was one for our entire area that dated from the 25th (three days old by the time of my tour) that said “moderate” avalanche risk. In any case I get myself to La Clusaz, the closest resort and I park at the furthermost parking lot.

The Up Track
I start skinning at 4,700 feet aiming for Tête Pelouse at 8,320 feet. The first thing I noticed, is that this thing was in its first part a lot steeper than I gathered from the guide book I had read, and also that we here had more snow than in Chamonix which was a bit of a surprise to me. As I get up the mountain on a track cut by two guys quite a bit up ahead, and a third halfway between me and them, it keeps getting steeper and the snow pack is made of a crust about two to four inches deep with two feet and a half of crisp, light powder under. This was at an elevation of about 5,500 feet a lot more snow than I had experienced in Cham just days before. Using my pole I can feel that the pack is a bit upside down with softer snow starting about a foot under the surface. Now I start getting a bit nervous, the skin track was solidly in the 35 degree range and the snowpack felt like it had a potential for some instability although I get no cracks nor any naturals in sight. I still get my Avalung out, fit it to my mouth and test it then leave it there just in case. I am now almost two thirds up the mountain and I know that soon I am getting into a traverse on pretty level ground so I keep going rather than turn around as I have reasons to believe that the snowpack on the far right side of the gully is less wind affected. I can now see three more people this time below me on the track. On one of my last conversions up I hear a woompf which I absolutely hate… In any case I am now on my traverse and breath a lot better, the terrain feels really flat and safe and I am moving towards the right of the gully where I will leisurely make the safest decision between continuing up if the conditions are different and good enough or just ski down from there in the light (as in not wind affected) powder to the bottom. The snow pack is now 3 – 4 feet deep depending on the spot which is a lot more than Cham and that’s remarkable to me considering this is lower elevation. But the terrain being so benign I now get to enjoythe views and the feel of this gully and I take a fair amount of pictures as I am trying to learn this, to me, new environment.

The BIG-CRACK
Suddenly, I hear a thundering “CRACK” and everything under me and around me is in motion and accelerates at an amazing rate. I immediately realize what’s going on and the first thing I do after going No! No! No! is to try to kick off my skis but just can’t do it (gave it a second or so). My next objective is to stay standing up as long as I can (that worked for about quarter of a second), finally I just decide I am going to swim furiously to try and ride this thing as high as I ever can although it is pulling me down hard. I go under and swim very frantically and hard to get back up. Once up I try to leverage the larger chunks of snow hitting them hard to pull myself up as much as I can and stay there as long as possible. Everything is moving at really high speed now. I get dragged down under again, and again I swim with all the rage I can muster and once more get back up, hit the big chunks and feel myself getting dragged down again but now I feel the movement slowing down a little, I swim, thrust and kick hard to the surface as I feel the snow closing in on me while squeezing irremediably harder, snow is now getting around my moth and nose and it is getting hard to breath just before the snow comes to a complete stop.

The Outcome
The verdict? I am immobilized with part of my face and almost 80% of my right arm outside; everything else is in a non-negotiable vice. I spit and blow to get the snow out of my mouth and nose and with a lot of relief take a deep breath. From there on I worked on trying to stay calm and focused. I felt a needed to get out of here fast because I knew I could not afford a second slide given my position (I couldn’t turn my head so there was no peeking up slope to see if there was any danger of that or not). The only objective was now to dig fast. Well that was a lot easier said than done. I found out that it is very awkward to dig with one arm sticking straight out and away from the snow. I was also feeling a lot of pain in my right leg and left shoulder as my position was one of a contorted corkscrew but with my skis still attached to my boots in a 190 degree angle where the right leg took “the extra 10 degrees”. My left shoulder was twisted in the opposite direction of my extra-10-degrees-right-foot. My left arm was in the vice stuck far up behind my back. Overall not your most comfortable tequila-drinking-lounging-on–the-beach position. I couldn’t even move the fingers of my left arm. I kept scratching as best as I could with my free hand till I finally was able to dig out my entire head, then my upper body and finally I was able to free my left arm (count 10 min.). That was a moment of some relief since freeing my left shoulder freed half the torsion on my right leg (the rest being due to both legs being at a 180 degrees plus angle). Now I was able to lean forward, get my back pack up over my head and get my shovel out so I could in no more than two or three minutes dig out my legs and finally, with the shovel, hit my Dynafit toe piece. That felt really good. I then digged out the other leg. From the slide stopping till now I would say about 14 – 16 min passed. Now I hear a voice from above asking me if this is an exercise or if I need help? I go “WHAT EXERCISE!!!” and indicate some help would indeed be welcome, and the guy asks if I am hurt, I look at my right foot and it looks as if it is in an unnatural alignment situation so I tell him “given the alignment my leg could be broken but the pain doesn’t seem severe enough so I guess I got a bad ankle twist”. In short order another three guys come over and with Skadi’s help find almost all my gear spread below me all over the slope. I get into some hyperthermic situation (shock?) and am very glad to have my down jacket in my pack, it heats me back up in 30 sec or so.

Two really nice guys decide to escort me down on my ski-out about 2,000 feet down. Another not really comfortable experience. I get to my car, drive to Annecy, Jana gets me to the hospital and I check out 48 hours later with a cast covering a plate and six screws on my fibula… FINALLY OVER! With a little luck I am back on my skis somewhere between mid to end of January.

Was I scared?
Naaah, of course not! Well, maybe a little. Actually quite a bit when I heard the BIG CRACK! That was the moment of realization that I was in some potentially really big trouble. It was quite freaky but I was so busy trying to figure out how to get out of it and taking the correct action that this fear lasted almost no time at all. The second moment of fear (terror?) was when I felt the snow closing in on me and breathing became an issue. That was by far the scariest moment and that one lasted several seconds, the time to spit out snow, starting to breathe better and finally realizing everything stood still. Paradoxically enough, this was also the moment of the highest relief through the whole incident as now knew this was a partial burrial. The third moment of fear, but this one lesser than the two prior, was the worry about a potential second slide but that one felt more remote. After that it was all work anyway so neither room nor time to feel any more fear.

Now what?
The trick now is to try to learn the (right) lesson(s) from this incident. For starters how about don’t tour alone in an area you don’t know and don’t have a fresh avy report for? OK, that’s a start.
I do replay this in my head every now and then partially because this broke on a slope that at its steepest but also smallest part is probably no more than 27-28 degrees and then (where I was) less than 20-25 (see pictures below). This was not the kind of slope where, as a group, we would have decided to go only one person at a time.
I think it must have been a perfect storm” combination of loose, very dry snow and a lot more wind on elevation than expected. I did notice that just before everything went to hell there was an upwind (more like a draft really) blowing on me so it could be that this was a bit of a wind tunnel kinda spot?
We all know that the safest routes are on ridge tops, looking at the pictures below maybe I should have gotten off the cut track and up and around? You do want to stay high and near the top if you must cross dangerous slopes or avalanche path however I completely failed to identify this spot as a dangerous slope.

Obviously there are a ton of factors that can contribute to avalanche conditions and the possible combinations of factors are endless. This clearly makes the forecasting of a possible avalanche somewhat tricky (trying to stay modest here). One thing I don’t like here is the fact that an environment that seems so benign can yield a not insignificant slide, what is that supposed to do for future assessments?

Your comments are welcome as I would love to get as many perspectives on this as possible to turn this into as effective a learning experience as ever possible.

Here are the pictures, (the crown is about 450 – 500 feet wide, up to 2 feet high and the total slide is on or about 1,000 feet) click to enlarge:

Here is part of the crown:

Here is a view of most of the slide with notes:

...and the would be sarcophagus:

Winter wonderland in Argentière

2010-11-25T10:35:00.000-08:00

Yesterday I went back up to the Grands Montets in Argentière (about ten miles past Chamonix up the valley). The conditions were OK, I guess or about two feet of cold, light, crisp and fast powder! Below are the pictures (click to enlarge):

A few winter magic pictures first:

This is a view of the mid-station at the Grands Montets:

...and a view of Argentière:

The inevitable dog picture (or two...):

And finally some dog mangeled, alone-on-a-considerable-avy-risk-day, turns:

First turns of the season

2010-11-22T22:22:00.000-08:00

On Sunday I went to one of my favourite ski areas in the Chamonix valley: Les Grands Montets. They are not yet open (false alert for this last week-end) so a great “backcountry” destination for yet another few days. Les Grands Montets is about 5 miles up the Chamonix valley from Chamonix the town and has its base at 1252m (4,107’) and culminates (for the lift served part) at the Aiguille des Grands Montets at 3295m (10,808’) which translates into a nice 6,700’ vertical feet drop. All in one long steep run… If that did not qualify for favourite, I’m not sure what could.

I did not climb any 6,700’ on this my first skin of the season but got up about 4,000’ and was able to ski half of that (the rest was walking with skis on the backpack). The good news is that my first turns of the season were all powder turns as in the good dry and crisp stuff so hopefully a good omen.
Below are some pictures taken at Les Grands Montets proper and also on the drive in and out (click to enlarge).
What the town sign to the center of the universe looks like:

Looking east as the climb starts from the base of Les Grands Montets is the Bec Rouge Superieur:

Top of Bec Rouge Superieur with chopper these are everywhere all the time in Chamonix (mostly serving the huts and rescue missions):

Looking west accross the valley are a myriad of Aiguilles (needles) here is one I like:

Driving back home I got this shot of the dents du Crocodile (dents=teeth):

...and the eternal Aiguille du Midi:

Snowline

2010-11-09T05:49:00.000-08:00

Was back up on Mont Veyrier this morning and found a little snow as early as 3,600’ which is always encouraging and we do need all the encouragement we can get in this pre-season to a slow to start season.

Since the winter adventures are still a bit off in the future I will take this opportunity to introduce the one who has been (next to Mike) out with me on the most tours: Skadi Askmo.
Skadi was born on August 26th in Park City, UT. She is the youngest of eleven puppies: she has six sisters and four brothers. Skadi (née Belle) is of American and French ancestry as she is a black Labrador and great Pyrenean mix. We got her at age eight (weeks) and although her name was a charming Belle we had to rename her, if you can’t figure out why click here. She is a very smart dog, great montaineer and pathfinder and an enthusisatic skier. Her prefered snow type is supportablre crust.

In keeping with her name, she loves the snow and so she enjoyed this morning’s outing:

I think this the side she tries to promote on most shoots:

Did I mention she likes the snow?

Orienting yourself around the Plan de l’Aiguille

2010-11-07T07:06:00.000-08:00

Was back up to Cham yesterday morning, started from the “Parking des Grepons” and went up a bit over the mid station of the Aiguille du Midi at the Plan de l’Aiguille (aiguille is French for needle). One of the starkest contrasts between the alpine massifs and the Wasatch or even the Rockies in general is 1) how low you start and 2) how high you can go. As an example, here in Annecy I live at barely 1,500’ and when I start hiking from the valley floor in Cham I am at just 3,388’. As a comparison, in the Wasatch we mostly work on the last 3,000’ culminating at about 11,000’, so essentially in the 8,000 – 11,000’ band. As an extreme here you can start skinning/hiking at 3,388’ and culminate at 15,776’ (Mont Blanc summit) a whopping 12,388’ climb! In reality that is rather rare, first because there is only one summit where this is even a possibility, and second because most people will skip the few first thousand feet by using a tram or another mainly because the first few thousand feet are not considered very interesting. In any case we here typically start a lot lower than in the Wasatch and gain a lot of elevation even without doing any laps.

Yesterday I started hiking at 3,388’ and culminated a bit above the mid-station at the Plan de l’Aiguille at 8,100. Once there I took the pictures below.

In the pass between Mt Blanc and the Dôme du Goûter (litterally the "snack dome") and hidden behind is the Refuge (hut) du Goûter which is a stop on the way on the "normal" ascent route when summitting Mt Blanc. That hut is now getting a major makover, to find out more click here.

On the picture below note that the distance between Aiguille de l'M and the Aiguille Verte is 3.4 miles. For more info on Aig. Verte click here and for the Dru click here.

Ever heard people tell you about boredom on Canadian glaciers, weell it doen't have to be a universal thing...

More stuff taken yesterday, just because I had it...

New base camp: Annecy

2010-11-02T07:14:00.000-07:00

We are finally “substantially” moved in to our digs in old Savoie (Savoy, for you rare non-French speakers out there…). Jana really went to town on the whole interior décor/furnishing/eternal-color-picking/buying-stuff-then returning-stuff-rebuying-other-stuff etc… Anyway after spending the better part of the last four months with contractors or in furniture stores, I have joined the French national uprising and also gone on strike, not so much against pension reform as in NO MORE HOUSE CHORES THIS SIDE OF THE DECADE! For the unaware few; we did not pick Annecy so that I may become some sort of domestic virtuoso but for the one and only reason anyone should move anywhere: The Mountains. This is the very watered down version, the only one that could make it through the heartless consorship authorities (Jana).

In any case, I have now been able to pick up where I left several months ago, and now finally get to spend some quality time in the mountains around here. My training hill in PC was Iron Mountain (reasonably flat and 2,000 ft el gain); well I have found a bloody perfect replacement here with Mont Veyrier (unreasonably steep and 2,400 ft el gain) on the east shore of the lake (about six min from home). I have done some skiing on the glacier in Tignes but still can’t wait for actual snow skiing as opposed to last season’s black ice skiing… I was quite jealous looking at Tyson's Snowbird pictures from his Oct 29th outing. Having said that, I am really grateful for Tignes (opened on Sep 25th) its only drawback being that it is a two hour drive from here.
My short workouts are Veyrier and my weekly “biggies” are at the center of the universe: Chamonix (about 50 min from here). There I gain 4,000 – 6,000 feet on the week-ends getting ready for the season. I typically will get up to the “Plan de l’Aiguille” and further up that side or around the Brevent on the other side of town (starting from the Brevent lift). This is the kind of mountain that won’t tolerate any sloppiness at all at any season for any reason, if I dress or equip even a tad bit light on a summer day, it’ll serve up some bloody snow and ice storm just three to four thousand feet up from where people go to the pool! I appreciate the warning, although last time it was very close to throw me down a really, really long and steep cliff band with a wind so powerful I had to fight back a lot plus use my hands just to keep from taking flight. As you can see, this mountain is an absolute blast!

Below are some pictures taken on my Mont Veyrier training rounds in Sept and October (sequentially in chronological order) and after that a little of Chamonix also in chronological order but starting in October.

Taken from Mont Veyrier (click to enlarge):

Taken in Chamonix:

Chuting it down

2010-01-14T20:37:00.000-08:00

Today Mike and I went to Wolverine Cirque entering and exiting from Alta. Conditions are getting generally heinous so we figured we go do some chute skiing. We skied both east and north facing between aroud 40 degrees, including boot packing up one of the shutes and the pack was hyper solid no signs of instability at all.
Our first ski was down either The Huge Chute or Tips and Tails (we will have an agreement on that after exhaustive analysis of the photo finish…). The second one we did was Bombay (there is consensus on that one). The picture below is of the entry of either The Huge Chute or Tips and Tails (click to enlarge)…

…and this one is of me and Mike in the cirque (photoshoped i.e. although the mountain details are real that configuration is not):

How extreme is extreme skiing?

2010-01-13T14:26:00.000-08:00

Ever since Patrick Vallençant, Anselme Baud, Pierre Tardivel and others launched the movement while people like Doug Coombs, Shane McConkey and others brought it further, extreme skiing has fascinated a lot of people including this writer. Incidentally all these people and many more died on the mountain. A question that I think is not fully answered is: What is extreme skiing? We all heard of the easy clear sounding definition “if you fall you die”. That would somehow settle it; that If you are on a line where a fall could/would be fatal you just skied an “extreme” line. Alright, so is it any-fall-on-this-line-will-kill you or is it a fall-on-this-line-can-kill-you? I think the difference is not insignificant as a lot of places you could die on are not necessarily that extreme. Also, what is an extreme skier? Someone that got lucky a couple of times on some hardcore lines or should it be a more regular occurrence? If so, how regular? Is an extreme skier someone that does X number of descents down a Y degree line or higher that are no shorter than Z elevation loss? As a caution to anyone feeling frisky you can see Garett Bartelt's fall by clicking here.

Red Pine

2010-01-10T21:26:00.000-08:00

Today we went in to Red Pine from the White Pine trailhead. We went there partially because it is a spectacular drainage (especially the upper part beyond Red Pine lake) and also because with our current lack of snow cover you definitely want to remain as high as ever possible. Turns out that even when staying high, the snow quality is now marginal on essentially all aspects and the cover is thin enough for you to hit the occasional rock. On the positive side: The weather was gorgeous and we did not witness any signs of weakness in the snow pack. Below is a picture of an east facing line in upper Red Pine with Whit Baldy in the background:

The picture below shows the undefined “we” in the first sentence above. From left to right – James. Scott, Mike and yours truly:

...and finally, just because the snow quality is marginal, it does not mean that no skiing is going on:

Race day at Snowbasin

2010-01-09T19:45:00.000-08:00

Whoever is following this blog closely (all two of you at least, and no Jana, one's spouse doesn't count in the marketable circulation numbers…) will remember the December 5th “Proud moment” (click to view) posting about my son Max making it onto the Park City Devo (as in development) team. Well after a few training sessions, today was the first race day and the venue was Snowbasin. A wonderful ski resort with a solid and sustained 3,000’+ fall line and very varied terrain that is not all groomed into terminal lame-hood. This was the venue for the SLC 2002 Olympic alpine downhill race by virtue of its sustained fall line and generally strong infrastructure. The men’s and women’s starting cabins for that event are still there as you can see in the picture to the left (click to enlarge). In any case this was race day and although most of the mornings Max has a hard time getting up at 7 am for school, today 6 am for the race was no problem at all… He was up at 6 sharp ready, willing and quite able. He went in to this race with his usual mix of excitement, anticipation and tension (and a touch of anguish for the parents) right up to the moment when he gets into the starting gate when it seems winning is becoming everything for him. To everyone’s great relief he performed very solidly in this giant slalom two run race which always turns these days into great party that goes on into the night. You can see Max expressing himself in the picture to the right (click to enlarge). Below is a general view of the Snowbasin cliff bands at the top of the John Allen Express lift.

Situating yourself in upper Big Cottonwood Cyn

2010-01-08T15:52:00.000-08:00

Below is a picture I took from the Park City ridge line from the top of Scotts Bowl. You can even see the ropes put up by PCMR that no one would ever cross, of course. You get a pretty good view of Woolverine Bowl (just under the Mt Woolverine peak) which is easily accessible either from the Millicent lift in Brighton or the Supreme in Alta. That bowl is often a good starting point for a great day in the BC.
Hopefully this shot can be of some sort of use to someone out there (click to enlarge).

Long John Silver delivers the treasure

2010-01-07T18:59:00.000-08:00

Today we went up White Pine in Little Cottonwood looking for high elevation skiing in this snow poor season. White Pine as always delivered. The snow quality coverage was good even though we skied Long John Silver which is a south-west aspect.

A feature of White Pine that I always liked, is the bridge over Little Cottonwood Creek at the very beginning of the trail, that you get to cross on skis. If you are not already there, it kinda puts you right in the mood for another glorious BC day (see picture to the left, click to enlarge).

Today there were three of us on the tour; Mike, Scott and yours truly. We spent about two hours reaching the base of Long John Silver (see picture to the right, click to enlarge).
Once there we did laps. The snowpack seemed bomber and gave no signs of any weaknesse at all. According to our friends of the Utah Avalanche Center this makes sense as south-west is the aspect that is supposed to be the least risky today.
Now with the snow cover being what it is and considering that the snow line stops about 200 feet below Red Stack, Long John Silver delivers a solid 1,000 feet vertical with a resonably steep fall line on top. As you can see below, there is a potential for a fairly long skin up:

Below is a picture of the Pfeifferhorn in the distance with its hanging snowfield (click to enlarge):

The Hallway Couloir

2010-01-05T08:12:00.000-08:00

This is a line that can be more risky to ski to than down. That is unless you bootpack it up… Coming from the Reed and Benson ridge is less work but the final approach is kinda tricky as you have to traverse from point 10,561 (the peak just north of Flagstaff Mountain) down a 40 degrees + slope that cliffs out (as in BIG cliffs) below you. Not the place you want to be caught in an avalanche or even any serious sluffing… In any case once you are in it, this is an impressive, scenic and delightful ski. You drop about 800 feet in the couloir and then an additional 900 in the “tube”.
The name can seem redundant as Couloir is French for Hallway but in this case Hallway is not primarily referring to a hallway but rather a play on Doug Hall’s last name. He was an avid backcountry skier and climber that died in 1997 when he got swept away by an avalanche while ice climbing in Provo Canyon.
The picture below gives a sense of what you have to go through to get to the Hallway from above but is not detailed enough to actually show you the way so don’t rely on this shot to find the entrance (click to enlarge).

Situating yourself in Cardiff Fork

2010-01-04T16:49:00.000-08:00

This is another one of my amateur composite skyline picture. This one is supposed to help one getting situated in Cardiff Fork relative to the surrounding peaks and other main features. The picture was taken from the Reed and Benson ridge a little north of the top of Main Days (click to enlarge).

Days Fork and Main Days

2010-01-04T11:24:00.000-08:00

Yesterday Mike and I went to Days Fork entering from Alta exiting at Spruces. The picture to the left shows Cardiac Bowl and Ridge seen from Reed & Benson ridge (click to enlarge). Conditions are generally good with some localized weaknesses. With our current snow cover (or lack thereof) you definitely want to remain as high as ever possible. The picture to the right is of Mike on Reed & Benson ridge looking into Days and the Park City ridge line behind.

Our first ski was down from between Flagstaff and the Days Fork headwall. The snow was nice, creamy and stable. After that we went to the top of Main Days and dug a pit on the north facing. Schematically speaking the pit showed about a foot and a half distributed as follows: Soft powder on the top third, harder and crustier on the third below and at the bottom a third of really rotten “sugar”. I got kind of impressed being on a major avy path that, admittedly in very worst case scenario, could break to the ground. We skied the somewhat more benign east facing shots and they felt really stable (no cracking, whomping or any other signs of weakness). After that we worked our way down the drainage, one ridge line at a time. The last run was a couple of ridgelines down from Banana Days. It started at about 10,100 and dropped to about 8,700 of sustained fall line, so a really nice line. However on the top steeper part the snow cover was quite markedly thinner than everything we skied higher up that day. I guess this means that until another couple of storms hits, we will need to ski the really high terrain exclusively… Below is a picture of one of many dramatic parts of the Reed & Benson ridge (click to enlarge).

Avalanche-pack face-off! Update

2010-01-01T06:02:00.000-08:00

Some of you may remember that The Whippet ran an avy airbag series in October of 09. That series culminated on Oct. 26 in a comparative of the three vendors (to see that post click here). You may also recall that ABS Systems were at the time updating their price list and so we had to fly kinda blind on their deal. While I was travelling on a ski trip to Chamonix they sent me their new list which I have summarized below:

For reference I am adding the (incomplete) comparative table in the original post. As an example of how to use this data, to "fill in the blanks" under, say the Vario 15 unit, you have to add $910 (price of Vario Base Unit) to $105 (price of Vario 15 bag) plus either $130 (steel activation unit and handle) or $250 (carbon activation unit and handle). So your Vario 15 L system will be either $1,145 (steel cartridge) or $1,265 (carbon cartridge). Click to enlarge these tables.

The preseason is dead! Long live the season!

2009-12-31T21:28:00.000-08:00

Finally the preseason conditions that started as early as October 3rd and seemed endless are finally over! Just in time - as this IS the last day of the year. Talking about the last day of the year, I was today respecting an age long (OK few years long) tradition with some friends: The New Years Eve Wasatch BC Ski. This may sound like a major event – that’s because it is. Today it included six of us (when I say major I obviously don’t mean number of people showing up…).

One of the advantages of a “Considerable” avy risk forecast is that you get a place like Cardiac Ridge all to yourself. How often does that happen? Below is a picture featuring exclusively our lines:

These are only our Cardiac ridge lines; we got a lot more in, from south facing under the Pole Line to Ivory Flakes with an exit on Raynolds Flats. If you ever want to do a bi-canyonal, I strongly recommend parking at 6200 S and taking the ski bus. That's because at 6200 you get to ride up Little Cottonwood and down Big Cottonwood.
Now, back to our title theme, to show you that we are now truly in season: Below are two pictures taken today that definitely should be worth more than 2,000 words (click to enlarge)… Enjoy, and
Happy New Year!

The Canyons of Last Resort…

2009-12-15T17:15:00.000-08:00

I don’t know how common this is but in the pre-season i.e. not enough snow, I skin a lot in resort in preparation for the season. Alta is an early candidate as they always seem to have at least some snow (late September - early October) until they open, often in mid to early November. A bit later, at least if you live in the Park City area, PCMR becomes an attractive candidate as they make tons of the artificial stuff, but of course of the three resorts here, they open first so then; no more skinning. Now, it’s time to migrate to Deer Valley and their Mount Baldy until they close in early December. The final stop is the Canyons; typically the last one to open. So being December 15 and all, I dragged myself up there today with my dog, Skadi, for a training round. I skinned up Silverado (see picture to the left) to the Lookout Cabin and when I was there, to my surprise, other than the Golden Eagle it seemed all the lifts were open! So there I was in the middle of resort action with my skins, my dog, looking like I am saving on lift tickets! The ski patrollers were staring, taking “amongst themselves” as it were but, I guess, too bewildered to do anything at all about it. The bonus is that I got to ski down Super Fury, in resort, with my dog…

I guess this means pre-season is now officially over and that is just fine with me. I already got 25 days of pre-season training and I am ready for the real stuff!

The picture below is of Square Top, the Patrol Cabin, two Canyons workers, and my dog Skadi....

Proud moment

2009-12-05T21:14:00.000-08:00

Today was a resort skiing day at PCMR. The real reason for spending the day at PCMR, in resort rather than in the backcountry today is that it was try-out day for the Park City Devo Team. After years of the PCMR Learn To Race (LTR) and then Farm Team, my son Max Askmo, 10 years old, decided to try out for the Devo team. This team has a lot of history as one of the best programs in the nation and has included kids such as Ted Ligetty. So for my son (and his parents), this was not a small thing. Max went in to this with the usual mix of excitement – anticipation – tension – anguish right up to the moment when the list of invited participants is posted on the wall. His name, by virtue of the alphabetical order, was the second entry on the list and I could see that he was visibly relieved! Indeed a proud moment. Below are the pictures taken just after the announcement when Max and his buddy, Aydon Lee, were savoring the moment at PCMR (click to enlarge):

The Whippet Likes Man Made

2009-12-03T16:45:00.000-08:00

Today’s tour was supposed to be strictly a workout as we (me and Mike) left with no expectations whatsoever of any good skiing opportunities at all. So we took off to Deer Valley at Silverlake. We skinned up the service road to the top of Mount Baldy. We encountered a few ski patrollers giving us the thumbs up and a couple who told us that strictly speaking the mountain was closed. They were nice about it though and let us go on, I guess they are skiers too… The clincher on all this, is that with Deer Valley prepping for Saturday’s opening (which means this is the last workout at Silverlake for this season), the slopes were impeccably groomed and us being the only ones on them, we had some phenomenal and fast runs. To the left is a picture of the a snow cannon, Whippet and all and below is yours truly with Skadi on the whales (picture credits: Mike Florance).

Situating yourself in the Catherine Pass area

2009-11-30T18:44:00.000-08:00

This is obviously a down day (as in no skiing) since I have time to mess with the pictures I took yesterday. In any case, I like this composite skyline picture as it helps one get situated around Catherine Pass relative to the surrounding peaks. The picture was taken from Dry Fork (barely into it) just south of Alta’s Supreme lift top station (click to enlarge).

Rocky Point

2009-11-29T19:58:00.000-08:00

Today’s tour, the 20th ski of the season so far, was all about the touring as the skiing was mostly not that great. The snow was a mix of very wind scoured on top and on other less predictable places with a mix of supportable – unsupportable crust and some sugar that made for the best skiing. Having said that there were a few good turns to be had on some of the north facing steeper shots provided you really center punch them to avoid the rocks. To the left is a picture of a shot just below Rocky Point, note the wind scoured band on top (click to enlarge). See the view looking up Catherine pass, I guess there is a reason we call it the Rockies...

Catherine Pass Nov. 27

2009-11-28T12:31:00.000-08:00

Although the number of available pre-season training spots is rapidly diminishing, high in Little Cottonwood there is more than enough snow to tour and get those legs prepared for the season. It is true though that this season seems to, at best, be a late bloomer. I heard an unconfirmed rumor that we are having just 20% of the normal precipitation for November, kinda depressing if true… In any case, got a nice tour yesterday up to So Long Meadow and Catherine Pass. Skinning is no problem and skiing is in this chalky kind of snow but still fun although lots of it is tracked out by now. The whole area between Brighton and Alta included is holding a fair amount of snow past 9,500 feet. See pictures below (click to enlarge).

Black Diamond does it again

2009-11-28T10:10:00.000-08:00

As you can read in my post of the 25th I broke my pole while skinning at Deer Valley. This is a pair of Black Diamond carbon poles bought back in 2005. The upper shaft is aluminum and the lower part is carbon fiber to keep the weight down. They also have what BD calls a “Flicklock closure” that ensures the ability to adjust the pole length when transferring from the up-track to downhill skiing. Although they don’t actually give them away (count about $100.00+) this has been a great product and as far as I am concerned a great value. With that level of attachment I was a bit apprehensive about the prospect of having to buy a whole new pair just for breaking the one (typically the case when it comes to ski poles). And if they would agree to sell just a lower shaft, I knew they kinda had me over a barrel – talk about captive audience… And what would that do to pricing? Well I went down there yesterday and not only do they sell just the one half of a shaft but the price was just $15.00 for what amounts to the better part of a quarter of a pair of poles. It is in moments like this that going with the slightly higher priced vendor with the superior product and service is completely rewarded. This is not the first time I get superior service at BD and that is also why they have been listed under the preferred vendor since the very beginnings of this blog; They are listed under "The Whippet Resource Center", see first link to the right under "Useful BC links".

Polarizing training in Deer Valley

2009-11-25T17:01:00.000-08:00

The window of opportunities for pre-season training spots is rapidly shrinking. Between PCMR opening on Friday the 20th, Alta that shut down the Wildcat base access for opening prep and practically no snow up high by Empire Express, spots are getting few and far in between. We really need the mega storm to come in now... So today, in desperation, I went to Snow Park (Silver Lake access was temporarily blocked for snow making). The training round went from Snow Park to the top of Bald Eagle Mt. (which is just a 1,200 feet elevation gain). This is all on artificial snow some of it frozen solid.
Skinning up I unwittingly stuck one of my poles in a small ice hole, bent it over too much and snapped it in two (see picture to the left, click to enlarge). This is the first time ever that happened to me. I will get down to Black Diamond and see if they will sell me just the bottom carbon part of my pole and report back the outcome of that.
Ever wondered what a legendary Deer Valley grooming looks like in the pre-season? Wonder no more, here is what all those endless hours of work look like before it becomes an overnight grooming Success:

Winter wonderland

2009-11-23T19:12:00.000-08:00

Saturday’s storm was a fizzler and Sunday’s did not seem too impressive on paper but boy did look good high up in LCC! We (Mike, Richard and I) went up to so long meadow for just one lap and then went on to the Catherine Pass area skiing under Rocky Point and Sunset Peak. There was up to two feet of the really cold fluffy stuff, phenomenal lines, and almost no people and even less rocks. This is the real deal, the actual winter wonderland, who could ask for anything more?! See for yourself below (click to enlarge):

Pre-season training at Deer Valley

2009-11-21T19:55:00.000-08:00

Since PCMR did in fact open today, I had to do my pre-season training session at Deer Valley. I went to the Empire Express base to skin up to the lift top station. That’s about 1,400 – 1,500 feet elevation gain. That is as much as you can do right now provided you are ready to hike some of it while carrying your skis. On the way down you will have to “Nordic ski” part of it on your skins and still walk some. The “variable” snow cover, as in snow, rocks, branches and the rest, makes it absolutely impossible to ski any of it unless your skis are throw a ways. The good news is that it snowed consistently there and over Big Cottonwood so hopefully that will add up to some sort of measurable result. However, unless we really get a lot of snow tomorrow, I will try to skin up from Silver Lake for my next training session on Wednesday. In the mean time here are some of today’s pictures:

Pre-season training at PCMR

2009-11-19T18:58:00.000-08:00

Today I went back up for another pre-season – lunch hour (call that an extended lunch hour…) training session at PCMR, including these training sessions I am now up at 15 outings so far this season. I get to skin up from the First Timer parking lot, through Homerun and up to the Payday top lift station. That’s about 1,300 feet elevation gain. That is as much as you can do right now if you expect to ski down all that you skinned up. However if you need to extend your work-out session and you are ready to face “variable” cover (as in snow + rocks+ branches + all the other unidentifiable if not unspeakable stuff) then you can skin all the way up to the top of the Crescent lift. This will give you close to 1,900 feet of elevation gain. Of course if the resort really opens on the 21st, as scheduled, then this training terrain will be gone just two days from now… In the mean time here are some pictures taken today (click to enlarge):

BC Rendez-vous at Alta

2009-11-16T15:08:00.000-08:00

Yesterday (November 15) I went back up to Alta to reap the benefits of the last storm. Judging from the up traffic it was clear that although I may have been solo, I wasn’t alone. My guess would be that no less than 300 people were on Baldy yesterday. By the time I left at about 3 pm the parking lot was almost full.

Snow conditions were beyond good. From about 9,600 and up there was about 7 – 8 inches of really light powder on bomber proof (as in no avy issues) crust; in short the snow was amazing (minus the rocks but they were a lot fewer than lately)! For the first time this season I saw signatures on the Sugarloaf side. They started from above the Sugarloaf top station skiing down and under the lift and continued down towards the Albion base. It seems pretty certain that Alta is not going have to take any of those Thanksgiving cancellations.

Not really chuting blanks

2009-11-13T17:09:00.000-08:00

Mike and I went back up today to Baldy determined to finally ski the Great Baldy chute before Alta opens and the chute closes... We left PC at a comfortable 8:30 and were on the trail at 9:30 and up on top at 11:40. General conditions were excellent with, at least today, a minuscule avy risk if that. I don’t know if it is because the weather reports showed cloudy, cold and potentially stormy conditions but early on there was practically no one there. Only a party of two got to the chute before us so we still had phenomenal conditions; a few inches (maybe six) of cold smoke over hard crust (beats hard rocks…). In any case once on top this thing was even more inviting than usual. We got our helmets on (you are surrounded by granite in there) and went down cautiously at first but soon realized that these were playground conditions! To the left; yours truly, to the right: Mike himself. As a bonus we then got to ski the Ballroom that was in a beautiful condition.
It really feels like winter up there although there is probably not too much good skiing available on the Sugarloaf side of the mountain. Because Alta has been making snow down the Collins run, that is right now the only functional ski out option.
Being first at the Collins top for lunch, we got to squat the sunnyside terrace of the ski patrol, including bench and all. Below please admire Mike, its-a-dirty-job-but-someone-got-to-do-it, Florence:

Lambs Canyon access to the Mount Air area

2009-11-09T08:29:00.000-08:00

You may have noticed that a long fence is being set up along the I80. This is obviously to protect us and the wildlife from each other. Some of us more paranoid BC skiers immediately will see a threat to BC access at Lambs Canyon to the Mount Air area. Being no less paranoid than any other BC skier I had to stop at the Lambs Canyon exit and see for myself. Well I am happy to report that UDOT, once again, is doing a great job for the BC community! For those who are not aware of this, I am saying “once again” because UDOT is also the agency that does all the avalanche control on the Utah roads that need it. We benefit because, as an example, they shoot up Mount Superior to protect the road which benefits us as this is a degree of backcountry avalanche control. So thank you UDOT! Now, back to the Lambs Canyon trail access: We are good because the fence goes along the trail in its lower portion and opens up well before the Lambs Canyon parking lot (click pictures to enlarge).

Alta forever - at least in the pre-season...

2009-11-08T19:35:00.000-08:00

Had another pre-season workout tour in Alta. This is really the only spot I know in the central Wasatch that has a continuous 2,000 feet plus cover right now. As usual the conditions and particularly the snow were better than expected. The most significant take home with that is probably that it is high time I adjust my expectations… In any case there was more and better snow than I thought considering how warm it has been since last time I was there, see picture to the right (click here to see that post). Today the resort was making snow on the upper part of Collins (see left picture below). They have also been working a path from the top of the lift down to the parking lot. Seems like Alta is working hard at avoiding those pesky Thanksgiving cancellations that happen when no lifts are open… As an aside note that although Superior has hardly any snow at all, Suicide chute is hogging the beginnings of a stash (see right picture below).

Wasatch Tri-Canyon Series: Big Cottonwood

2009-11-03T14:18:00.000-08:00

Under the influence of yet another hopelessly long and high high-pressure system I feel compelled to launch another series of posts. October was avy airbag month; November shall be about the structure of our wonderful and irreplaceable central Wasatch. The tri-canyon area (click on picture to the left to enlarge) is of course made up of, from North to South: Mill Creek Canyon, Big Cottonwood Canyon and Little Cottonwood Canyon. This first post in this new series focuses on Big Cottonwood Canyon.

Big Cottonwood Canyon, in the Wasatch Range, includes two ski resorts, Brighton and Solitude, and about 7 – 8 drainages, on each side of the road (see schematic to the left), that were like made for backcountry skiing. The road up from Salt Lake City to Brighton is about 15-mile long and is oriented from west to east. The uppermost drainage to the North is Willow Creek and the uppermost one to the South (out of resort boundary) is Silver Fork. For touring purposes the southern Big Cottonwood drainages can be efficiently accessed from Little Cottonwood Canyon (you start higher and so gain some “free” skiing). To do that the UDOT ski bus is a fantastic resource. You can drop a car at the 6200 South bus stop or the one at the Big Cottonwood base and just take that bus up Little Cottonwood and then just pick the Big Cottonwood bus down at the end of the day. Some classic tours in Big Cottonwood are: Mt. Raymond, Kessler Peak, Reynolds Peak, West Bowl (upper Silver Fork), Cardiac Ridge and Bowl (upper Mill D South Fork) and many more.

Below are some potentially useful resources if you are planning a tour in Big Cottonwood:

Utah Mountain Adventures (tours guided by professionals)
Backcountry Skiing Utah (Falcon Guide, author: Tyson Bradley)
Wasatch Tours: The Northern Wasatch (Volume 2)
The Official Wasatch Mountain Club Trail Map
Wasatch Touring map 1 by Alpentech
UDOT ski bus

LCC cold smoke in October!

2009-10-29T19:30:00.000-07:00

This is my fifth outing for October and, for the 09/10 season, it is by far the best one so far. Phenomenal powder on supportable crust and it’s not November yet! In any case, me and Mike went back to Mt Baldy from the Alta parking lot and started off with our regular routine up to the Baldy west shoulder. There is a full on snow cover straight from the parking lot and up. It starts getting about a foot and deeper past the Collins angle station. We skied off the west shoulder in great snow and then skinned up into the ballroom and in privileged spots under the rock band there was up to three feet of the fluffy stuff. We did a couple of laps on that fast, light and really fun snow. After that we went up to the Collins top station and enjoyed a 2000 feet home-run. Two guys skied the great Baldy shute which is starting to look really good. Little Baldy still needs a little bit more snow, maybe after next storm? (see picture above).

This was great skiing, not “good-for-being-October” skiing but just good old fantastic skiing.

Avalanche-pack face-off! Conclusion

2009-10-26T20:59:00.000-07:00

First and foremost I want to thank ABS Systems, BCA and Snowpulse for their invaluable collaboration and input. I am leaving this assignment with the definitive impression that we are here dealing with really high caliber, professional and creative outfits. Furthermore let’s recognize that these are critically important vendors and a force for good, their products will undoubtedly save a lot of lives in the backcountry.

Before we get into comparing the features, strengths and potential weaknesses of these products let me reiterate one inescapable piece of data:

Buried avalanche victim: 52.0% mortality
Avalanche victim ends on top: 4.2% mortality

Show this to your spouses and, assuming you are in a resonably good relationship, they are probably going to MAKE you buy one, better yet; put it on your X-mas list.

After parsing through the data and most of the research available, I am absolutely convinced that this is the greatest advance in avy safety gear since Dr. John Lawton invented the first viable avalanche beacon in 1968. In fact these bags will save a lot more lives than the beacon. Having said that, there is no way these bags should replace beacon, shovel and probe, they need to be ADDED to these.

The most frequent argument against these is typically the high price. Understanding that the avy bags offer an avalanche victim a survival rate of 98.3% (inflated bags), who out there is going to make the case that their life is worth less than $500 – $1,000? Whoever says that, is telling us that they’d rather be dead with $500 – $1,000 more at the bank than stay alive with $500 – $1,000 less on the account… Something to think about. Or, of course, we yet again are facing the gambler’s gambit; avalanches happen to others, well if you ski the Wasatch with its notoriously unstable snowpack; think again, it’s not if, it’s when.

Alright, having gotten the preaching out of the way, below please find a comparative so you can decide not if, but which one to buy.

SPECIFICATIONS AND FEATURES

*) In the Vario line you buy the base unit and you can then attach any of the Vario pack sizes to that base unit. The base unit is also compatible with some of the Millet back packs.

1) You buy one air bag system and can use it with more than one back pack size.

2) You launch by pulling a handle when you think you are in trouble.

3) Your ski buddy has a remote control so he can launch the airbag when you are going down.

PRICING

The ABS System Escape and Vario product lines are in the process of being re-priced in the US. As soon as I get those prices, I will communicate them in an updated table.

To order above products click on respective vendor:

ABS Systems:                         Escape & Vario (Exclusive distributor is Klim USA, use dealer locator)
Backcountry Access (BCA):      Float 30   (available from Dec. 15 use the contact info on the site)
Snowpulse:                             Life Bag   (Canadian distributor use tel. number on site)

Now, just so everything is real clear, I have no commercial, editorial or any other interest in you buying this stuff. No deals, underhanded or otherwiswe, nor commission nor anything at all is involved here for me nor the Whippet nor any other organization I am linked to. That is how we keep our complete editorial freedom from any vendor. Having said that, if you ski with any sort of regularity in the Wasatch backcountry you should really get one of these, I know I am.

Avalanche-pack face-off! BCA Float 30 (3 of 3)

2009-10-20T14:18:00.000-07:00

This is the last individual vendor presentation, but although it does say 3/3, there will be a next post that will essentially consist of a comparative table of features, advantages – disadvantages, detailed pricing, ordering information etc. There will also be room for any corrections that may be needed.

Now, I did hear back from BCA who gave us very complete and thorough information so here is the 3rd and last product I am introducing for a while; The Float 30 by the well known Backcountry Access (BCA). This is the challenger of the challenger, they are much newer on the market than both others, in fact they are so new; their release date is still in the future: Dec. 15, 2009. And, for you patriots out there, of the three, this is the only American solution...

OVERALL DESIGN
The Float 30 represents a different approach compared to both the ABS System and the Snowpulse although, interestingly enough, they incorporate some concepts from both in their thinking. This one wants the head on top outcome of the Snowpulse design but also the freedom of movement of the ABS System… The way Bruce Edgerly (VP of Marketing & Sales at Backcountry Access, Inc.) puts it is: “the 150-liter airbag deploys out the top of the pack, behind the head and shoulders. This keeps the upper body above the snow surface. The airbag can protect the head and neck from trauma, but does not wrap around the head; this maintains your peripheral vision and full mobility of head, arms, and hips—which means that after you deploy the bag, you maintain your ability to self-arrest, smear, roll, point ‘em(!) or otherwise get the heck off the slab before it picks up speed. You are not giving up when you pull that trigger. Remember Tom Kimbrough’s famous mantra: fight like hell!”

The BCA idea behind this design is to offer the following two advantages:

1) Offer higher “flotation” and thus making your head (and airways) the part that stays the highest once the avalanche stops.
2) Enable enough freedom of movement for you to fight the avalanche as much as possible as long as possible.

Although there has obviously not been any independent testing of the Float 30 yet, there is some independent corroboration for the idea that a high point of flotation can have a positive outcome. When we looked into the research we noted the Avagear which was a prototype of a product that consisted of a bag that wrapped around the head thus keeping a high flotation point much like the Float 30. In the 2001 tests by the Swiss Federal Institute for Snow and Avalanche Research (SLF) it was noted as follows:
“The fact that the faces of the dummies with the Avagear rescue vest were always found in the proximity of the surface appears to verify the hypothesis that the Avagear airbag, which is positioned close to the head, does indeed aid the lifting effect on the head and upper body. In fact two of the three Avagear-wearing dummies were found in an upright or seated position in the snow, whereas the dummies with the mono or dual airbag were found either face-up or facedown [sic] in a horizontal position.” (Davos, March 16, 2001, Martin Kern, Frank Tschirky, Jürg Schweizer, P.10)”

What remains to be seen in testing is if ABS’ argument that this upright position is a liability in terms of exposing the body " […] to the enormous dynamic forces within the avalanche […]” is a valid one.

RELEASE SYSTEM
The release is secured by a dedicated steel cable housed in rubber (like a bicycle brake cable). There’s a molded T-handle at the end that can be stashed inside the shoulder strap with a zipper during transport and pulled out while skiing or riding. It is accessed by the right or left hand on the right shoulder strap. This is an integrated system attached to the unit meaning you will never be without launch mechanism…

FILL AND REFILL
BCA have chosen to offer a cylinder exchange program. They and their distributors will offer a cylinder exchange program this means you can trade an empty one in for a full one for $20 (plus shipping, if applicable). This may avoid the trip to the SCUBA shop for refilling if you don’t have one located conveniently nearby.

SPECIFICATIONS
Total airbag volume: Volume of 150 L (about 38 gallons)

Weight:
The Float 30 L pack: 2967 g (6.5 Lb) without cylinder or 3357 g (7.4 Lb) with cylinder included

GENERAL
This is by definition an unproven system as it is not released yet. However, it comes to us from a company known for its great knowledge and understanding of avalanche safety issues and products. BCA is the company that invented the first digital transceiver, the first integrated shovel and probe, and gave us the first freezeproof hydration system. They developed what I consider to be the smartest avalanche beacon, the DTS Tracker, (I have two of those) which reveal a deep understanding of the users (hopefully inexperienced in avy rescue) and the way these products are used out in the backcountry.

PRICING
The price is $499.00 for the complete system including the 30 L pack. At half the cost of the two others, can you spell C-O-M-P-E-T-I-T-I-V-E ???

Avalanche-pack face-off! Snowpulse Lifebag (2 of 3)

2009-10-18T17:55:00.000-07:00

Today I am introducing the Lifebag by Snowpulse. This is the challenger (the Pepsi to ABS’ Coke…) they are much newer on the market and have the advantages and drawbacks that come with that. Because they are newer they don’t have as much of a track record but, on the other hand, as the late comer they are not lumbered with any legacy design commitments.

OVERALL DESIGN
The Lifebag is quite different in look; style and approach compared to the ABS System (see picture to the left). It looks a lot like a life vest (hence the name I guess) and it is made of one bag that goes from your chest over your shoulders, neck and back down on the chest in one big sausage. The idea behind this design is to offer two advantages:

1) Offer protection against head and cervical trauma during a tumble.
2) Offer higher “flotation” and thus making your head (and airways) the part that stays the highest after the avalanche stops.

A statistic we often see is that, of the deaths resulting from a burial, 20% are due to trauma to the body in the fall (tree skiing anyone?). The shape of the Lifebag is supposed to offer some protection for the head, neck and thorax thanks to the location of the airbag in the shoulder straps. Considering the number of cases we would need to validate that statistically, let’s hope we never can. In addition to protecting your neck and head, it is supposed to offer a chance of leaving an air pocket in front of your airways, would you still find yourself buried once the avalanche stops. Snowpulse refers to this as “Head On Top technology” (HOT).
Although I don’t know of any independent testing of the Snowpulse, there is some independent corroboration for the functionality or design of this HOT concept. Avagear was a prototype of a product that consisted of a bag that wrapped around the head much like the Lifebag (that bag was only 90 L vs. 150 L for the LifeBag). In the 2001 tests by the Swiss Federal Institute for Snow and Avalanche Research (SLF) it was noted as follows:

“The fact that the faces of the dummies with the Avagear rescue vest were always found in the proximity of the surface appears to verify the hypothesis that the Avagear airbag, which is positioned close to the head, does indeed aid the lifting effect on the head and upper body. In fact two of the three Avagear-wearing dummies were found in an upright or seated position in the snow, whereas the dummies with the mono or dual airbag were found either face-up or facedown [sic] in a horizontal position.” (Davos, March 16, 2001, Martin Kern, Frank Tschirky, Jürg Schweizer, P.10)”

What remains to be seen in testing is if ABS’ argument that this upright position is a liability in terms of exposing the body " […] to the enormous dynamic forces within the avalanche […]” is a valid one. A trade-off that the Snowpulse user makes here is giving up some mobility but I am not sure how much that would matter as it is hard to assess what use we make of that mobility as we tumble in a pretty uncontrollable situation.

RELEASE SYSTEM
The handle is attached to the system and is stowed away in a zip pocket of the shoulder strap and therefore it can't come off, you can't lose it and you can't forget it either. This is not a completely trivial point as the bag will not be very useful without its launch mechanism…

FILL AND REFILL
The bag is inflated using a compressed air cylinder. Because Snowpulse uses a compressed air cylinder, it is refillable at your neighborhood scuba store.

SPECIFICATIONS
Total airbag volume: Volume of 150 L (about 38 gallons)

Weight:
The 15 L pack: 2525 g (5.6 Lbs) +/- 50 g cylinder included
The 30 L pack: 2925 g (6.4 Lbs) +/- 50 g cylinder included
The 45 L pack: 3225 g (7.1 Lbs) +/- 50 g cylinder included

GENERAL
In a statement from the company on 10/13/09 we learn that “The Snowpulse airbag has saved lives in the last years, we do have feedback from the victims, Pro Rider Nicolas Falquet, Mountain Guide Matthew Peter... More than 700 rescuers in Austria have also chosen the Snowpulse bag.” In Canada Eagle Pass Heliskiing and Pantheon Helisports use the LifeBag and provide one to each of their clients.

PRICING
Here again pricing is hard to get but I will have it by next week end and will post a comparative table. In general, the price range of the Snowpulse is similar to ABS System i.e. $950 – $1,200. The Snowpulse Lifebag, just like the ABS, is portable from one pack size to the other and an additional pack will add about $110.00 per unit.

A detailed comparative table of pricing including order information for these different vendors.

Hopefully, depending on if I hear back from BCA, Avalanche-pack face-off! (3 of 3) will be on the BCA Float 30.

Avalanche-pack face-off! ABS System (1 of 3)

2009-10-16T17:02:00.000-07:00

Today I am introducing the ABS Avalanche Packs, next post will be on the Lifebag by Snowpulse. I just found out that BCA is re-entering this market with their very own Float 30 air bag. This is supposed to happen right around now so I have contacted them and hope to hear back from them before I conclude these presentations.

The ABS Avalanche Packs are the pioneers and founders of this industry. They have been around since 1985. They used to have one bag deploying (the ABS Mono System), now they have two (the ABS Dual System), one on each side of the backpack. The ABS packs are manufactured and sold by ABS Peter Aschauer GmbH out of München, Germany.

OVERALL DESIGN

The two airbags of an ABS backpack are located at the sides of the pack (see picture to the left). This design concept is aimed at facilitating the maintenance of the center of gravity and the buoyancy of the entire body. The avalanche victim is thus able to float horizontally on top of the moving avalanche. The idea is that the flatter the body position on top of the avalanche is, the less impact and torsion the body has to endure due to the enormous dynamic forces within the avalanche which in turn is supposed to greatly reduce the risks of injury. As you will see in my next post this thought process is radically different to the one applied by Snowpulse.

RELEASE SYSTEM
You pull a handle that you first must attach to the shoulder strap of your system (just don’t leave home without it!). A new and cool feature that ABS Systems have just launched is the remote release handle. Simply give one to your ski buddy and he will be able to get your bags inflated as he sees you go down the tube (just make sure he is not the named beneficiary on your life insurance policy...).

FILL AND REFILL
The cartridges are refillable but only by an ABS retailer. The standard cartridge for ABS (and the rest of the industry) is made of steel and ABS’ weighs 515 g (1.1 Lbs). Yet another cool innovation by ABS is the carbon cartridge that comes in at 260 g (just a bit over half a pound!).

SPECIFICATIONS
These are the specs of the Escape Line (the legacy or classic line-up) to see these packs click here.

The total airbag volume: 170 L (about 44 gallons) this will in most cases more than double your body volume.

Weight:
The Prorider 10 L pack: 2500 g (5.5 Lbs) +/- 50 g steel cylinder included
The 15 L pack: 2825 g (6.2 Lbs) +/- 50 g steel cylinder included
The 30 L pack: 2925 g (6.4 Lbs) +/- 50 g steel cylinder included

Below are the specs for the for 2009 all new Vario Line. This line comes with the ability to use the airbag system on all the bags of the line up. This is very usefull if you want a day pack and an overnight pack but still not fork out $2,000. To take a peek at the packs click here.

The total airbag volume is the same as the Escape Line at 170 L (about 44 gallons).

Weight:
The Base Unit: 2100 g (4.6 Lbs) cylinder NOT included
The 15 L pack: 2700 g (6.0 Lbs) cylinder NOT included
The 18 L pack: 2380 g (5.2 Lbs) cylinder NOT included
The 30 L pack: 3000 g (6.6 Lbs) cylinder NOT included
The 50 L pack: 3200 g (7.0 Lbs) cylinder NOT included

GENERAL
In a statement by the company on 10/15/09 we learn that “with an activated ABS Avalanche Airbag 98 % of all avalanche victims have survived – 90 % completely unharmed. This is supported by the documentation of the Swiss Federal Institute for Snow and Avalanche Research in Davos (SLF).”According to Julia Schmideder (Public Relations, ABS Peter Aschauer GmbH); "to date we know of more than 220 people who have survived an avalanche. The most famous one is for sure Xavier de le Rue the freeride snowboard world champion 2008 and 2009". To see his statement click here.

PRICING
To get pricing is like pulling teeth, so I will do a comparative table of both or all three (if BCA gets back to me) once I have them all in (count next week end). As an approximate indication the price range is $950 - $1,200, but again, look for a complete detailed table of all the vendors by next week-end.

Little Cottonwood - Mount Baldy

2009-10-15T18:37:00.000-07:00

This was yet another outing to Alta (choices are kinda limited right now). Went from the Wildcat base to the summit of Baldy via the west shoulder and traversed to come back down the east shoulder. Had a quick lunch at the top of the Collins lift and then back down to the parking lot. At the Wildcat base a lot of snow has been lost to the sun, of course, but it also seems to have rained yesterday. The big storm was a bit of a fizzler and although the snow stake at Collins went from 15 to 19, nowhere did it feel like we had 4 more inches than last week... Past the Wildcat top there is a bit of a snowpack consisting of about an inch of hard crust with about a foot – foot and a half of rotting powder (could get interesting some day…). In any case up high it really felt like winter – see the background of the picture of my ski buddy, Mike Florance, on his first oxygen-less ascent of Mont Baldy (click to enlarge). This was a beautiful tour that felt quite alpine on top with even a few turns! That just goes to show you that there are no bad conditions just bad outlooks! Hopefully next week's storm will be a bit less stingy.

The Avalanche-pack: How it works

2009-10-13T10:51:00.000-07:00

The main objective of these packs is to keep you on top (as in not buried) of the avalanche. The advantages are clear to anyone who has taken even the most cursive look at avy literature. After reading independent test reports (performed on dummies, I guess volunteers for avalanche duty are far and few in between…) from Switzerland and Austria it seems pretty clear that in the overwhelming majority of cases the dummies with bags ended up either on top with clear airways or close to the top with the balloon(s) in clear view allowing a really fast rescue when needed.
The bag to the left is ABS Avalanche Packs by Mountain Safety Systems Ltd. The one to the right is the Lifebag by Snowpulse.

The Swiss Federal Institute for Snow and Avalanche Research (SLF) have compiled some really compelling statistics:

"The most efficient means of preventing avalanche fatalities is to avoid complete burial. Of 1886 persons which where caught in avalanches in Switzerland between 1981 and 1998, 735 persons (39%) where fully buried, and 1151 (61%) were partly buried or stayed completely unburied on the surface. 433 persons (23%) did not survive the avalanche. For the completely buried persons, the mortality rate was 52%. For partly buried victims the mortality rate was only 4.2% […] "

Buried: 52% mortality
On top: 4.2% mortality

The main dynamics of an avalanche that make the air bag idea work are twofold:

1) As the avalanche progresses, it acts like a tumbler sending you down under the snow and then spitting you back up and then back down again and so forth as long as it is moving.

2) The reverse segregation effect that means that as the avalanche moves the small particles go to the bottom (falling through the cracks…) while the largest tend to stay on top.

Point 1) above means that If you are below when the avalanche stops, you are in a bad place, and point 2) means that you want to take up as much volume (and little density) as you ever can in an avalanche situation.

On March 16th, 2001 the Swiss Federal Institute for Snow and Avalanche Research (SLF) conducted a test on 13 dummies, some with some without bags. One of the comments was: […] it is striking to see that the burial depths of the dummies without airbags is significantly higher than those of the dummies with airbags, although the difference cannot be considered statistically significant. (Davos, March 16, 2001, Martin Kern, Frank Tschirky, Jürg Schweizer, Page 10). Why is it not statistically significant? Because the sample size is not large enough. This does not change the fact that I tend to find it very significant that I have here an independent test where all dummies with bags ended up on or near the top (beats a 60% shot at it).
The avalanche bags currently sold inflate to 150L (close to 40 gallons) which in most cases doubles our body volume and it does that in about 3 seconds.

We are repeatedly told that the beacon is the answer and that we have 15 min. to rescue our buddy/buddies. As we can read on the ABS System site “The assumed bench mark of 15 minutes is extremely optimistic”. I tend to agree. Depending on where you get your data from, you are told that within 15 min. of burial you have an 85 – 92% chance of making it alive. I have always been really curious about how many of the guys that are deprived of air for 15 min have some form of brain damage? I don’t think I can hold my breath unaffected for 15 minutes… This is not a knock on the beacon, it remains an indispensible tool in my opinion, even with a bag, but I am not too eager to put all my eggs in that beacon only.

It seems that there are only two alternatives to pick from would you want to buy an inflatable avalanche pack. Next post will be: Avalanche-pack face-off!

The inflatable avalanche pack

2009-10-10T09:02:00.000-07:00

Here is an important topic, never ending preseason high pressure system or not. This is a “new” thing that has been in progress for the last ten years or so in Europe. I hear that at Lech, Austria the entire ski patrol is equipped with these.
These packs are designed to help the avalanche victim “float” on top of the avalanche in order to avoid being buried (it is a bit more complex than that but more on that later). Due to the human body’s density that is greater than snow’s and the dynamics of the avalanche, about half of the avalanche victims are buried. Statistics show that of that number about 66% die. Something to think about…
As far as I understand there are two main vendors of these packs; ABS Avalanche Packs out of Fieberbrunn, Austria and Snowpulse SA out of Verbier, Switzerland (if anyone out there knows about more product, please let me know).I happen to think that this is a very strong concept. Statistics (again) show that about 98-99% of avalanche pack users survived the avalanches they got to ride. I have decided I am going to get me one of those but considering this thing is potentially mission critical (as in not dying just yet) and will lighten my purse by about $1,000, I am going to do my “due diligence” (i.e. research it to death before making a decision, I have some time, the season hasn’t started yet). I am going to share my findings here. More on that on future posts, stay tuned...

All skinning - Hardly any skiing

2009-10-09T18:48:00.000-07:00

This is NOT my second ski outing of the season, just my second skinning outing... Was out to Baldy again from Alta Wildcat base. Enough snow to skin and definitely enough rocks to make it almost impossible to ski without at least destroying the rock skis. The good news is that one can skin from the bottom, that is good news if you need the work-out (only). I did a bit over 3,000 feet going to the west shoulder of Baldy and then to the east shoulder. The weather was warm, sunny and, on the ridgeline, really windy (NW). Past the Collins angle station you have close to one foot of cover left in most slope centers. I found a deep gully and was able to ski the middle of it without hitting rock. All the rest was infested by nasty rock that jump up at you when you try to ski and some devious ones that seem to go for your boot buckles! Great Baldy has filled up a bit and this could maybe be a base layer, especially if next week’s system delivers. The top picture shows the entrance from a distance and the lower one shows the exit (taken against the late pm sun). As you can see, we do need some more snow there. On another note, Cardiac Ridge holds enough snow that hopefully it could be its first layer, provided of course, it doesen't go before next storm comes in...

How extreme is extreme skiing?

2009-10-07T06:10:00.000-07:00

This is the kind of question that one has time for in a pre-season never ending high pressure system… Anyway, ever since Patrick Vallençant, Pierre Tardivel and others launched the movement while people like Doug Coombs, Shane McConkey and others brought it further, extreme skiing has fascinated a lot of people including this writer. Incidentally all these people and many more died on the mountain. A question that I think is not fully answered is: What is extreme skiing? We all heard of the easy clear sounding definition “if you fall you die”. That would somehow settle it; that If you are on a line where a fall could/would be fatal you just skied an “extreme” line. Alright, so is it any-fall-on-this-line-will-kill you or is it a fall-on-this-line-can-kill-you? I think the difference is not insignificant as a lot of places you could die on are not necessarily that extreme. Also, what is an extreme skier? Someone that got lucky a couple of times on some hardcore lines or should it be a more regular occurrence? If so, how regular? Is an extreme skier someone that does X number of descents down a Y degree line or higher that are no shorter than Z elevation loss? As a caution to anyone feeling frisky you can see Garett Bartelt's fall by clicking here.

The not so exciting forecast

2009-10-06T08:43:00.000-07:00

With a forecast like this one (see below Little Cottonwood forecast) it seems like we are back to pre-season angst.

I have found that the best therapy to stem at least some of the mounting impatience is busying oneself with ski stuff. Things like preparing /supplementing the equipment, reading all sorts of ski mags (even old ones), planning and preparing the greatest outings, and of course train like a fool to get those legs ready to go when winter finally comes upon us. Got to stay positive in these trying times!

My very first ski day of the season

2009-10-05T18:58:00.000-07:00

So this was the one, the very first ski day of the season. The attentive reader will notice that on the 3rd I said “first skinning outing of the season", that was not an oversight; the emphasis was definitely on the workout that day... But today I got to ski powder off of the chutelettes of Baldy’s shoulder including some legitimately steep lines (at least for a first of the season...). I was up in the pm and it was dumping good, it was almost a white out (see picture to the left). I did a couple of laps up there and then a ski-out all the way down to the Gold Miner’s parking lot. All of it was nicely skiable. The main caution is higher up on the shoulder where there was a fair amount of rock, you rapidly develop a heightened sensitivity towards really using both skis equally and making yourself as light as ever. The rest, as you ski down, presented no issues at all.
There was maybe half a dozen skiers on skins and lower down a plethora of people with resort skis boot packing up (they stayed mostly pretty low on the mountain).

The cover feels like a solid foot minimum pushing to two and even three feet in the most privileged spots (see the poles in the snow). Kudos to those NOAA wheater reports (see yesterday's post). Great Baldy shute is probably not going to need many more of these storms before it is skiable too. Below you can see a few turns taken off the Baldy shoulder. In this pre-season time of angst and tension, this was clearly a worthwhile outing!

The weather reports are getting really exciting!

2009-10-04T07:04:00.000-07:00

This is what the NOAA for Alta (at 9,600 ft) says for today: Snow showers. [...] New snow accumulation of 3 to 7 inches possible.
For tonight: Snow showers likely. [...] New snow accumulation of 3 to 5 inches possible.
For tomorrow: Snow showers likely. [...] New snow accumulation of 3 to 7 inches possible.
The way I read this, it says that we have a possible range of 3+3+3 to 7+5+7 i.e. 9 - 19 inches possible! Now, if that is not exciting in very early October, I don't know what is. This, of course, comes on top of 6 - 12 inches that are alredy there. Looks like another skinning workout for early week...

My first outing of the 2009/2010 season in the Wasatch

2009-10-03T21:48:00.000-07:00

After the first storm of the season here in the Wasatch (I live in Park City) and seeing all that white stuff on the Park City - Canyons ridgeline, the yearning for winter got the best of me. So, yesterday I took my car and decided to go look for snow. I had my ski gear in the back but was dressed for a hike/workout, not really expecting to see enough of the white stuff… Well, I had my first skinning outing of the year! Went out with my rock skis (yes I have succumbed to that morally repugnant concept (skis should be cherished and protected, not grated…)) to Alta and was able to skin from the base of Wildcat to the shoulder of Baldy. Up there it was full on Winter! I couldn’t believe I was on my gear getting up a mountain. I only gained 2,000 feet as I was out alone in the pm and the sun was starting to set over the ridgeline. Snow conditions were not fantastic and one could not ski down the whole thing (I have rock skis - not rock boots!) but by the shoulder of Baldy in the middle of the shutelettes it was pushing a foot and Great Baldy got what, from a distance, looks like a fair amount of coverage.