The preseason is dead! Long live the season!

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…

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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...

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

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!

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

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)

NOTE: For a review of the updated Float 32 click here.

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 REFILLBCA 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)

UPDATE: Snowpulse was acquired by the Swiss company, Mammut. These products are now referred to as: Mammut Avalanche Airbags.

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 DESIGNThe 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 REFILLThe bag is inflated using a compressed air cylinder. Because Snowpulse uses a compressed air cylinder, it is refillable at your neighborhood scuba store.

SPECIFICATIONSTotal 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.

PRICINGHere 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)

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

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

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

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

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?

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

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

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!

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

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.