It is all-to-possible that, as you read this, your life has been stricken with one of this season's avalanches. If you are unaware, a lot of the western United States has been welcoming huge amounts of snow as the year comes to a super powdery start. However, avalanches have already taken the lives of many and buried more.
As I try to learn as much as I can about this natural activity, I see how dangerous they truly are, and how naive so many skiers to them. I am, by no means, anywhere close to being an avalanche expert. I do, however, know that 99.9999% of skiers know virtually nothing about slides, and NO ONE knows "enough." Fatalities don't rack up amongst just the inexperienced or unwise. Instead, innocent people that believe they are being safe end up victims of fun-times-gone-wrong. If you can, take an avalanche class, buy safety equipment, and ski with experienced people. These things aren't solely for professionals, hardcore tele-skiers, or guides. They are for you. If you are going through gates or into the backcountry, these are necessities. As the focus of the skiing realm that we are part of tends its way towards the backcountry (see: any movie), the amount of people wating to venture there increases.
After spending a couple of months skiing in Argentina (see: https://www.newschoolers.com/web/content/viewcult/action/news/id/3924/jid/768/eid/3702/
),
I have come to realize how truly blessed we are with the avalanche
control work offered to us, especially here in the US. This work,
however, does not prevent nature's cycles. Avalanches, natural and
triggered, occur frequently and often unexpected.
I want to remind everyone, as this year comes to a fairly tragic
beginning due to the results of huge, wonderful, beautiful snowfalls,
that nature is not something to be pushed. Be careful as you ski,
because I, along with the other 150,000 members of this site, would
hate to be reading about your life being taken by the next avalanche.
Skiing out-of-bounds is about more than ducking ropes or hiking up a
ridge just to get fresh lines on the way down or to build your first
backflip jump. It's about becoming educated about the sport that we
have all grown to love. We learn the name of each new double flip and
we take the time to stretch our tees to the tallest, so let's take the
time to learn about how to stay alive so we can keeping having fun.
Because fun, after all, is what it's all about.
So, how do you go about all of this safety nonsense?Nothing replaces knowledge, experience, and good instinct. But you can't just snap your fingers and be experienced.
Instead, take an avalanche safety course first. Ideally, get your Avalanche Certification. A great start is your level 1, which can be found simply by an online search of "Avalanche Certification ___(insert your state here)." It is a super interesting class that is an investment in yourself. It isn't horribly expensive at all, nor is in awfully time consuming, but it gets your head in the right spot. You learn from experienced people and start to get your feet wet in this wild world of backcountry safety.
You will also need equipment. The standards start at a beacon, shovel, and probe. A beacon is a transceiver that is always sending a mutual signal that is picked up by all brands of beacons when they are in the "receive" mode. In this way, when someone is buried, everyone else switches their beacons to "receive" and they each pick up the signal that the victim's beacon is transmitting.
A shovel is used to build jumps, dig snow pits, and most importantly to be used as a tool to dig out an avalanche victim. The victim is located precisely using a probe, or a long (200cm+) tent-pole-like cylinder that is stuck through the snow to locate a victim.
All of this equipment can be found at your favorite outdoor stores or websites, including the likes of backcountry.com and rei.com. It is extremely important to familiarize yourself with your equipment before taking it out.
Even if you aren't buying equipment or hiking miles into the BC right now, a great and interesting first step is to keep an eye on avalanche forecasts. A great first step for these is avalanche.org. I read it first thing every morning when I wake up. Call me a snow nerd -- but realize that there is nothing I want to learn about more.
Now, you may ask, why do I need all of this stuff? Can't I just duck a gate and head into the backcountry? Well, yes. You can. But would you skydive without a parachute? Sure, there has been cases of people surviving chute failures, but your odds are too low to gamble with. You have too many people that care about you. Before you get into a new sport, which backcountry skiing is, you need the proper safety equipment. The same way free-soloing is dangerous in rock climbing, backcountry skiing is dangerous.
Backcountry skiing is one of my favorite aspects of skiing. Don't be scared of it, be smart about it.
Cheers to safe, progressive, and fun season.
Brody Leven
