Check out this video of a slide near Montezuma just a few days ago. Apparently this was a run in a “friendly, winner-take-all” competition. Plenty to talk about regarding backcountry competitions in questionable terrain with the sketchy CO snowpack this year, but we’ll leave it up to commenters. Thankfully the BCA Float Airbag worked well…
Wonder if they sell the most important piece of backcountry gear here:
Kudos if you know what it is. Stay safe out there folks.
This season seems to be the one when critical mass has been achieved with the use of airbag backpacks here in North America. No longer a strange curiosity occasionally seen on a backcountry skier returning from Europe, backcountry users are now embracing the technology in increasing numbers as prices and availability have gone up. Before we get to our review of the BCA Float 36, let’s hear the case for airbags.
Most of the airbag research thus far has been conducted in Europe, where big open alpine faces provide a perfect place for airbag deployment. Here in North America, where backcountry skiing often takes place in treed areas, the results of airbag use will surely be different than in Europe. Still, the statistics from Europe are quite convincing. Between 1990 and 2007, of 151 skiers wearing an airbag (specifically ABS), only 3 people were completely buried without part of the airbag still showing. There were only 2 fatalities. Those numbers would be far worse without the airbags. Check this LINK.
Even if you ARE buried with an airbag pack, two things are likely to help your survival. First, some part of your airbag is probably above the surface, even if you aren’t, so your partners won’t even need to search for you with their beacons- they will simply ski straight to you, saving you a couple minutes or more of search time. Second, you probably aren’t buried as deeply as you would have been without the airbag, greatly reducing your burial time. Even an experienced group may have trouble finding and digging out a deeply buried victim in less than 15 minutes, given how long it takes to dig through concrete-like avalanche debris.
Trauma will remain a big concern for avalanche victims, and it is unclear if airbags will help with that aspect at all. Still, one has to think that a big poofy airbag, situated by your head and neck, will at least help a little. Also, since it tends to keep victims above the moving debris rather than sucked down in it, trauma will likely be minimized.
However, even with an airbag pack, the best thing to do remains not to get in an avalanche. Anyone who has had a uncomfortably close look at a big avalanche knows that serious injuries are a real threat with or without airbags. For those of us who ski in the backcountry on a regular basis, the odds say that you’ll eventually make a mistake and be involved in an avalanche. So, the choices are not to ski, only ski on slopes less than 25 degrees, or try to make good decisions and try to stack the odds in your favor.
Therefore, Brittany and I will both be skiing with BCA Float 36 backpacks this season. At $785 MSRP, they’re not cheap (although they are cheaper than most airbag packs, many of which are over $1,000). And at a reported 7.7 pounds, they’re certainly not light either (a typical non-airbag pack of the same size is probably around 2.5lbs). After a half dozen ski trips with our new packs so far, here’s our take on the Float 36.
Float 36 Review:
First off, it is heavy. You won’t pick it up without noticing that. Thankfully, however, the engineers at BCA have done a terrific job of designing the pack in a way that makes the weight less noticeable. After all, 20lbs in a cheap school backpack won’t carry as well as 20lbs in a nice ski pack. The “guts” of the pack are tight against the back, where the weight isn’t as noticeable once the pack is on.
The main compartment is huge and can be opened nearly completely, making it easier to dry out at home or stuff a big jacket in there. Meanwhile, there is a pocket for the shovel blade (My BCA Companion shovel is the biggest you’ll get in there), and side pockets for the handle and probe. Water bladders can go behind the shovel blade where my hand is:
Hose routing for water bladders is a bit of an issue, so Brittany was forced to make a small cut to allow the hose routing from the main compartment to the shoulder strap access point (I don’t use bladders, so a non-issue for me). One more inside pocket, which I’ve been using for snacks:
The main compartment can also be accessed by a small access panel in the back of the pack, making it user-friendly for things I grab often, like water.
Fleece lined goggle pocket on top of the pack:
Italian Mountain is a large massif at the head of both Cement Creek and the Taylor River. Last year, while skiing Taylor Peak, I spotted a number of lines off of Cement’s unnamed sub-peaks. My friends Ben and Luke recently skied one of these lines, so armed with that beta Pete, Josh, Brett and I went up to check it out. The line:
This area of the Elks borders the Sawatch range, and is correspondingly dryer and windier than what we’re used to in the snow-favored areas closer to Crested Butte. Shallower snowpacks tend to slide more, and we observed a number of large slides on generally East-facing terrain on peaks like Hunter Hill, Doubletop, and Italian. The slides didn’t look too recent and we were skiing different aspects, but it was still something to take note of. As always, future lines popped up everywhere. Pete and I have been eying this one for years:
The North face of Teocalli has been on my list for quite some time, ever since Pete Sowar and I traversed under it when we skied the NE and W faces in 2008. Last Friday, things finally worked out to give it a go, along with Brittany, Pete, and Josh Macak. The USGS library has this great photo of Teocalli Mountain from 1973, taken by noone other than the famous William H Jackson. The notes on this photo are interesting: Teocalli Peak, from the Aztec teocalli, or sacrificial mound, that were always built in a pyramidal form, and which this mountain closely resembles. Is situated upon a small tributary of Red Rock Creek, flowing into East River. Its height is 13,274 feet. Gunnison County, Colorado. 1873.
Red Rock Creek is now known as Brush Creek, although I think I like Red Rock Creek better. Today, the official height is a little lower as well, at 13,209′. In any case, we quickly made our way up the south slopes and took a quick break at the start of the rock outcrops.
Nearing the summit:
One option we had in mind is the beautiful splitter couloir that drops off just before the summit:
My Alaska stories occasionally come up, and I thought they were worth sharing for those of you who haven’t seen or heard them. All photos by Dev Finley…
In spring of ’05, a group of us convened in Valdez, pilgrims to Mecca, the “North Shore” of skiing. It was a strong group, one which would allow us to fulfill our dreams of Alaska Heliskiing, without being held back in any way. We had enough people for a fully private heli, meaning that we were calling the shots as much as the guides were. Things were looking good. But it was not to be…
We arrived at the heli-op headquarters with $1,200 worth of food and booze from the Anchorage Costco packed into the RV for the 10 of us. We were the first group of the year, and the heli had not yet arrived. The ATCO trailers were just beginning to thaw out, and smelled heavily of diesel and dampness. The first day was gray, so we decided to make some laps off Thompson pass. This was entertaining, but certainly not why we were there. Thankfully we got a good workout pushing the rear-wheel drive van around:
The following day was partially cloudy. Sadly, this meant that our heli would still not be making the trip up-valley to us. So we decided to skin up across the valley for a much bigger run than the pass shuttles were offering. Plus, we knew the snow would be better up high. Being a large group, we split up into 2 groups for the skin. My group of 5 headed climber’s right, eventually skinning our way up a large gully. Jay, Adam and I all voiced our concerns about the skintrack location, thinking it would be safer on a nearby ridge. Quite stupidly, we continued up the same way, rationalizing that we were in a nice safe coastal snowpack, and it wasn’t anything to worry about. About that time, a cornice failed above us and sent a huge natural avalanche barreling towards us. Jay, Adam, Rob and I were all able to move to our right, where a terrain feature provided safety. Spencer, on the other hand, was behind us and unable to reach safety. He was caught in the avalanche and took a ride for a few hundred vertical feet, eventually stopping unharmed and buried up to his chest. We were able to quickly dig him out, although one ski was never recovered.
A couple of observations: We were all using Alpine Trekkers, since our main goal was heli-skiing, not touring. We were not caught, but we were left in an awkward position since we needed to deal with the Trekkers before we could even begin looking for the skier caught in the slide. Trekkers have their place for side-country and the like, but it sucks when you know that the first couple minutes of your search will be wasted dealing with trekkers. 2- The older style Tracker beacons were attached with plastic D-rings. These all shattered in the force of the avalanche, so the skier caught was wearing his beacon by literally a thread down by his boot. If the skier had been buried and the beacon had been totally ripped off, we wouldn’t have found him, just the beacon. The new Tracker beacons have a sweet harness, and the old ones can have the plastic D-rings easily replaced by key rings. Most new beacons have a good harness system, but it’s a point to consider when shopping for avalanche beacons.
March is one of my favorite months. The days get longer, the snow stays good and often is quite stable… it’s the time for long tours and big lines.
March
March opened up with a bang with a long tour beginning at Mt. Emmons, and then skiing Scarps and Peeler.
I was able to tick a few more lines off of my wish list, like the East Face of Gothic
and Teocalli.
Ant Peak is part of the string of mountains stretching from Mount Justice to Purple Mountain known by Marble skiers as “Little Alaska”. Other peaks in the range include “The Nipple”, at 12,789′ and “The Blob” at 12,781′. These peaks are most commonly skied from Marble, although their South faces are very prominent from many Crested Butte area summits and offer up 3,000′ descents into the Dark Canyon. There is a short window every spring, however, when these peaks can be reached via snowmobile access. Barring another big snowstorm at lower elevations, this was probably my last trip up Slate River, which is badly melted out with a lot of long dirt sections.
Last year at almost the same time of year, travel up the valley was quite simple- but this year that wasn’t the case at all, and John Jasper and I even took the time to build a short road to make sure our sleds didn’t get dumped into the river.
At Yule Pass, the Raggeds Wilderness starts, so we parked the sleds there, and headed down Yule Creek. JJ, Chair Mountain behind:
The North Face of Ant has been on my list for a long time, as it offers up over 2,000′ of steep skiing right off the summit of a highly aesthetic peak. This is what we were heading for:
By now, virtually every backcountry skier in North America has heard the name Saddle Peak and seen the photos of the massive avalanche that roared down Bridger Bowl’s popular sidecountry. Photo from the GNFAC:
Thankfully, no one was hurt, although it was a close call as shown by these videos:
One thing I’ve spent some time pondering since this avalanche occurred is Bridger Bowl’s beacon policy. In order to ski Bridger’s ridge terrain or ride the two year old Schlasman’s lift, you need to have a beacon although you do not need any other gear such as a shovel. This terrain is controlled, as any slide would potentially bury skiers below the ridge, yet as you get on the lift or start the short hike up the ridge you must first pass a wand which will beep and give you the green light if you have a beacon turned on.
I purchased my first beacon in 1995 specifically for Bridger’s ridge terrain when I visited during spring break from the University of Colorado. This marked the beginning of my education regarding avalanches and avalanche safety. In this way, Bridger’s policy is a great thing. I suspect many other skiers have purchased their first beacon in much the same way, particularly students at nearby Montana State University, home of some world class skiers including the late great Doug Coombs.
In some ways it’s a great policy, but on the other hand I think there are some unintended consequences. To ski the ridge terrain, all you need is a beacon- no class, no shovel, no probe. You go up Schlasman’s with your new beacon, and it starts to feel a little less like a ski area, and a little more like backcountry, even though it is not backcountry- this is controlled terrain. Venture a little farther and you’ll leave the ski area with just a short hike- now you are in uncontrolled terrain, but it gets so much traffic it might not feel all that different from the ski area you just left behind. Continue on your way even farther from the ski area and you’ll be in true backcountry terrain that sees a lot less traffic. For an experienced backcountry skier, these subtle differences are meaningful, but for a MSU freshman chock full of ski skills but with little avalanche experience, most of it might seem about the same. That’s when someone will find themselves on Saddle Peak, a big consequential line with tracks all over it, and will drop in without being fully aware of the chances they are taking.
Bridger Bowl pass purchases can include a cheap beacon during checkout. To me, it seems like that package deal should also include a probe, shovel, maybe a backpack as well. More importantly, it should include an avalanche class, hopefully a cheap one subsidized by pass sales. Refresher courses should be available as well, since avalanche education is an ongoing process.
Let’s say BB sells 1,000 passes a season and adds $10 to each of them for “Avalanche Awareness”. So they’ve got $10,000 in a fund. 50 people who bought a pass would like to attend an Avie 1 class, since they are backcountry newcomers, and with their pass purchase they can do so for $100 instead of the regular $200 (I’m just making up numbers here for the example). BB picks up the slack and pays out the other $5,000 from the fund. Another 50 people want to take a refresher course for $50 instead of the regular $100, and BB picks up the $2,50 from the fund. Any excess $ can stay in the fund for subsequent years or get donated to the GNFAC (local avalanche center). This seems like a better way of educating people instead of “Here’s your pass and your beacon, good luck to you.”
The way things stand right now it’s more like someone giving a teenager a loaded gun and saying “Have fun”, rather than taking some time talking about gun safety. I don’t know, maybe I’m way off. Anyone want to weigh in on this?
If it’s time for a new beacon, the Tracker 2 might be a good option:
After some small storms accompanied by strong winds, conditions in the backcountry had somewhat taken a turn for the worse late last week. Still, Luke, Jeremy, Josh and myself were still hopeful that we could find some sheltered snow. We headed up the slate river and began a short bootpack up a ridge from the snowmobiles. Sure enough, the wind had created a slab that we triggered off the ridge, breaking right at our feet.
Since we were on a ridge, we weren’t in any immediate danger, although we quickly scrapped any plans of continuing any higher. We headed over to some South facing terrain and yet another small SE facing slab ripped out. In the first hour, we’d already triggered more slides than I’ve triggered in the last 10 years. Time to find another area, so we switched to lower East facing terrain, which was skiing pretty well. Luke:
Some of our tracks on this fun and playful terrain:
Luke catching some air:
The snow on this East face was starting to get wet, so we switched things up again and rode over to some North facing terrain. There were some nice options in the area for another day:
No skins were harmed during the making of this TR:
Luke dropping in:
Josh:
“Where’s Jeremy?” It’s like “Where’s Waldo?”, but different:
Jeremy:
Luke:
5 laps, probably about 9,000′ of vertical skied, not a bad way to spend the day. I could get used to this sled skiing thing…
In 1995, Christian Begin released his award winning movie, “Locomotion”. A ski movie with an actual storyline, Locomotion told the tale of Roger’s Pass and the terrible toll it took on the men who built it. In 1871 Canadian Prime Minister John Macdonald promised the people of British Columbia that a transcontinental railway would be built within 10 years, as an incentive for the people of B.C to join the new Canadian Union. Without a railway linking B.C to the rest of Canada, there was strong talk of B.C joining the U.S.A. Unfortunately for Americans who wish they could live in B.C, Roger’s Pass was discovered and the railway was built, though not without the loss of many lives due to avalanches that plagued the route. 58 men were killed in one avalanche alone, on March 4, 1910. Begin’s movie tells the history of this pass, and features the skiing that is now world famous at Roger’s Pass.
Today, Roger’s Pass is a huge destination for ski touring. Several areas of the pass are permanently closed for highway crews to study snowpit data and for avalanche blasting. Other areas need a permit at the Roger’s Pass Centre, and may be closed due to avalanche control work. We arrived at Roger’s Pass with a few inches of new snow, fog, falling snow, and high avalanche danger due to several buried surface hoar layers. Meanwhile, just prior to our arrival, daytime highs had been hitting the low 50′s even at the tops of the highest peaks in the area. Reports of avalanches on these buried layers were everywhere, with some slides occurring even on low angled slopes.
With that in mind we discussed our options with the friendly rangers at the Centre, and they eventually steered us to Loop Creek and the Bonney trees, which were less crusty due to their northern aspects, and popular enough that some of the snowpack weaknesses would be less of a concern than other areas.
Our views looked like this for much of the day:
It was a pity not to be able to see these huge mountains and their tremendous relief (ski descents of 5-6,000′ are common), but we continued up through the fog and occasionally saw some enticing terrain:
Gap jump, anyone?
We also passed some of the old railroad towers, since replaced with a tunnel. 90 degree pillow lines, oh yeah!
We reached treeline and that was the end of the road for us, as the visibility was no where near good enough to continue onward. The snow quality had improved greatly as we headed up, and we were now set to ski well over a foot of fluffy fresh snow. Brittany:
Frank:
We stumbled into this clearing, which was steep and filled with pillow after pillow after pillow, all around 5′ high. While the photo does it no justice, this 1000′ of skiing was my favorite of the whole trip.
While we had planned on skiing Roger’s Pass for at least a couple of days, the avalanche and weather conditions kind of forced our hand a little, and this would be the only day we skied Roger’s. Still, Roger’s Pass remains as one of the epicenters of North American skiing, and we were grateful to experience it, if only for a day. Next stop, the 2 year old resort of Revelstoke…
Other Montana-Canada Road Trip Blog Posts
Road Trip Update
Itinerary
Bridger Bowl
Whitefish
Fernie
Kicking Horse
