Category: Random Thoughts

14erskiers Updates, Requests, and Feedback…

Posted by Frank – April 23, 2010

Hey everyone, hope you’ve been enjoying our site. It’s been a rough week, as I’m suffering from a nasty sore throat that’s so bad I’ve been put on prescription painkillers. This is the time of year I want to be skiing every day, but sadly I’m on the sidelines right now. I bet the skiing this weekend will be excellent, too, with some fresh snow to cover up all the CO dust we have right now.

One thing I did recently was update my ski the fourteeners page. Hopefully it’s a bit more user-friendly now, and I also added my so-called “best” descent for each peak in an attempt to inspire some new lines. One project for this summer will be to update the peaks with TGR links and put them on here instead. Check it out and let me know what you think.

Another page to check out is our “virtual library” for lack of a better term, if you’re interested in finding some new books to hold you over through the summer. That link is here.

Another thing we’ve been working on is the Facebook Fan page. If you’re on Facebook, please click here and become a fan. (I guess Facebook is now calling it “like this page”– same thing). We’ve been trying to post short things on Facebook to keep it interesting instead of just linking everything we do here on 14erskiers. If you’re already a fan, please suggest 14erskiers to your friends that might be interested as well. Thanks!

Finally, we’d like to be the best site out there for skiing, biking, and other outdoor sports. We’d love to do the occasional guest TR if anyone has a great adventure they’d like to share. We would also like to do the occasional gear review, although we don’t want to get bogged down in that kind of thing the way some sites do. If anyone has a product or an industry contact that they’d like us to review or get in contact with, please let us know. Most importantly, we’d love to know what we’re doing that you like, and what we’re doing that you don’t like. Seriously, let us know. Thanks!

Trusting Your Gear

Posted by Frank – April 22, 2010

I’ve been thinking a lot about how much we, as ski mountaineers, rely on our gear to perform flawlessly and get us home safely. The failure of an AT boot, and the injuries caused by that failure, really drives the point home- if your gear fails, you’ll get hurt, or even killed. Granted, your ski gear isn’t the only thing you rely on, your car is another obvious one, but your bindings better keep you attached when you’re skiing something exposed, and your beacon better work if you get buried.

I have already experienced one injury caused by equipment malfunction. In the 2004 Crested Butte Freeskiing contest, my binding pre-released in my Superfinals run. My buddy Ian took this photo on my first run, and I prereleased in about the same area, going REALLY fast.

Pre-releases happen, especially when you’re really pushing it, so I don’t begrudge my Salomon bindings at all for failing me. I broke a bunch of branches with my back, one of which was 4″ in diameter. I was wearing a spine protector at the time, which really saved me, but I still missed about a month while doing PT.

You’re less likely to push the limits in the same way out in the backcountry versus at a freeskiing comp. But of course some of the other hazards are greater. I’ve been out with people who were using the old Ortovox m1 beacon, which was a horrible beacon which only occasionally worked, even after Ortovox “fixed” the battery issues with them. Since I couldn’t get a signal, and my buddy couldn’t reliably search for me either, we turned around and called it a day.

Just the other day on Little Bear, Pam lost a ski and almost lost her ski over some pretty big exposure, but thankfully Brittany was able to grab it. Dynafits are fickle bindings, and she thought she was in them properly. She wasn’t. Locking the toepiece in a situation like that will help ensure that you’re really in the binding, in my opinion.

So what can you do? Well, beacon checks are always a good idea. Check your gear for excess wear and tear, micro-cracks, that sort of thing. Check the screws in your bindings for tightness. Lube and clean your bindings. Sometimes, you’ve just got to bite the bullet and replace gear, too, even if it seems fine. In the end, though, there’s still a lot of trust in your gear. Anyone have some good maintenance tips?

Scouting New Lines From the Couch

Posted by Frank – April 5, 2010

I stumbled onto a new website today that Colorado ski mountaineers may be interested in checking out. The site is straightforward- it’s Google Earth with a twist or two. Twist number one is that most peaks and subpeaks are labeled, and that fact alone will bring me back to the site simply because it makes navigating easier. The second twist, an interesting one at that, is that it seeks to quantify how “impressive” a peak is based on a scale called the Omnidirectional Relief and Steepness (ORS) scale. Say that three times fast. If a peak rises high above its’ surroundings, it will rate highly on this scale. If the peak is steep and spire-like, it will also rate highly on this scale. On the website, the most “impressive” peaks are red, followed by orange, green, and blue. Here is a local example:
Photobucket

Obviously, the scale is far from perfect for armchair ski mountaineers to use and find new lines. On the example above, for instance, both Cascade and Axtel only rate a “green” label, because both peaks have gentle South Faces, although both peaks have routes on their North Faces which are usually rappelled. Still, when scouting for a new area to explore, these labels may be a useful starting point. It could also lead to some interesting goals, such as skiing all the local orange and red peaks within a season, or climbing all the orange and red peaks within a lifetime. Plus, just like people like to boast that they’ve skied their first double-black diamond run, backcountry skiers could boast that they’ve skied their first “red circle”. In any case, it’s a pretty cool time-killer site to check out.


If you REALLY want to talk some tech trash, map out your routes with a new GPS or Altimeter from Backcountry.com. On Sale Now!

Bridger Bowl, Beacons, and the Saddle Peak Avalanche of 2.16.10

Posted by Frank – March 23, 2010

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:

Avalanche? No Problem, I’ll just fly over them

Posted by Frank – March 18, 2010

Here in Colorado, it’s a rare occurrence to ski big lines in winter snow conditions- the avalanche danger is just too great. So for much of the winter, we’re left staring at these faces, wishing there was some way to safely ski them. I’ve always wished I could have a little red emergency button on my pack- if I started a slide I could just press the button and be teleported to my living room, Star Trek style. Sadly, it’s another generation that will get to do that. In the meantime, the Euros have the answer. You gotta watch this video:

Trip Update 2.24.10

Posted by Frank – February 24, 2010

We’re having a great time on our roadtrip up north, despite the lack of snow and abundance of the white stuff back in CO.

Bridger Bowl was great, we went for a long tour to the south and got up close and personal with the huge slide on Saddle peak from last week. From there, we went up to Whitefish and had a good time there- it’s a big mountain with lots of little zones worth checking out. We actually had blue skies which is rare for the area, and we were able to check out the peaks of Glacier National Park. Fernie was a bit wind hammered, but some locals showed us around and we toured ’til our legs were about to fall off. Now we’re in Golden, BC and had another great day, this time at Kicking Horse. The backcountry right out of the area here is as good as anywhere I’ve seen. Kicking Horse has been super impressive, and we’d like to come back here for another visit. Tomorrow, we’re off to Roger’s Pass, followed by Revelstoke. We’ll get some TR’s up when we can…

A Skiing History Lesson

Posted by Frank – February 11, 2010

Skiing has been around for thousands of years, and despite all the talk of “progression” from the pros skiers, the truth is that people have been getting after it for a long, long time. Check out this great rant by Mike Douglas if you don’t believe me:

Winter Wildlands Alliance And Their Sponsors

Posted by Frank – January 27, 2010

The Winter Wildlands Alliance (WWA) is a group dedicated to eliminating types of winter recreation other than the ones they support, namely human-powered recreation. From their website: “We believe winter wildland adventurers and future generations should have sizable areas of public land on which to experience the natural sights, sounds, and winter beauty of public lands free of motorized vehicles, and that our backcountry wildlife habitat should be protected from the negative impacts of motorized intrusion such as snowmobiles.” One can only guess that their supporters are not aware of these “sizable areas” available throughout the west, otherwise known as Wilderness areas, many of the National Parks, areas that just aren’t suitable to snowmobiles, areas closed to snowmobiles via the local Forest Service travel management plans, etc.) They must also be unaware of the evidence that people on foot are often much more disturbing to wildlife than people on snowmobiles (See here for more info.)

Here at 14erskiers, we’re supporters of quiet places free of snowmobiles just like any other lover of wild places. The question, of course, is how much is the right amount. In most areas, I think there is already a solid compromise between the different user groups. We’re skiers, not snowmobilers, but we use snowmobiles to go up roads that are open to cars in the summer in order to access some backcountry areas. Personally, I fail to see the difference between a car on a road in the summer and a snowmobile on the same road in the winter. WWA seems to think snowmobiles should be banned virtually everywhere.

Everyone is entitled to their opinion, to be sure, but what I find interesting and sad is the list of sponsors the WWA has garnered. Some of WWA’s sponsors include Keen, Clif bar, Black Diamond, Cloudveil, Osprey, and even REI. It would seem that snowmobilers and snowmobile skiers might want to purchase products from these companies, whether it’s a backpack from Osprey or a pair of goggles from REI. Hopefully everyone who is interested in keeping their National Forests open to multiple forms of recreation will let these companies know that their support of WWA is unacceptable. the best way to do this, as usual, is by voting with your pocketbook. Personally, I will no longer support these companies as long as they continue to support WWA. I hope you will too, and please let your friends know about this if you care about your National Forest recreational opportunities.

The Season Begins

Posted by Frank – January 24, 2010

I’ll admit it. I’ve actually thought about mountain biking in the past couple of weeks. It makes me sad just admitting it. But given the nearly non-existent base, the lack of steep terrain open on the mountain, and the backcountry filled mostly with sugar, it’s been groundhog day every day this winter, and the date seemed like it was stuck in early November.

Thankfully, the last week has started to get us over the hump. Sure, the backcountry is still scary, and will be until springtime to some extent, but at least the ski area is moving forward. Today was the long-awaited opening of the North Face lift at Crested Butte, and it didn’t disappoint. Finally having the ability to make some steep turns on runs like Cesspool and Hourglass made all the difference, and I don’t think I’ll be thinking about the bike again until at least June. Here’s to more storms on their way in a couple of days…

What’s Old is New Again

Posted by Frank – January 21, 2010

I’m currently reading “Two Planks and A Passion” (see right sidebar), a historical look at skiing. I haven’t gotten too far into it yet, but one thing that I already found interesting are ski shapes and dimensions. Things like fat skis, reverse camber, and reverse sidecut seem like new inventions, something just introduced in the last 10 or 15 years at most. Turns out, they’re not.

Some of the earliest skis ever discovered look like a lot of modern skis- reverse sidecut, well over 100mm in the waist, reverse camber, basically the whole deal. Just like the park rat jibbers of today are mostly just rehashing tricks the hotdoggers of the ’70s used to do, it turns out the modern shapes look a lot like some transportation device some hunter used to shoot reindeer back in the day. Weird, huh?