# Avalanche/Backcountry Course



## Damaged (Feb 23, 2013)

Finished my avalanche level 1 and wow did it beat me up. I'm comfortable riding anywhere in a resort but backcountry riding is a completely different experience with a whole new set of skill sets in addition to everything you already know. The course was well taught and was a great experience. It is humbling to know that I still need so much more to learn and practice. Some of the things I realized:

1. searching with a beacon, probe, bracketing are not intuitive and I need more practice.
2. splitboarding is even MORE expensive then regular boarding and then touring is not intuitive either especially if you do not have much experience skiing. I was wondering if it would be even worth it to take a ski lesson. 
3. all your energy will be drained just by going uphill. Powder is not fun going uphill nor when you inevitably fall.
3. I need to study weather, wind, terrain and be more observant when I am on the mountain.
4. riding down with all your gear in a heavy pack throws off your balance and makes it harder to get up in deep snow.
5. Ski Patrol are awesome people. I never realized how much they do to keep a resort as safe as possible. They blow things up and shoot cannons to trigger avalanches and have cool dogs too.

If anyone in socal wants to practice their beacon probe searches or do some light touring when the season winds down let me know! If you just want to ride thats cool too. I have a pass at Mt. High but I am just as close to Bear to Summit.


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## Argo (Feb 25, 2010)

Any time you visit a resort in a real mountain area they will likely have a beacon practice area. Go and use it. Take your back country gear and just wear it when your at bigger mountains. wearing your pack looks stupid as fuck while resort riding but getting used to the extra weight is good. Do it for a day here and there through the season. I have a big camera bag that I take with me for pictures. It is a bitch but since I know what to expect while riding with it, its not THAT bad..... 

Also, with a back pack on the lift, I always put it on my chest for the lift ride. I will not be that fucking jackass that is hanging from a lift because my bag got caught up in it.


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## neni (Dec 24, 2012)

Welcome to the beauty of BC riding! You've observed good points. 

Also, you'll recognize with that you'll never cease to learn more abt snow n terrain. Talk to seasoned tourers, everyone will teach you new little bits n pieces, which slowly get to a big picture. I'm doing an avy refresh course each year; was never wasted time, I always learned something new. "Staying Alive in Avalanche Terrain" by Bruce Tremper is a very good book which will - in a easy and enjoyable writing style - teach you many more details.

Second Argos statements. If you have a pre installed search area in a resort, use it. Especially multi burrial situations are PITA; the overlapping signals will cheat you and you'll run around following odd signal lines the first time; it's a very good experience to recognize how your beacon can lead you on erratic leads and to learn to calmly handle this situation.

Also considering the heavy backpack: it's pure getting used to it. Exercise it in easy resort conditions so you're not hampered in difficult touring circumstances. The first times I got thrown off balance heavily. Then I begun to ride with the touring backpack on resort days to get my body used to the extra load. Meanwhile I ride with a heavy multiday backpack and don't even recognize it.

Considering the drained energy going uphill: slow your pace. It's a common noob fault to hike up too quickly at the start of a tour and drain your energy with that. Do you hike in summer or do other endurance sports and know your heart rate? 
I was draining myself by going too fast as well. So I got a heart rate watch to monitor my HR going uphill to conciously stay in ~120-140HR. If above, slow the pace. With this, I managed to get from being completely drained with a 800m ascent to being capable to manage a 1500m ascent two weeks later (so fitness level wasn't the changing parameter; just _how_ I distributed the energy had changed). 

Also be sure to fill your batteries during a ascent. Learn what your body needs. I for example must reload energy every hour. If I don't, I'll drain. Many ppl can go longer without feeling energy loss. The more muscle mass one has, the longer (muscles store glycogen). If I'm in a group which doesn't stop every hour (which is often the case), I have a high energy fliud (Powerbar Smoothy; all other energy gels make me wanna puke ) in my pockets which I can easily access and take in _while_ hiking so I don't have to hold the group up but get my calories nonetheless on the fly. During breaks I eat a combination of quick accessible calories (e.g. dryed dates) and slow accessible calories
(like salted cashew nuts) to have a well distributed energy level for the next hours.


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## Damaged (Feb 23, 2013)

thanks for the advice guys. as for a beacon park I never even heard of one until this weekend. Not sure we even have one here at least in the resorts I frequent. I found that multiple victims can really make the beacon go crazy. It had me literally walking around in circles.

I always felt like a kook whenever I wear a backpack but if it will improve my riding at this point - why not?

Neni i think you basically got my problem about touring. I was trying to go up as fast as everyone else and it drained my energy early on. I kind of just did what felt natural. I lifted my legs each step with big steps. Finally once I was so tired, I just dragged my feet forward sliding forward and that made life so much easier as well as pacing.

I will look into that book. I feel that I still have so much to learn and observe.


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## benjinyc (Feb 24, 2017)

I feel like touring in the backcountry is way better with skis than a splitboard

unless you're only doing one ascent, exploring the backcountry with the ups and downs isn't as enjoyable on a split versus skis. I tried to 'ski' down on my splits and that was lol. 

Not surprised watching videos of backcountry parts and seeing a lot of pros sticking with their regular sticks and snowshoes


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## deagol (Mar 26, 2014)

benjinyc said:


> I feel like touring in the backcountry is way better with skis than a splitboard
> 
> unless you're only doing one ascent, exploring the backcountry with the ups and downs isn't as enjoyable on a split versus skis. I tried to 'ski' down on my splits and that was lol.
> 
> Not surprised watching videos of backcountry parts and seeing a lot of pros sticking with their regular sticks and snowshoes


This is sacrilege !!

But, yeah, I know what you mean. Screw skiing, though..


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## neni (Dec 24, 2012)

benjinyc said:


> I feel like touring in the backcountry is way better with skis than a splitboard
> 
> unless you're only doing one ascent, exploring the backcountry with the ups and downs isn't as enjoyable on a split versus skis. I tried to 'ski' down on my splits and that was lol.
> 
> Not surprised watching videos of backcountry parts and seeing a lot of pros sticking with their regular sticks and snowshoes


Most disadvantages of splits vs skis vanish once you use alpine boot set-up on the split. 
I swapped to a AT set-up this season and man, it's great! 

The advantages of downhill of a split vs skis is of no discussion I assume . Been on too many tours where skiers had hard times to ski windblown hardpack n crusts, bitching n moaning, and we on our boards just _rode_.


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## benjinyc (Feb 24, 2017)

for sure would rather be on the board downhill versus skis

i guess the one exception is when you're doing an avalanche search and rescue?, you def cover way more ground faster on skis than snowboard boots

oh and i guess if you get caught in the slide yourself, skis release, boards anchor...but if you've got an avypack, you should be okay on the board


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## deagol (Mar 26, 2014)

benjinyc said:


> for sure would rather be on the board downhill versus skis
> 
> i guess the one exception is when you're doing an avalanche search and rescue?, you def cover way more ground faster on skis than snowboard boots
> 
> oh and i guess if you get caught in the slide yourself, skis release, boards anchor...but if you've got an avypack, you should be okay on the board


Thankfully I have never experienced a real search scenario, but If I was above the slide, I think I would stay on the board and try the signal acquisition search while traversing across the slide path, unless the snow was to chundery (in which case it seems you would have the same problems on skis).


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## Noreaster (Oct 7, 2012)

neni said:


> Most disadvantages of splits vs skis vanish once you use alpine boot set-up on the split.
> I swapped to a AT set-up this season and man, it's great!
> 
> The advantages of downhill of a split vs skis is of no discussion I assume . Been on too many tours where skiers had hard times to ski windblown hardpack n crusts, bitching n moaning, and we on our boards just _rode_.


At this moment I'm seriously considering lagging 2 sets of boots on every tour with me: AT and soft cuz I won't risk descents in ATs any time soon.

This is us preparing for the big day tomorrow (I'm the big helmeted chick in red pants). BTW, will be putting my XVes through the wringer this time around. Lots of climbing/steep angle approaches in plans. 

Also a couple of things to contribute to general discussion: I second protein intake but advise to stay away from salty foods, altitude + extra fluid retention = not a good combo. And cross country skiing is your friend if you need to quickly beef up on your skinning technique. Oh, and speaking of conserving your energy on ascents, low angle approaches are the way. No more than 15 degrees generally. Low and slow is the mantra.


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## F1EA (Oct 25, 2013)

Yeah it's super expensive. I've been slowly getting gear... Hopefully by next season I have everything.

Avy search, probing etc was not that difficult for me to learn; but definitely being able to handle the situation when you need it most is crucial. Practice shoveling..... seems simple but man it's exhausting. Also being fit on an overall sense is KEY. I definitely need to improve this, specially cardio. And also knowing how to ascend and manage fatigue/hydration/hunger etc is key. 

We have a few easy access backcountry areas that make it easy to practice search/equipment stuff. Im sure you can peactice at any resort, provided there's enough snow...

I also ride with the backpack all the time, specifically to get used to carrying the weight.


Ahh also.... make it a habit to check avalanche forecast. Same as snow forecast..... it'll get you used to what's going on and you start gaining experience with what triggers certain conditions......... for example, the other day 2 avalanches accidents nearby. The report said CONSIDERABLE that day. So... when you hear about the accidents, and you think about what happened the day before, where the avalanches happened etc. you start gaining experience to make decisions later.

Because... every day is different. All you get is tools and knowledge to make decisions based on past experience. So the more you add to that experience the more you'll be in a better position to make slightly better decisions when you need to.


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## neni (Dec 24, 2012)

Noreaster said:


> Oh, and speaking of conserving your energy on ascents, low angle approaches are the way. No more than 15 degrees generally. Low and slow is the mantra.


Yup; if you need your second ascend help (the metal bow thingy whick levels the binding up), you're choosing a wrong uphill track.

Hmmm... I'm dying for bit of salty stuff on ascents. All those sweet bars n power drinks make me crave for a handfull slightly salted nuts inbetween. You think that's too much?


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## Argo (Feb 25, 2010)

neni said:


> Yup; if you need your second ascend help (the metal bow thingy whick levels the binding up), you're choosing a wrong uphill track.
> 
> Hmmm... I'm dying for bit of salty stuff on ascents. All those sweet bars n power drinks make me crave for a handfull slightly salted nuts inbetween. You think that's too much?


Shouldn't you be on a plane or something. Lol


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## Noreaster (Oct 7, 2012)

neni said:


> Yup; if you need your second ascend help (the metal bow thingy whick levels the binding up), you're choosing a wrong uphill track.
> 
> Hmmm... I'm dying for bit of salty stuff on ascents. All those sweet bars n power drinks make me crave for a handfull slightly salted nuts inbetween. You think that's too much?


I don't need to snack much when I'm moving to keep my energy level up, to be honest (but need lots of water though). As long as I get a good meal after I stop. No shakes or bars either, I usually mix my own simple snack: unsalted pistachios, pecans, pine nuts, coconut flakes, dried litchis, strawberries, or mango, roasted unsalted edamame. But when hiking or touring abroad, like now, I just get whatever protein bars are available locally.


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## neni (Dec 24, 2012)

Argo said:


> Shouldn't you be on a plane or something. Lol


:laugh: in 12hrs. ATM, we're in the final spurt of last minute packing insanity . Spent the last hour searching for my passport :embarrased1: (found it, BTW). 
Bag is full, 8lbs of it are cheese n chocolate .


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## neni (Dec 24, 2012)

Noreaster said:


> I don't need to snack much when I'm moving to keep my energy level up, to be honest (but need lots of water though). As long as I get a good meal after I stop. No shakes or bars either, I usually mix my own simple snack: unsalted pistachios, pecans, pine nuts, coconut flakes, dried litchis, strawberries, or mango, roasted unsalted edamame. But when hiking or touring abroad, like now, I just get whatever protein bars are available locally.


Lucky you. I starve constantly. 1hr w/o energy reload is absolute maximum. Then muscles begin to tremble and I get unconcentrated. 
Enough water is also a must. Hate a dry mouth. I use a camelback with tube insulation. Never freezes, and I can take little sips on the fly whenever tongue gets dry.


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