Avalanche!

Every time Mack and I go skiing in the backcountry we do a serious practice of beacon locating. Mack or I will take a lead on the skin track wrap a beacon in a coat or baggie and bury it in the snow. A simple not to panic "Avalanche" call lets the other know to look up and identify the last location. And then we breakout our beacon, switch it to search mode, and find the other "person."

We do this every single trip. With one exception, and that was because I had left my beacon at home (by accident) and the avalanche concern was "Low." So we made a calculated decision to continue without beacons. The intention of practicing beacon location every time is that we don't want to panic should we ever have to actually locate another person.

I watched a video on youtube a while back which now has been on different news channels, and has been turned into a advertisement for the Avalung. Interestingly enough, the guy caught in the avalanche had his mouth piece just out of reach of his mouth and couldn't use it to breath. He was rescued exceptionally fast (buried with skis on and tips showing) at 4 minutes 30 seconds. One third of people caught in avalanche are believed to be killed by trauma. After 30 minutes you only have a 50% chance of survival. And the average time to dig someone out even with a beacon -- 20 minutes. The odds are against you in the winter backcountry world.

So we practice our safety skills every time. We certainly take calculated risks. We read the snow reports and dig pits to verify the conditions. We watch the weather before us, and we have honest discussions about the dangers.

Tomorrow, I will head out with a group of people that will have an introductory field class on Avalanche safety. Yeah, I know -- I should have taken this class last year. I am surprised at myself for putting it off this long. I won't take the level 1 certification until the new year. So in some ways, I'm still putting it off.

I know in this class we won't be going in very far to the backcountry; the entire trip is just over a mile from what I understand. I'm super excited for it though and having fun doing the prep work. I'm reading the NWAC and watching the weather reports. Packing up extra gear in case someone needs extra layers, and gathering my food so I can make sure I'm not too starved once I arrive. I also packed the camera. I hope I have something fun to share in the next few days.

Snow Country for Old Men

5:50 AM

I woke 10 minutes to 6 o'clock.  Let Hana out for a quick potty break, and then fed her.  I grabbed the last of my things and put them in the car.  My iPod, my lunch, my water and pack, pats for the pup, and a quick good bye to my house guest.  My house guest was heading back east to take a test and I left her on the couch as I drove off to meet up with my skiing partners. 

6:30 AM

I arrived a few minutes before meeting Mack.  The bagel shop was closed.  The market was closed.  Okay, no breakfast.  Mack was a couple minutes late and we quickly moved his gear into my Element.   Mack quickly moved into grading papers.  That is what he does on trips to climbing or skiing.  As far as I know anyway.

7:00 AM

Doug was the first to arrive at the P&R in Purdy.  We were running late, but it turns out that Walter wanted to meet even later.  He settled on 7:10 AM.  Introductions were made.  I was the new guy in the group.  And I was the youngest.  62, 56, 54, 36.  You figure out the combination. 

We loaded our gear into Walter's CR-V and drove off to Paradise on Mount Rainier.  We stopped along the way at a small bakery.  You're likely to miss it if you don't know about it.  It was after the turn at Key Bank.  I don't remember the path.

Watch Off

We arrived in the parking lot and unloaded.  Snow was packed into the cooler so the beers would be cool at the end of the day.  Mack, ever the social butterfly, chatted up a number of other skiers.  He knew some of these people by name from the Turns All Year forums.

Skis On

We moved pretty fast.  Mack and I have a little greeting.

"Are you Good?"

"Yes.  Are you slow?"

"No." 

We got moving up the ridge pretty quickly.  I'd guess maybe 40 minutes to the ridge.  At the ridge, Mack took a picture of me in front of the avalanche that slid the day before, or so we guessed.  We then did the traverse across the ridge following safety protocols.  Mack went first, moving quickly, then Doug, then Walter, and I followed to the ridge leading to Bundy's.

Unskinned

I grabbed some water and had half my PBJ.  Mack took the first turns down Bundy's.  Doug and Walter moved to make some turns too.  I waited until they cleared the hump and made links to Mack's turns.  A beautiful set of 8's were left on the slope.

We crossed the stream and were back to skinning our skis.  Doug lead the way up the Mazama Ridge.  Mack and I quickly took the lead and at the top drank more water and ate more food while we waited.  Doug arrived first and Mack quickly put him to the beacon location test.  Doug closed his eyes, and Mack and I made marks in the snow and buried one of the beacons.  Doug then learned how to use a beacon to locate someone buried in an avalanch.  Walter caught up and didn't rest much before we made the slow trek to the Back Bowl.  Walter was the only one without a beacon... and he had the car keys.  Huh. What were thinking?

Back Bowl

We arrived at the Back Bowl.  The snow was pristine.  I got nominated to make the first turns.  I skied over the left edge of the cornice diving deep under  it, and make a few turns before stopping so I could take pictures of Mack going over the top.  The pictures will come later, as they are all on Mack's camera.  The slide from my turns went on for some time.  The cool/scary part of my slide is that it all occurred under the surface.  A few pinwheels were seen but the sliding was all auditory for the next 30 seconds.  It was Mack's turn next.

The sun was bright, and my polarizing lenses made it difficult to capture Mack, but I got a few successful pictures.  Mack crossed the cornice and turned hard quickly under the lip and followed through with several turns as he skied past.  I turned and linked his turns once again.  We waited for Walter and Doug, but were quick to make our way to the top for a few more runs.

Mack and I moved far right for our second trip down the bowl.  Mack moved high into the next ridge, and I took a lower ridge.  Mack took the first turns this time, and I followed him making eleven turns in just over 200 feet.  Here our attempt to lap the other two was successful, and we stole more clean lines.  The bowl was being carved up pretty good.  We met at the top of the bowl, I pushed down some couscous and shared in the offer of an orange slice and a swig of Mocha Kalua.  I also finished off my water.

3:20 PM

One more set of turns in the Back Bowl was required.  Mack and I made our way left of where I took my first turns.  The rollover of the hill was steep.  Mack took the first turns, and a couple far and high left of us on the ridge hooted and cheered him through his turns.  It was my turn again, and I could feel my knees stiffening up.  I took two turns, and lost my line.  I crossed the Mack's slump and made a turn back, but lost my line again and crossed the slump again.  Not a great line, but Mack told me to stay left.  I skied down another hump and got some clean turns.

Mack started skiing to me and again there was a cornice/rollover for him to take, I cheered him through it and he made a clean drop.  His shit-eating-grin was as wide as the Bowl, and unfortunately unphotographed.

4:20 PM

Fortunately, the trek was short before the final trek down to the road.  We skinned a short distance.  Mack pulled a Oreo Cookie Poptart out and we shared it.  Then I took the lead for the first turns again.  It was kind of crazy with trees on one edge, and ridge of snow on the other.  I peeled through the turns and just found clean waves to leave in the behind.  Across the way we could see our lines on Bundy's.  Happiness.

More to come...

All the pictures were on other cameras so I will have to wait for them to come my way.  Once I get them, I will update this post. 

Hurricane Ridge

I went to carve my name is the snow. CHRIS WAS HERE!

I woke up at 6:00 AM and printed out a avalanche report, left it on the printer and started to get ready to leave. At 7 o'clock I watch my ride drive past my house. He'd figure out soon enough that he'd have to turn back around. Mack had been here before, turns out that he was still waking up and had missed a couple of turns already along the way. I went out to the road to flag him down, my gear in the driveway, so we could get on our way. Loading up took just a minute, and the drive was quiet.

I poured Mack some coffee he brought in a thermos, and watched out the windows at the white peaks I wanted to drop into and ski. Somewhere before Port Angeles and after Sequim we stopped at an organic grocery store, I picked up a Naked Green Machine to start my morning. Mack grabbed some veggie sandwich, and I took over driving for a short bit.

Mack pulled out the transceiver to give me a quick review from the passenger seat. "On at the car, off at the bar." Easy enough to remember. I began the short portion of the drive to the National Park Gate at Hurricane Ridge. I missed a turn, we had to back track a little. Apparently, a theme for the day... Lots of back tracking.

We arrived and got the prime parking spot. We went into the lodge to sign in for the day, an use the facilities. Got our boots on, backpacks prepped, and transceivers strapped on.

We walked over to the trail and tested the equipment. I skied past Mac, then he skied past me. The transceivers worked. Down the trail we made a few easy turns. A nice opening in the trees -- we turned off the trail. We headed into the trees. Mac first made some turns and came out to a flat area. I cut my turns and followed into the trees. I told Mac on the way up, I don't fall. You know that is a sign your going to fall. We hit our next hill, and Mac took a small spill but was up right away. I followed a similar path and turn over into the snow. Pillow fight! I stepped out of my ski. It didn't take long to get the ski back on and catch up to Mac.

We eventually got caught in a gully that was sluffing in front of us. No way out but down. Some tight turns and eventually we were caught in tree line that was not going to let us through easily. Eventually, after some tree climbing and breaking through the branches, a few final turns led us into a field of some twiggy bushes that made skiing a bit difficult. We decided to stop for a quick break.

We grabbed a quick bite, and tested out the transceivers by burying them in the snow and locating them each in turn. A pretty simple process really. I would hate to have to actually find someone buried though. We put the skins on and made our back up the hill. The initial trekking wasn't too bad, but getting through all the branches wasn't easy. There were a few areas that even the skins wouldn't keep you from sliding backwards.

We eventually got through the tough part and started switchbacks up the open hill. Trekking uphill isn't that exciting, but the views and the exercise is fantastic. I never once thought about the fact I had left the iPod in the car. The air at a mile up is thin for my amphibian lungs, and I quickly realized I needed to manage my breathing. Breathe in with two steps, breathe out with two steps. That seems to work well.

As we approached the top of Steep & Icy we started a dug out for some avalanche testing. Mack started while I peeled his orange and took a few more pictures of the surrounding areas. Okay, Mack did all the work. I simply took pictures and was learning about how it all worked.

We did some avalanche tests to which it was concluded that on the NNE slope at 30 degrees we had CT21Q2 at about 9". We saw natural slab and point-release mischief on the 45 degree slope. A couple skied past us down the lovely face. I trampled the dugout to prevent someone skiing into it.

My knees cramped up and I had to stop and stretch. That was more fun than I could have ever hoped for really. We had a short trip to the hill top where Mack gave me something to put under my tongue that supposedly would help with the leg cramps. I definitely slowed down at this point. Trekking is hard work for sure.

We made our path back to the car for lunch. Again, Mack cruised and even with twenty years on me, he put me to shame. At one point I looked up to see him giving a young asian boy some tips for cross country skiing. Clearly the kid was having some first time fun. The trail was full of people walking out for the views. Many people were snowshoeing and cross country skiing. We ran into a few people along the way that Mack knew. We even saw a small group putting up an igloo and preparing for a night in the snow. Look forward to doing that myself one of these days.

At the lodge we snacked more; I had a Zing Bar. This bar was amazing! I bought it on accident but what a treat. I highly recommend giving these a try. But enough of the plugs for my favorite foods to eat on the trail. I filled up the water jug and looked forward to some additional runs.

We decided to do some last runs on the Lodge Run.

It was a short run of maybe 340 feet. The view was truly beautiful. On one side Cascades and on the other, the Pacific. We did this run a couple of times. I was so slow behind Mack on the trek up after the last run, when I got to the top and asked him if he'd had enough time to have a beer and sober up already?

We packed up and began the drive home. Mack had a swank party to attend, and we had to be back by 5 o'clock. All in all, the trip was a great success. Mack invited me to join him again which I took to be a great compliment. It was a short day and we had lots of fun, but not as many runs as I would have liked. Then again for $12 in gas money you cannot do much better.

What a great day to be in the snow. And now it is raining... bring on the snow!

On Hiatus

It has been a while since I have had much to say. November was a pretty lame month. It started with a cold, a trip to D.C. during a very exciting time, and a trip back from D.C. that set the cold in for the rest of the month. I got out to hike Crystal Mt. and had coughed a bruise into my rib. The docs advice -- stop coughing.

So the climbing season is really too far away. Either by car or by weather. So I decided it was time to return to skiing (yep, that is consistent with my last entry.) And because I hate ski lifts and lines, I decided to dedicate myself to the backcountry and freeriding. I pulled out the old gear and the boots -- well even wrapped in plastic the mice got into them and nested. Boots are on the list to buy. Pulled out two pairs of skis -- the 205s look good, but my knees cannot handle these straight boards. The smaller pair -- the bindings are turning brown. Okay, well at least my poles are still usable.

So I put in a purchase with Backcountry.com for a pair of skis, randonee bindings, and skins. I was going to get boots too, but I figured I would make sure I get comfortable boots. Since they really are the most important part of comfortable skiing. I will check out the local 2nd Ascent.

Now my fingers are crossed. I tweeted a twit friend that I felt Karma owed me a debt. Funny thing about Karma... you think you deserve one thing and you get something you totally didn't know you needed (good and bad.) Fingers are crossed.

Think snow, rumor has it Friday -- Think Snow!