So Trackhead is an emergency proctologist?
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So Trackhead is an emergency proctologist?
Quote:
Originally Posted by Danno
I never toss my baggie. Lunch sometimes, but never the baggie.
I keep my probe inside my pack without the nylon baggie around it.
The two seconds it takes me to get the probe out, and put the shovel blade on the handle aren't going to be the difference between life and death.
you're one of those with all kinds of junk lashed onto the outside of their pack huh?Quote:
Originally Posted by Danno
:p
don't be "that guy"
;) ;)
Me too.Quote:
Originally Posted by Tippster
Knowing they were relocating it, I just called The Canyons to confirm where their beacon practice range is this year. It's now up the mountain near Red Pine lodge. In hopes that I can use my AT gear for some AT skiing, I'm taking my avy tools out for some practice.
Yes beacon, shovel and probe are important. But you also want to be sure you have your Glock at the ready.
Solitude's got one too, they'd just got it going last weekend, I think it's just above (i.e. just past as you drive up the Canyon) the Eagle quad.
Solitude's got a glock too? That's awesome.
Stuff strapped onto packQuote:
Originally Posted by lemon boy
+
http://a1072.g.akamai.net/f/1072/206.../408047Prd.jpg
+ colection of expensive but never used 'biners
= member of The Mountaineers
Yup, if it's a dawn patrol, you have a 10 minute maximum waiting time. After that, you better be hiking fast to catch up, cause I'm not waiting.:DQuote:
Originally Posted by LeeLau
Same time rule for bluebird pow days.
If it's a casual start, on a less than perfect day, I'll give you 15 minutes, maybe.
so sick brah! years and years ago before I climbed and thusly before I gave that shit up I used to always roll with a biner on my pack but it's only function was to hang a candle lanter up in tents. Now I still roll with a biner on my pack but just cause it looks core. You'd be surprised how many people will just totally let you tour with them if you're sporting a single biner on your pack, it's like a BC uber-dude badge or something.Quote:
Originally Posted by PNWbrit
edit- th, I hope you don't mind a little levity in your serious and well intentioned thread.
I've reduced my Ortovox M1 to its component parts but have now spent two hours trying to assemble it. I've lost a spring down the floorboards and have managed to get solder on the cat's head.Quote:
Originally Posted by Mtn Man
I take it I'm out?
I thought it would be great to listen to some jammin tunes on the skin up, but I am completely wrong. I can't hear the other(s) nearly as well, can't hear whomping or anything like that and it makes me a bit off balance too.Quote:
Originally Posted by Trackhead
For me, I have figured out the BC is a place for me to find some serenity. I love to skin in forested areas and be out in the woods and snow. Do I care how fast I get to the top, no. I am out to be out and enjoy myself.
Having good equipment that you hope to never have to use is great, but is almost useless to your partner(s) if you don't know how to use it.
That being said, my first time out on skis was with TH and I had an idea of how to use the stuff, but did not even have my own beacon and skins. So we went to an area with super min. danger on a min. danger day.
Naw, Roo, you're ok. Just make sure you get to the trailhead two hours early. (sans cat).
(And don't worry about the spring, there's always a few extra screws & stuff in any gizmo that aren't really necessary.)
They use it for avy control. It persuades the avy poodle to jump on the slope.Quote:
Originally Posted by lemon boy
Doesn't sound like you are willing to be that mentor. Who was your mentor? Or did you just got out and spend all the money and take the courses yourself? If someone mentored you it's only fair you give something back. Of course that's dependant on the person first admitting to a lack of experience as opposed to just showing for a group and expecting hand holding.Quote:
Originally Posted by Mtn Man
Of course the flip side of this is if you are 'taking people out' you better have the experience. I'm basically a b/c gaper and one reason for it is the number of people around my area claiming a great deal of experience and offering to 'show people' the bc when they haven't a frickin' clue themselves.
A few years back I did a major glacier route with one friend who guided professionally and was working on winter guide's cert. I kept silent on one very bad call I was nervous about and declined on another and talked them out of a third. Each time my judgement would have been the better choice and each time the most experienced or lead guy was totally off base. My inexperience was up front. Backcountry partners were no longer something I looked for.
Someone else I knew kept offering to take people out of bounds on huge hazard days. She or someone she took got caught in 2 or 3 slides. Last I heard she had moved to whistler and reinvented herself as a bit of a backcountry guru. In the immortal words of one of my most avie expert friends, ' I wouldn't climb a flight of stairs with her'.
I've long said I know just enough about it to realize how little I know. Many people in this area know just enough to be very dangerous and consider themselves expert. I'm really not sure if I know more or less than those people. Other than the true professionals and experts I know it's hard to pick the safe ones through all the bluster.
The people on this board from this area are not the one's I'm talking about. I think most of them have the knowledge or realistic view of their knowledge to be safe and reliable partners.
That's really harsh for the doggies... Luckily we here on the other side of the pond have started to use a more humane (Ok, animal friendly) approach... Instead of avy poodles, we use swedes... They also come in handy to fill those nasty crevasses when we still have thin snowbridges:D.Quote:
Originally Posted by David Witherspoon
I'm basically a noob, and on the EC. Therefore, it's hard to find someone to mentor for me. Therefore I took it upon myself (and a friend who wants to get into the bc) to take the class, do some beacon drills around the mtn, practice assembling things, assessing terrain on occasion, just so when I go out west, I'm hoping someone will let me tag along. I WISH I had a mentor, it would have been cheaper than the class. I'm more of a hands on guy anyway, therefore experience is more valued in my mind.Quote:
Originally Posted by L7
Luckily, a few here have let me tag along, and I follow their expertise to the T. Eventually when I get more experience, I would love to mentor in the bc. But right now, I'm still in the learning stage.
B)
I should dig up all the stories my parents have told me of ski touring with friends over the years. I think the classic quote from a newbie was:
"I don't know how to operate the beacon. If there is an avalanche I hope I'm underneath it so you can find me and dig me out."
Honesty and humbleness (is this a word?) are the best policy.
-Be honest in yours skills and be up front with that info.
-If the result is your party saying no, be ok with that and ask them to show you the ropes on a non p day.
Oh, and bring beer that day to pay your mentors a "guide" fee when you get back to the cars.
nah, I'm really not (I swear!) except for my helmet on the skin up. In fact, Sunday was the first day I have ever lashed my shovel handle and probe to the outside. I noticed the little thingy designed for shovel handles and thought, hmmm, it'd create more space in my pack. Then I thought, hmmm, the probe could go on the other side, creating even more space! Still not sure whether I like that setup, but I'll at least allow for the fact that it is handy for some.Quote:
Originally Posted by lemon boy
I'm pretty sure the reason girlski continues to pester me to go touring with her was that the first time I met up with her to go touring (I had met her once before) I showed up reeking of alcohol and was a complete and total shit show. Like wasn't sure I had remembered my boots shit show.
It worked for me, it can work for you too.
Quote:
Originally Posted by ptavv
When you lack touring partners, you will take what you can get.
Thank god for alpine pronghorn moving to portland...:FIREdevil
You know your life would be a lot more boring without me.
'touring', hunh? ;) ;)
Is that what the kewl kids are calling it these days?
Well, it's easier than sidecountry, backcountry, frontcountry, ski mountaineering, ski alpinism, glisse alpinism.....................on and on.Quote:
Originally Posted by rideit
I bet Fritz would just be happy I brought my bacon. He wouldn't be bitchin if I didn't know how to use it.
Cool thread - tell us what prompted it, TH!!!
I'll just toss in one thing on trailbreaking. It is as beautiful an experience as getting the first line skiing down. Do it!!! :cool:
Quote:
Originally Posted by Trackhead
Quote:
Originally Posted by girlski0912
Track, it was a reference to the 'partner' comment...'touring partner'....
Get your head IN the gutter, man!
I won't go into specifics. I just feel some level of responsibility is something I expect of my touring partners. I'm not talking about experience, just common sense. I enjoy touring with rookies, as it's fun to see the excitement they get out of it. But not even making an effort to learn the fundamentals is poor form IMHO. It's not a guided outing, this isn't Wasatch Powder Guides or Exum mountain guides.Quote:
Originally Posted by SheRa
I would expect an 18 year old jibber hitting Chad's gap to have a beacon and not know how to use it. But I wouldn't expect another demographic to do the same.
How about a fundamentalist, who believes that god will protect him from any mishap?
I actually ran into a guy spouting this shit. It was actually NOT funny, at the time. He believed in 'the manifestation of god's will, and not technology.'
Scary as fuck, at least I met him in a bar, go figure.
Beer IS the manifestation of god's will.
FINALLY, someone has developed something good to do with a swede, they can FINALLY contribute in a positive manner...Quote:
Originally Posted by hemas
If we could only break some true trail out here in Cali right now.......:(Quote:
Originally Posted by SheRa
PS good reminder, TH. A probe is essential.
I have seen it argued that in medium to large groups, a probe is not essential for all members of the party (so long as the party acts appropriately with that knowledge). Not saying it is my argument, but I can see the merits.Quote:
Originally Posted by divegirl
having just taken and finished an Avy 1 course, like 5 hours ago, Ill make a couple comments.
First, TH and everyone has made valid points and are all true. However, as a knowledgable person, it is YOUR responsibilty to select your partners.
There are risks with finding partners over the internet as there are risks with traveling in avy terrain. Quite simply, you just dont know the person no matter how much you may chat on the internet.
Having said that, I do agree with this threads intention. If you are going to approach someone else to go out on a tour, at BARE minimum, have the right gear and know how to use and have practiced with it at least a few times in recent time.
Its funny, in the course we discussed choosing partners a lot. TGR actually came up, and Im glad to see that this discussion has been started and gotten so much attention.
anyway, thats that
Beacons: so overrated.
Big shovels: too damn heavy.
:FIREdevil
But you own't catch me with a plastic shovel blade, either.
The root of the issue isn't necessarily partners, it's common sense.
You buy a beacon, why don't you make an effort to learn how to use it before you head out?
When you join the military, they teach you how to load and shoot your weapon. Without those skills, what good are you?
this has been discussed a good bit, but I just cant fully rationalize not carrying the gear. It costs nearly nothing in weight or space.Quote:
Originally Posted by Danno
what happens ive the group gets seperated in a slide or something due to weather? What happens if during the frenzy of the search the wrong person is searching with their beacon rather than getting out the probe. Granted it only takes 20seconds max to get your probe out and assembled, but every second counts.
Doing some multiple burial practice today, I cannot stress how AWESOME it was to have 1 partner ready with a probe after you pinpointed with your beacon. He also had his shovel ready to go so after he found the location, he could start digging. It was clockwork and really impressive.
After that I got my probe out and found the next one.
Anyway, more gear can never hurt, especially if you were to lose it or break it. Redundancy is a good thing.
yes you should carry two shovels
before i head outQuote:
Originally Posted by Trackhead
common sense isnt so common (unfortunately)
and then recognizing that, just like with making the decision to go one place or the other or to turn around, its also a fair decision to not go on a tour with a partner you may not trust due to common sense or whatever.
i see and agree with your point, im just sayin', like most things in life, it works both ways.