Asking Trollers about Avy Conditions

[yesIsaidyes]

I am new to the PNW bc scene and many of the books I have been reading recommend talking to patrollers at ski areas about avy conditions if you happen to be touring near the areas. (So many tours go out of Stevens, Crystal, Snoqualmie area.) In Alaska, there were good avy reports and no resorts near the good touring spots so this option never presented itself but I was wondering if people do this. Do you get attitude from patrollers if you ask them about avy conditions? I have been in the BC for years and don't feel I need to prove my worthiness to a red coat just to get a little beta but if most are friendly, it seems like a great resource. Generally, in AK, they were cool talking about conditions around Alyeska but like I said, the info wasn't super useful. Any experiences with this?

[oftpiste]

I am new to the PNW bc scene and many of the books I have been reading recommend talking to patrollers at ski areas about avy conditions if you happen to be touring near the areas. (So many tours go out of Stevens, Crystal, Snoqualmie area.) In Alaska, there were good avy reports and no resorts near the good touring spots so this option never presented itself but I was wondering if people do this. Do you get attitude from patrollers if you ask them about avy conditions? I have been in the BC for years and don't feel I need to prove my worthiness to a red coat just to get a little beta but if most are friendly, it seems like a great resource. Generally, in AK, they were cool talking about conditions around Alyeska but like I said, the info wasn't super useful. Any experiences with this?

My experience with doing this in the PNW has almost universally been positive. Alpental patrollers might even take you out for a tour if they have the time. Bottom line is that a little humility goes a long way. If you go in with a know-it-all attitude or a chip on your shoulder you'll not have a very productive conversation. Patrollers may want to make sure you have some rudimentary skills and necessary gear so they don't have to drag you out of the BC later.

I have always checked in at the patrol office at Crystal and Alpental to say hi, ask about their intel on conditions and give them a heads-up about my plans. I don't think anyone will want you to prove your worthiness unless you act like a dick.

[yesIsaidyes]

That's cool. I will definitely make a point of saying hi then. I can totally respect the desire to get to know the person you are giving avy info to. No intention of acting like a dick, that's for sure (despite unintentional tone of first post - where did that come from?)

[summit]

I don't know about the PNW

All depends on the patroller... usually they are one of four types:
1. really nervous about liability by giving advice so their advice is limited and cautious (understandable)
2. happy to tell you what they know
3. assume you are a gaper and give you attitude
4. they don't know because they don't go

around here there are lots of 3s and 4s, 3s just because they do get tons of gapers asking them

it helps to know the patroller and/or to look/appear like you are savvy

[yesIsaidyes]

In AK, it was alot of 2s but again, they knew you weren't skiing near Aly most of the time.

[PNWbrit]

My experience with doing this in the PNW has almost universally been positive. Alpental patrollers might even take you out for a tour if they have the time. Bottom line is that a little humility goes a long way. If you go in with a know-it-all attitude or a chip on your shoulder you'll not have a very productive conversation. Patrollers may want to make sure you have some rudimentary skills and necessary gear so they don't have to drag you out of the BC later.

I have always checked in at the patrol office at Crystal and Alpental to say hi, ask about their intel on conditions and give them a heads-up about my plans. I don't think anyone will want you to prove your worthiness unless you act like a dick.

What he said.

[AltaPowderDaze]

at snowbird you get all four of summit's types. i personally will say different things based on the situation and who i'm talking to, though all statements are accurate. something to keep in mind that i've gone by when asking patrol is that you can't always trust what they say is 100% accurate. they forcast for an artificial snowpack that they remove the layers that would be troublesome in the bc. some ski patrol may forget about these persistant weak layers or some may just be refering to avy conditions within the resort, so ask in detail.

[Shredhead]

In Aspen we have mostly 2's, but a little bit of the liability issue is starting to creep in. Last year there was an incident inbounds with a private powder tour on a closed run. Not really a big deal, but this year we had to sign waivers to get on the tours.

[wolfs]

PNW perspective, for Crystal at least.

Last year I started bothering with doing what you're supposed to if touring outta Crystal, which is to sign in with their Patrol.

(By outta Crystal, I mean that you go thru their lift serve terrain, like around Silver Basin. Maybe you're supposed to sign in for Bullion too, but I've never bothered with that so far.)

The reasoning for that is mostly lazy/selfish: if Quicksilver is running, you can pay 9$ for a singleride and get a 1k headstart and not have to skin up right under a running chairlift on an active downhill run. But to get this 9$ cheat ticket you were supposed to have signed in to Patrol (although it wasn't clear how the Guest Services lady was gonna verify that; they don't really have a system.)

Anyways, the thing about Crystal when you sign in with patrol down in their office is that its hit or miss whether you're talking to pro or voly, control-proficient or not, whatever. It's hard to tell. More often than not they'll just tell you what you could have read off the sheet that the patrol read themselves in the morning rather than a more intimate summation of conditions. But as far as attitude, never got any badness.

[andrewjesaitis]

I have had good luck with patrollers giving me advice. But, its always in the back of my mind that even though they know the resort snowpack, like the back of their hand, its often different on the other side of the rope. Some of the weak layers that persist throughout the year in the BC, might have been artificially triggered inbounds and so they might not think about those when they are telling you what they are seeing.

[ninjabirdman]

i've experienced 1) on summit's list the couple of times i've talked to patrollers. also heard during patrol training that the resort wants patrollers to answer 'i don't know' to any questions about conditions outside of the resort boundary.

resort is only responsible for the area inside their boundaries, and making ANY comment about terrain outside that boundary is an opening for liability (no matter how accurate those comments are)

fkn lawyers