Ski Wisdom....and other BC advice!

So, what's you biggest piece of ski wisdom or other advice, BC or otherwise.

My uncle's, who taught me to ski.....take a shower the night before your day on the slopes.  No need to open your pores in the am and wash off a those 'protective oils' your skin produced overnight.

I abide to this day...never shower on the morning if a ski day.  Ok, maybe it's ok if you have a long drive to the mountain.

Fuck....shower!

Ok, my piece of BC advice......lots of gloves.  Wen't through 3 each time in the Crystal BC.  Sweat, snow.....if it's cold and windy, not fun.  Dry gloves every three hours!

JTG4eva! wrote

So, what's you biggest piece of ski wisdom or other advice, BC or otherwise.

My uncle's, who taught me to ski.....take a shower the night before your day on the slopes.  No need to open your pores in the am and wash off a those 'protective oils' your skin produced overnight.

I abide to this day...never shower on the morning if a ski day.  Ok, maybe it's ok if you have a long drive to the mountain.

Fuck....shower!

Ok, my piece of BC advice......lots of gloves.  Wen't through 3 each time in the Crystal BC.  Sweat, snow.....if it's cold and windy, not fun.  Dry gloves every three hours!

Start cold. No need for lots of gloves. Just use $5 liner for the up. Why would you carry 3 pairs of gloves that are too warm?

And sneak a couple beers in the other guys pack. When you get to the top he'll appreciate it until he realizes he was carrying them

The spring light weight glove for climbing is key. I could see how in the wet north west a third pair of gloves might make sense. Here in sunny AZ I just have the two, light and heavy.

I also carry 3 hats. I have a regular winter beanie, a thinner lighter weight beanie, and my hiking/sun hat. It's a full brimmed hat that keeps the sun off of me. I also have a bandana with me. I drape that over my head and cap it under my sun hat for extra shade and protection and I sometimes use it just to keep my hair down and out of my face when climbing without a hat on overcast days. I hardly ever use the light weight beanie, it's a habit from years ago when my jacket didn't have a hood. I still carry it though in case of an emergency. It's really light.

The sun here is extreme and the temperature differences between shaded to sunny aspects can be around 40 or so degrees. We also get crazy high winds over our ridge tops. I have learned to try to always be one step ahead on regulating your body temperature. If you get too hot or too cold you are doing something wrong and it can lead to bigger and possibly more dangerous problems later during your tour.

There is a saying on the river that you tie down for a roll. That means to always make sure that everything on your boat is secure and safe. Don't overlook anything because you never know. I feel that applies to mountain travel as well. This may sound obvious but every year I see someone drop gear down a steep pitch or put something down on a windy ridge top to then have it blow away towards the Rez. The writer on the assignment from Powder that came here last year dropped his goggles down the upper bowl just before our first climb right after I warned him that anything dropped was going to run. Take your time during transitions to make sure everything is secure, especially on the steeps or in the wind. Even a ridge during a calm day gusts sometimes come out of no where.

A huge aspect in keeping things safe that I have learned over the years is to not be dead set on a plan. Sure we have goals and objectives but don't fall into the trap of having tunnel vision or some sort of summit fever. That stuff is dangerous! The mountains call the shots and if you are open to listening they tell you if it's a go or a no. Most accidents happen because people are so stubborn about their plans they actually choose to ignore the red flags and replace them with green lights. My touring partners and I have a saying we always repeat that is "lets just go and take a look." We often have a good idea of what we would like to do or what is going to be good but it's never set in stone until we go take a look. Listening and observing is the most important part to staying alive in the back country.  

Gatorade! I carry a collapsable water bottle with pure H2O and another Nalgene bottle with gatorade. I always have a big jug of powdered gatorade at my house. I hardly need all of it unless it's really warm but I figure it's best to have too much than too little, especially if things go wrong.

That's all I can think of right now. Super fun topic btw! At this point in my life mountain travel is the aspect I enjoy the most about skiing.

I have been back country skiing now for 22 years and I'm still learning.

I'll throw in my 2 cents.

Pretty obvious but never get the skins wet.
If the snow is wet or warm always bring and apply skin wax.
If you're skiing at all off the beaten path and don't have any intel, try to hike it in the summer, often there are nasty surprises hidden in those drainages.

golf tee for cleaning dynafit inserts, wax scraper for frozen skins, an extra pair of goggles if it's stormy. big fan of goo and shot blocs. make sure your liners are dry from yesterday. sunnies. extra layer. blow air back in the tube to make sure it doesn't freeze. always bring a map or guidebook. dont cropdust the guy behind you in the skintrack.

Ignore your cell phone in the BC. You'll have coverage from the tops of many peaks/hills, right before you head down and you might get a call about your dad getting moved to the ICU (he's okay now) that will distract you from skiing and you might miss some tell-tale signs about conditions that'll lead to a high-speed crash and your own need to visit a hospital, and you might have to sit out the rest of an excellent ski season...  

JTG4eva! wrote

My uncle's, who taught me to ski.....take a shower the night before your day on the slopes.  No need to open your pores in the am and wash off a those 'protective oils' your skin produced overnight.

I abide to this day...never shower on the morning if a ski day.  Ok, maybe it's ok if you have a long drive to the mountain.

Fuck....shower!

Hell, Fixedheeln doesnt even shower the morning of a ski day, and its not even for the pore thing. Guess the smelly telly thing has rubbed off on her.

Nothing like a stinky old free heeler the love never dies,

When I first started hiking for turns, I thought the convenience of a reservoir and tube for water was great. I learned the hard way to always blow clear the tube. But on the coldest days, the mouth bit still gets a bit frozen up. And sucking and blowing, well... sucks.

Nalgenes are the way to go. And you can use a powder drink mixes as well which would be a no go for reservoirs (and no worries about dirty tubes and reservoirs that are hard to clean and get nasty).

Well, taking off a pack every time you want a squirt is a pain. The solution is to keep the nalgene inside your pack and also keep a road bike water bottle outside your pack. My pack has a side mess slot that is just the right size. Refill the water bottle from your Nalgene when you are done with your ski and heading back up.

Gloves... I do carry three pair (liner, mid-weight, normal ski glove) but I generally only use one or two. Nice to have a back up pair just in case. I often start with just a liner for the hike. But I found those get wet when transitioning and removing skins and all that. So I'll often change over to the mid-weight before removing skins. Rarely pull on the normal ski glove but nice to have just in case. I usually pack a fleece just in case as well though I never use it.

As previously mentioned, you get hot quick so start with a layer less than you think you might need. Stopping to shed a layer after only 5-10 minutes of hiking sucks. On the flip side, as soon as you get to the top, toss on a layer before transitioning so you don't lose heat. Just a non-insulated hard shell is perfect.

Remember the 10 essentials when out in the back country. Map, compass, space blanket, emergency stove, leatherman, etc. I can fit everything into a small fanny pack if need be but usually they are in the bottom of my BC pack which will have my shovel and probe, I'll put my beacon inside my coat incase my pack gets ripped off.

Buy light weight gear, don't try to be superman and carry 50lbs of gear, it will ruin your day. If you are planning an overnight, rig up a pulk and carry your gear in with that. Although I have not done it in years, a winter night or two in a leanto can be quite fun if you have the right gear. I have got to get back out there, this is the second season in a row I have missed.

riverc0il wrote

When I first started hiking for turns, I thought the convenience of a reservoir and tube for water was great. I learned the hard way to always blow clear the tube. But on the coldest days, the mouth bit still gets a bit frozen up. And sucking and blowing, well... sucks.

Nalgenes are the way to go. And you can use a powder drink mixes as well which would be a no go for reservoirs (and no worries about dirty tubes and reservoirs that are hard to clean and get nasty).

Excellent advice. I use water bladders all the time in the summer, but only for water. All my bladders are the same, Platypus bladders. I have a Platypus filter system to purify water as well. When hiking I never carry in a lot of water in the Daks as I filter as I go. No need to carry all that extra weight.

Seth's requirement for the beacon was over the wicking base layer under your fleece/light weight fleece.  Beacon does you no good if it's not on your body should something unfortunate happen.

Hydration weighs a lot....but it gets lighter as the day goes on.  Grab what you think you need, and add another 20 oz water.

Fuel, body won't function properly without.  Hearty breakfast, and frequent refueling stops.

Seth's pro tip on keeping the skins snow free (and probably from freezing up, too).  Stick a ski in the snow tail first, then 'saw', or pull the skin back and forth, against the edges.  Works like a charm.  Might negate the need for a scraper in the pack.  I'm still a noob, so I may be wrong.  I had one skin release from my ski on an up because snow got on the glue side.  The sawing trick was a quick and easy fix.  Not sure I've experienced skins freezing.

Transitions are definitely the risk area.  So sweaty on the up (even if properly clothed), which doesn't go well with cold, windy summits.  Lightweight liners that easily get wet from snow when removing the skins.  I can't stand skinning with a helmet, but do like to don it for the down depending on the descent route.  Sunglasses up, sometimes goggles down.  So many things to change in a short time.  Practice makes perfect and transitions definitely get more efficient, but find a routine that works for you.

If touring is new....make 'set boots to ski mode' part of that routine!  Nothing worse than spending a good part of an hour kick turning up a pristine, untouched 45 degree chute chock full of powder.....then wasting your first half dozen turns trying to ski boots set in touring mode.  I made that rookie mistake.  Once.

Not a BC skier but I spend a lot of time in the woods. I never go in without steel or fire.

JTG4eva! wrote

Seth's pro tip on keeping the skins snow free (and probably from freezing up, too).  Stick a ski in the snow tail first, then 'saw', or pull the skin back and forth, against the edges.  Works like a charm.  Might negate the need for a scraper in the pack.  I'm still a noob, so I may be wrong.  I had one skin release from my ski on an up because snow got on the glue side.  The sawing trick was a quick and easy fix.  Not sure I've experienced skins freezing.

In the east, on a thin snowpack especially early in the season you can end up in a situation where the skin part facing the snow might get ice on it from running water or very humid snow. Or you could get a huge clump of snow under your heels just from having skinned around. Nothing will beat a scraper in that situation basically and it weighs so little in the pack, no excuse not to take it.

There is some really good stuff in here!

The layering at transitions before anything else is a great tip. I was hinting towards that but I didn't explain it very well.

Just this year my friends have taught me to wear a light weight puffy on the outside of my parka and regular layers for the first ride up in the morning. If you tour off a chair this is a good idea, that patrol chair is a wicked cold one. Once climbing or in the sun I peel it off and pack it away. they pack really small. It comes in handy again later if you take a lunch break and it would be a very good thing to have in an emergency.

I have tried to use camelback hoses but unless it's warm spring skiing it's always been problematic for me.

Someone mentioned small energy treats like blocks etc. I need to get on that for touring. I don't like having a lunch or actual meal while touring. I find it's a lot better to snack throughout the day. Having blocks/quick snacks on your person and not in the pack seems like a great idea. I can't believe I haven't thought of this before!

Reading-education I think is one of the most important aspects to keeping yourself alive in avalanche terrain. Understanding snowpack is of course important but you can't really get it until you log in the miles. I really enjoy the human heuristics and group dynamic influences involved with decision making and accidents. You can learn a lot reading about previous incidents. Always read up, I like to keep myself in check too, I don't want to be too much of an armchair quarterback. The truth is we are all human and screw up from time to time.

If I'm able to find further opportunity to tour in avy terrain I'm thinking of investing in a Black Diamond pack equipped with AvaLung Element.  You can pick the Element up for $75 to $100 bucks to add to a Dawn Patrol pack ($119 - $159, for a total cost around $230) or get the more technical Alias 35L with AvaLung for $279 (perhaps cheaper online). Not bad for a pack equipped with a device that can increase your buried air supply from 15 minutes at the most to as much as 58 minutes.  That's a lot of extra time for you to be found if you are caught and buried alive.  Anyone have any feedback on AvaLung?  Any competing products out there?

What size pack do you guys use?  I have a 35L High Sierra pack with an internal frame.  Need to upgrade, as it's showing wear after last year's extended hike at Tucks and a couple days of BC touring this year.  Maybe if i got some new puffy jackets that collapse a bit smaller I could see squeezing into a 30L pack, maybe....so 35L seems like a good size.  I can learn to pack more efficiently, but not much.  For hiking the internal frame is nice but for a touring pack it's probably better to lose the added weight?

My thoughts are....I certainly don't want to say that an avilung is a bad idea but I don't use one. If you are caught in a slide your partners should be able to locate you well within in 15 minutes if they are experienced and familiar with their gear. They should be.

If you use safe protocols and travel techniques a multiple burial should be unlikely. It happens though. A huge slide where you are buried longer than 15 it's likely you are completely smashed and dead already from trauma. If you have a clean run out like an open bowl I would rather have an air bag over the avilung.

If you are alone or buried longer than 15 minutes well then, you have just added time to your long, slow, and terrifying death. I don't want to prolong that process.

I'm also a fan of the "lets just focus on not getting into a slide" mentality.

EDIT: that being said any piece of gear that may possibly keep you alive isn't a bad idea. I'm just poor so I'm forced to keep things simple and old school.

raisingarizona wrote

My thoughts are....I certainly don't want to say that an avilung is a bad idea but I don't use one. If you are caught in a slide your partners should be able to locate you well within in 15 minutes if they are experienced and familiar with their gear. They should be.

If you use safe protocols and travel techniques a multiple burial should be unlikely. It happens though. A huge slide where you are buried longer than 15 it's likely you are completely smashed and dead already from trauma. If you have a clean run out like an open bowl I would rather have an air bag over the avilung.

If you are alone or buried longer than 15 minutes well then, you have just added time to your long, slow, and terrifying death. I don't want to prolong that process.

I'm also a fan of the "lets just focus on not getting into a slide" mentality.

More like: If you are skiing avy terrain in the east it's far more likely to be the gruesome trauma that kills you.

Binding repair items. A few zip ties come in handy. They worked in this instance for a little while, but the ski edge would eventually cut through. The cord held up fine to some extent.