StraightChuter.com - Backcountry Skiing & Beyond

Monday posting delay due to great skiing

Andrew — Mon, 05 Jan 2009 05:51:17 +0000

Absolutely KILLER weekend of skiing in the Wasatch! Photos and details on the ECT Pit test coming later today.

Andrew

Dylan Freed hiking to the Obelisk - Sunday, 4 Jan 2008

Developing an Eye for Angles - Part 2

Andrew — Fri, 02 Jan 2009 12:00:05 +0000

Part of the challenge of correctly identifying slope angles by eye is that they often look much steeper when viewed straight-on than they do from the side. (This is also a good photography trick - shooting straight-on, like from a helicopter or across a valley makes the slopes look lots steeper). A classic case of this is Mt. Superior, which when viewed directly across the canyon from Alta or Snowbird, looks really steep, but when you actually ski it, it’s about like a black diamond run at a resort - not too bad.

: The steep looking Monte Cristo Headwall as seen head-on from Mt. Superior. Photo by Carl Skoog

: The same 30-degree headwall as seen from the side. Alex Lowe digging a pit.

Something to keep in mind is that your angle-sense changes when you move to different areas. For instance, the snow in Alaska sticks to steeper slopes than in the Wasatch, so all of those little visual clues you subconsciously pick up on are off. As a result, I often underestimate my maritime snowpack angles and overestimate the continental ones.

Any way you physically measure a slope is better than nothing, although the generally agreed on best method is to sight down it with an accurate clinometer, or get it from a distant side view. Measuring it directly on the snow, or on a pole on the snow (as shown in yesterday’s post) may pick up unwanted dips or roll-overs. Keeping a compass/clinometer in a chest pouch or front zipper pocket makes it easy and painless to grab a quick angle.

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Developing an Eye for Angles - Part 1

Andrew — Thu, 01 Jan 2009 12:00:03 +0000

An experienced car mechanic can look at a nut or bolt from ten feet away and instantly tell you what size it is down to the 64th of an inch. It is not magic, but more a case of repetitive familiarity within a certain range. Cars tend to use bolts in the 1/4″ to 1″ range, so after a few hundred times of fitting sockets to them, you start to develop a eye for what size they are.

The same idea applies for slope angles, which in terms of avalanche danger, is a key factor. Although my eyes/brain are not accurately calibrated for the sub 25-degree range, or over 50-degrees, I can usually pick out a slope angle in the 30-45 degree range to within a degree or so at a glance. Like a mechanic, this is more the result of first making a guesstimate, then trying it (with a clinometer in the case of a slope). After doing this a few hundred times you start to get pretty accurate at it. If I’m with a group, I make everyone guess (including myself) before taking the actual measurement, just for the fun of it.

: Checking the slope angle in the Tetons. Photo by Doug Coombs.

The significance of developing an eye for angles is that often, just a few degrees can make a huge difference. For instance, say you are skinning up a 30 degree ridgeline, which then contours around into a slightly steeper bowl. In this case, you will be changing aspects (north/south/east/west) AND bumping the angle up towards the prime 38-degree avalanche strike zone. It is subtle, but within a few feet you can go from relative safety to dangerous.

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Bush Whacked Skiing Video

Andrew — Wed, 31 Dec 2008 12:00:13 +0000

Unfortunately mankind cannot live on steep chutes alone and low angle powder skiing through the trees is a fact of life during periods of high avalanche danger. One way to spice it up is to chase after someone while filming with a handheld camera. Eighteen seconds into the little video below, I blow my line while following Dylan and end up getting a scrub Oak facial whipping that split the inside of my lip.* Then, at 1:04 , I hit a submerged log hard enough to release my heelpiece, but as I was on Dynafits, the ski stayed attached at the toe and I was able to stand up, step back down into the heel and keep going. Gotta love those little bindings!

*As a side-note, after skiing on Dynafits exclusively for last eight years, I finally broke my first one last weekend by cross-blocking a small tree (just like in the video) which caught the toe latch and ripped it off. It was hardly a disaster as the binding was stuck in ski mode, so we kept going for the rest of the day and it is a simple fix.

Happy turns and safe skiing in 2009!
Andrew

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Skin Set Up - Part Two

Andrew — Tue, 30 Dec 2008 12:00:03 +0000

Now that the edges have been trimmed back and the nose has been set, I like to tweak my tails a bit (the tails of the skins that is).

Although I designed the BD ClipFix and used that system for years, I’ve now gravitated towards the STS system (shown below). I liked the ClipFix, but as Martin Volken said about it, “It’s an expert system.” meaning if you spent the time to get it perfectly dialed, it worked great, but if not, they’d fall off. I didn’t mind getting mine dialed in, but that often meant widening the tail slot, which is/was kind of a pain. The STS system is not only totally bomber, but it fits most of the standard issue tail notches. If you don’t have a notch, most skis can stand one being filed/cut in and it makes a huge difference in keeping your skins on.

I use a pair of Channel Lock pliers to crimp the camming cleat down to a lower profile (less chance of it getting hung up on things) and then thread the tail back through the tip, as shown above. Tucking the tail up makes for cleaner, faster uphill kick-turns where you are less likely to step on your tail dingle. Plus I hate having those things flapping around.

As a final skin set-up step, I keep the skins attached to the appropriate ski with a Voile strap so I never grab the wrong skins, or worse yet, forget them, when heading out the door for a big powder day.

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Skin Set Up - Part One

Andrew — Mon, 29 Dec 2008 12:00:06 +0000

I’m the first to admit that I’m anal-retentive when it comes to setting up my skins. Why? Because spending an hour or so in the beginning getting your skins just right means you never have to fool with them again and that they seldom fall off or fail in the field. I can’t remember the last time I had a skin failure. Once skins are properly trimmed and adjusted, they can take all sorts of abuse, such as walking across rocks, asphalt and logs.

One of the most important parts of trimming out a pair of skins is to hold them back about 3/16″ from the edges. Many people just trim them “neat” to the edges (as much out of laziness as anything), but that makes it much harder to get the skins on the ski and you lose your sharp edge when you need it on firm snow. The tiny bit of extra grip you’ll get by going wall-to-wall is irrelevant compared to the problems it causes.

: To trim the edge back, first trim it “neat” to the edges, then move the skin over so about 3/16″ of an inch is hanging over, trim it off, then do the other side.

: An expert skier/skinner with full-width skins being humbled into a self arrest on an icy slope as he couldn’t sink an edge in. I’m glad you were okay Steve. ;)

On the tip, if I think there is any chance I might adjust the length of the skin, I use a rounded end. This gives a bit more adhesive-to-adhesive contact, plus it allows the sides of the skin to grip a bit more, which helps to keep snow from packing in there (the beginning of the end). As most of my skis have dedicated skins, I cut the tip off short and sew it tight with some beefy thread. This ensures that the tip loop never comes off, gives a nice smooth contact profile to the skin and saves a bit of weight & bulk.

: On skins which are dedicated to a certain pair of skis, I cut the nose short, then stitch it on as shown on the left. On skins that may change skis, I trim the nose with a half circle (as shown on the right).

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Little Man, Big Hole

Andrew — Sun, 28 Dec 2008 12:00:07 +0000

Crevasses are no fun. If you are in an area with lots of big, obvious cracks, then it is easy to justify roping up, but there are many times where you won’t see a crack for days and the hassle of traveling roped up (and it is a hassle) don’t seem worth it. Even if you do decide to go unroped, the graphic though of plunging into a big, black bottomless pit is enough to put a knot in your stomach as you are marching along.

It is kind of rare to see or hear of someone taking the full-monty plunge into a crevasse, but Steve Ogle from Nelson, BC was recently on a trip to the Drawin range where Dean Wagner took a 50′ ripper, complete with his massive sled. Being a videographer, Dean had the wherewithal to pull out his camera and shoot a short entertaining and educational video on why ropes (and partners) are good for crevasse falls. The video is down at the bottom of the post.

Dean Wagner goes for the full Monty crevasse plunge.

I’m glad everyone was alright!

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Merry XX-Mas

Andrew — Wed, 24 Dec 2008 12:00:49 +0000

I got a good laugh out of this, although you may not…

Everyone knows that Dynafit bindings are the lightest, sexiest, most bad-ass clampers on earth, although only the Euros know how to express this in simple terms. I’ll burn in hell for this, but click here for an adult version of how to tour with comfort, style and safety.

Happy turns and safe skiing over the holidays,
Andrew

(photo link edited out as it was sent to me by a fellow Dynafit enthuasist, but was in no way, shape or form an official statement from the company - sorry.)

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Deciphering the Avalanche Rose

Andrew — Tue, 23 Dec 2008 12:00:37 +0000

The idea of an “avalanche rose” has been around for a while, but has been making its way into avalanche forecasts where it is one of my favorite quick-hit summaries of the current avalanche stability. The “rose” part come from the concept of a compass rose (north, south, east & west pointers with sub quads) and the avalanche part comes from, well, avalanches. I like the avalanche rose as it is a very quick, graphical overview. I wouldn’t ski a slope based only on the info gleaned from an avalanche rose diagram, but it would give me a big head-start on where to start looking for trouble or safe skiing for the day.

: As the skier sees Little Cottonwood Canyon…

: … the same view through the eyes of the avalanche rose. In the above illustration, the skier probably would have triggered an avalanche up in the red zone.

The avalanche rose is a stylized top view of a mountain which splits the world into aspects and elevations, then assigns an avalanche danger accordingly. It is a rough estimate and not like you can suddenly cross the 10,000′ foot line, or from NW to North and have the danger dissipate, but it gives a good general idea. Much like a traffic light, red means “stop - high danger” (beyond that is extreme/black, which is rare), and green is “go - low danger,” which makes it easy to figure out.

The avalanche rose in action on a daily UAC forecast:

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Meadow Skipping - From the Top, with Feeling

Andrew — Mon, 22 Dec 2008 12:00:20 +0000

Ninety-nine percent of enjoying backcountry skiing has to do with knowing where to find good, safe snow. It only takes a few times of hiking all day only to ski endless windjack to send skiers scurrying back to the resorts. The current Wasatch conditions are especially tough as the snow has barely filled in to 7,500′ and the exposed, upper elevations have high avalanche danger. Moderate angle, mid to upper elevation, north facing, shelters slopes are hard to find in the Wasatch, or in our case, just hard to get to.

What gentle slopes lack in angle can be made up for in speed to deliver the same thrill. A little EweTube video from Sunday morning:

We didn’t see any avalanches (kind of disappointing as we were looking for some), but as we crossed under the field where Brad is skiing in the photo below, the whole area ripped with a series of rolling collapses. Very exciting!

: B-Rad bouncing through the bumps.

: Rick Angell shoving some low angle pow around.

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