Avy Education 1: 5 Rules For Skiing The Backcountry
ฝัง
- เผยแพร่เมื่อ 4 พ.ย. 2020
- Jimmy Tart is an educator with the Utah Avalanche Center, and he’s here to walk us through Know Before You Go.
Know Before You Go is a free avalanche awareness program that provides a great overview of avalanche risk, what dangers you need to be aware of when backcountry skiing, and how to avoid triggering an avalanche. Kickstart your avalanche education with this 45-minute overview of all things backcountry safety.
In this video, Jimmy covers the following key points.
Rule 1: Get the avy safety gear. Beacon, probe, shovel. The beacon (also called transceiver) helps you find the approximate area of the buried victim (assuming they were wearing a transceiver as well), the probe will help you identify the exact spot they’re buried, and the shovel will help you dig them out. It also can’t hurt to have an avalanche pack or an avalung pack for even more protection.
Rule 2: Practice. Know how to use the gear. Avalanche safety involves more than just bringing the right tools. It also involves the level of training you and your touring partners have. It’s important to practice using your gear before you have to do it for real. Finding the burial location takes time. Digging out the victim takes time. Check out this video at 10:10 to see a chart comparing probability of survival to burial time, and then check out 11:20 to see just how many pounds of snow most excavations require.
Rule 3: Check the avy forecast. Know what’s happening in the snowpack where you plan to ski and how high the avalanche risks are at which elevations and aspects.
Rule 4: Put it all together!
Rule 5: Stay out of harm’s way. Don’t take your skintrack beneath risky aspects, don’t hang out beneath potential slide paths. Practice proper touring etiquette. And sometimes? Just don’t go backcountry touring when the risk is too high.
What are the 5 red flags of avalanches? These are signs you should turn around and tour another day.
Recent avalanches on similar slopes
Cracking & collapsing
Wind-drifted snow
New snow (particularly on old snow)
Rapid thaw
The key to surviving avalanches is not to get into one in the first place! Since most avalanches are triggered by someone in the group, we have the power to control our chances of getting caught in one.
Remember: This video covers basic avalanche awareness, this is not an avalanche course. It’s not meant to replace on-snow education. This is meant to be a refresher for those who’ve taken these classes or as an introduction to new backcountry skiers and snowboarders.
Read more and shop avalanche gear here: bit.ly/366EtxQ
Want to learn about the conditions that lead to certain avalanches? Or learn how to evaluate the snowpack and upcoming weather? What about the psychology of staying safe in the backcountry? Take an avalanche safety course with the Utah Avalanche Center: utahavalanchecenter.org/
Watch the next two sections of this course here:
Part 2: • Avy Education 2: Get T...
Part 3: • Avy Education 3: Hone ...
Have more questions about avalanche safety? Connect with a Gearhead: Call 1.800.409.4502 or chat with us online 24/7.
What makes Backcountry the best place to gear up? One-on-one Gearhead expertise. The greatest selection of outdoor gear, apparel, and accessories out there. And the tools to elevate your entire outdoor experience, from training smarter and sending harder to toasting at après. Harnessing the insights of our Gearheads, we also build our own products for ski, camp, MTB, fly fish, and more pursuits, including exclusive collabs with industry leaders. Backcountry is the place to Seek it. Find it. Send it. - กีฬา
This guy is great. Having done a level 1 and try to watch and keep up, this is one of the best general intro hour avy awareness chats I have seen. Kudos!
Glad you enjoyed it!
Thank you very much for the information and insights. You can tell you have a lot of experience out there.
Hmm... very interesting presentation. Unlike many others who talk about BC skiing saying all you need is this and this and take an avalanche courses, you actually explain why we need good education before we head out into back country. Very informative - thank you very much :)))
Great job for sure! Never enough knowledge. Communication between party members is essential and always discuss avy report.
Thank you Backcountry! Great information!
Thanks for doing this! It’s nice to see you guys educating the community
you prolly dont care at all but does anyone know of a way to log back into an Instagram account..?
I was dumb forgot the password. I appreciate any assistance you can offer me
This is awesome. Thank you for doing this.
Thanks! That was really informative!
Thank you! Great video
Thanks for the great overview. There are a few zones in northern New England with avalanche danger. The most dangerous is Mt Washington and especially Tuckerman Ravine. The Mount Washington Avalanche Center is our local resource and there are AIARE courses available.
I live on an island, but I know what you mean. Ha!! Sick video, mahalo for the education. Now to keep the education going. Yew!!
There's a lot of good info here but I wish this had more pictures - What does an avalanche look like? What does the process for locating someone look like? Show me the curved search paths. Show me a visual of how much snow you have to dig out to really drive home your point. What does the inflatable backpack look like? What does an inclinometer look like? What does an avalanche forecast look like? Etc etc.
I'm only 12 minutes in and in aw of everything I just learned, not to mention the BEST presentation of it! Thanks for bringing this training to us online. Happy skiing 🎿
I am hoping to take an avalanche class as soon as I can, assuming that they still happen this year with covid.
Does Bruce Tremper know that Jimmy says avalanches aren't dragons?
i'm constantly searching for snow sharks. danger danger
I'm in Austria, where's my shout out?? 🙁
Well if I could afford avalanche courses and airbags I’d throw down
Getting famous off of comments day 162,so I can live the dream, live life to the fullest🚀🤙🚀
This started great and then went downhill fast.
Just a bunch of rambling
Thank you Backcountry! Great information!