Black Diamond for everything climbing and skiing.    Dynafit -- Speed Up!    Tracker beacons, Stash packs, shovels, more more more.    Terrific deals on randonnee AT rando backcountry skiing gear.    K2 has the skis that stay true to earning your turns.    Garmont boots -- excellent choice for backcountry skiing.

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 Backcountry Skiing News Roundup

By Lou
2010 Backcountry Ski Racing

Click to enlarge poster.

Firstly, know that the 10th annual US Ski Mountaineering National Championships, thanks to Marmot, will be held March 20th at Jackson resort. This year’s even promises to be bigger, better and badder with a tougher course, superb organization, a terrific title sponser (Marmot), and more. Here are the links for your informational pleasure:
Event website

Course maps & descriptions

Facebook

Also on the rando racing front. Tomorrow the Wasatch Powder Keg will take place at Brighton resort in Utah. While sadly limited to 150 participants (groan), the race division course looks good with 5,000 vert of climbing, the obligatory booter, and an entirely new course. Should be fun to spectate, and best wishes to all racers.

Well, the WildSnow Denali backcountry skiing expedition has kept me busier than a one legged guy in a jumping contest (no offense to you one legged guys out there). Amazing how many issues crop up when you want to do an excellent rather than lackadaisical job organizing an Alaskan glacier expedition. Things like wind screens for our larger snow melting pots, whether to use a thin foam tent-floor cover or not, setting up ski boots so we don’t get frostbite if it gets super cold, not to mention exactly how does one dress for something like this? In a few weeks we’ll ramp up the blogging about all that, which will be fun. And we’re still planning on blogging from the climb using our satphone system, which has been tricky to set up but appears to work. Read more

Posted by Lou on March 12, 2010 | Filed Under News Backcountry, Rando Racing | 1 Comment 

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 Pieps Avy Electronics — It’s not just beacons anymore

By Jonathan

In 2003, Pieps introduced its DSP avalanche beacon, the first beacon to offer either a third antenna (to eliminate nulls and spikes in the final search phase) or marking/masking/flagging (to allow a focus on just one beacon at a time in a multiple-burial scenario). Now on its sixth major firmware iteration, Pieps has improved the DSP significantly over the years.

Mark Renson w iProbe

Mark Renson, from the Mad River Glen and Mt Washington ski patrols, finds a “victim” with a Pieps iProbe during the September 2008 National Ski Patrol refresher at Northfield, MA.

Pieps has also recently introduced three other innovative avalanche-related electronics items. First up was the iProbe. As an NSP and AIARE avalanche instructor, whenever students ask how they’ll know when a probe strike hits the buried victim (as opposed to the ground, or some brush), the standard response is supposed to be, “you’ll know!” But with the iProbe, your probe will tell you. How so? Appearing as just another thick-diameter carbon fiber probe with a curiously enlarged handle, the iProbe contains a small search-only beacon in its tip. The iProbe will start beeping within about two meters of the victim and then emit a continuous beep within about half a meter. Read more

Posted by Jonathan on March 11, 2010 | Filed Under Avalanche Beacon Reviews, Jonathan Shefftz, Your Guest Blogs, avalanches | 4 Comments 

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 Stove Boards 101, or 102?

By Lou

“I’ve got a few tips for Denali I can share with you,” said my friend Brian. “First, we forgot our cook boards, what a mistake!”

When running a backpacking type stove on snow, it’ll melt down and it’ll spill your gruel quicker than a TGR consultant can empty a PBR can. Thus, expeditions since days of yore have used “stove boards” or “cookboards,” usually chunks of thin plywood or Masonite sized for the stove, pot and windscreen. Sometimes these are fancied up with foam bottoms, friction stuff to keep them from sliding around, carabiner holes, etc. For our Denali trip we need three or four of these, so out to the modshop we go.

Stove board cook

This single stove cookboard is my minimalist version. Made with 1/8 inch carbon fiber plate and alu flashing, it's insulated with lightweight foam that I'll just tape on so it's replaceable.

Read more

Posted by Lou on March 10, 2010 | Filed Under Denali McKinley, Gear Mods | 24 Comments 

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 Report from the Ski Mo World Championships, USA 9th Overall!

By Cathy

Team USA have done their country proud, coming in 9th in the overall country ranking at the end of the 2010 Ski Mountaineering World Championship, one better than their previous best in 2006. They were the only non-European team in the top 10. The Italians won the country ranking – again – and took first and second in the women’s combined (Roberta Pedranzini and Francesca Martinelli), while France took first and second in the men’s combined (Didier Blanc and Florent Perrier).

Max Taam and Travis Scheefer of the USA

Max Taam and Travis Scheefer of the USA (race no. 45) battle it out with an Andorran team, while overtaking a women’s Norwegian pair. Max and Travis finished 23rd in a time of 02:50:46.

Three more races have happened since my last blog post to bring us to this successful conclusion. Venga, allez, dai, go-go-go! The crowds are cheering the start of the teams’ event. This is the one race that happens at the other end of the country (it takes less than an hour to drive to the other end of the country) and it has a special place in the hearts of the volunteers. It starts out of the ski resort most liked by local residents. Arcalis, with no village at the base, is less crowded than the other resorts and has some of the best snow and easily accessible off-piste in Andorra. And sitting just outside its boundaries is the most iconic ski-touring peak in the country – Font Blanca 2903m. Despite light snow and enveloping cloud everyone is desperately hoping that this is the one course that will not have to be shortened. Read more

Posted by Cathy on March 9, 2010 | Filed Under Rando Racing | 11 Comments 

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 Breckenridge Ascent Series Evening Rando Races

By Lou

Interesting how some resorts embrace uphilling and others freak out about it. More here.

Breck Ascent backcountry skiing races.

This should be fun for backcountry skiers or ski mountaineers local for something a little different and quite social.

Posted by Lou on March 8, 2010 | Filed Under Rando Racing | 10 Comments 

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Welcome to Louis (Lou) Dawson's backcountry skiing information and opinion website. Lou's passion for the past forty years has been alpinism, climbing, mountaineering and skiing -- along with all manner of outdoor recreation. He has authored numerous books and articles about backcountry skiing and is well known as the first person to ski down all 54 of Colorado's 14,000-foot peaks, otherwise known as the Fourteeners! Books and free back country information here, and tons of Randonnee rando telemark info.

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Backcountry skiing is a dangerous sport. You may be killed or severely injured if you do any form of randone, randonnee and randonnée skiing. The information on this website is intended only as general information. While the authors and editors of the information on this website make every effort to present useful information, due to human error the information, text and images contained within this website may be inaccurate, false, or out-of-date. By using, reading or viewing the information provided on this website, you agree to absolve the owners of Wild Snow as well as content contributors of any liability for injuries or losses incurred while using such information. Furthermore, you agree to use any of this website's information, maps, photos, or binding mounting instructions or templates at your own risk, and waive Wild Snow its owners and contributors of any liability for use of said items for backcountry skiing or any other use.