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.

author
 Avalanches in the News — Colorado and Revelstoke

By Lou

A couple of avalanche type things are on my mind today. First, if you’ve been around outdoor gear you probably know of Loki clothing. Seth Anderson, co-founder of the company and a spirited booster of their somewhat unusual but attractive garments got avalanched on Wednesday, backcountry skiing on Grand Mesa near Grand Junction, Colorado. Seth was severely injured and by all accounts lucky to be alive. He was with well known Grand Junction outdoors woman Ann Driggers, who contrary to newspaper reports was NOT caught in the slide as well, and actually spent around 4 hours rendering first aid to Seth as they waited for a rescue which Ann was luckily able to instigate on her cell phone (I spoke with Ann this morning).

It is somewhat unusual for people to get into avalanche trouble on Grand Mesa, but it does happen. According to Ann, they were in some terrain that most people are not familiar with. Interestingly, Ann said she had a GPS and was able to give the rescuers her exact coordinates, which facilitated the rescue and perhaps even saved Seth’s life. On that note, the newspapers mistakenly said that Seth’s rescuers were somehow able to get Ann’s GPS coordinates from her avalanche beacon, leading to wags about town saying “I want one of those beacons!”

Ann suggested we wait for the CAIC avy report for the details, rather than me having her go through the whole thing one more time after she’d just spoken with Scott from CAIC. That sounded good, so we’ll link to the CAIC report from here once it’s up.

Having broken both legs myself in an avy, I know what the drive down recovery road is like. So prayers are going out for Seth’s speedy healing.

Both Ann and Seth are quite the experienced backcountry skiers, so take-home from this is no matter who you are or what you know, be danged careful out there.

Also in avalanche news, just about any sledder or skier has by now heard of the unmitigated disaster near Revelstoke, in which around 200 snowmobilers were hanging out under an avalanche path and got ‘lanched. Two died, at least 30 injured. The sheer stupidity and weirdness of this occurrence left me for a least an hour without the ability to type on my keyboard. Apparently they were having some sort of semi-formal snowmobile event and this incident either occurred during the event, or soon after, and involved folks who had attended the event. All I can say is that if this doesn’t change the way snowmobilers in the Revelstoke area view avalanche danger, I don’t know what will. At the least, one would hope they’ll all get better at judging their picnic spots.

Comments, anyone? Are sledders somehow less careful of avalanches than backcountry skiers? Or are there just more sledders so one gets that impression? And MORE IMPORTANTLY, please leave get-well wish comments for Seth. I’m sure he’ll read this, so lets send him some love!

Posted by Lou on March 19, 2010 | Filed Under avalanches | 10 Comments 

author
 Onyx Final Production Binding — Parts One and Two (Pre-Release prevention, Brakes, More)

By Lou

I’ve been working on another Onyx post. Rather than publish as another blog, with this great comment string in mind I figured I should just add part two to this post. So here you go:

Part Two
G3 Onyx ski binding final development was done by releasing a beta non-retail version last year. Doing a public beta is a risky endeavor. You might receive useful feedback, but people’s impressions of the beta tend to become gospel, achieving a perverse immortality on the internet despite the fact that the very problems encountered in beta can be (and often are, unless you’re Microsoft) resolved in the production version.

With those thoughts in mind, I took the time a few days ago for a lengthy conversation with G3 so I could get clear about which beta lessons schooled the production version. Here is more of what I learned (also see part one, below), as well as some of my own impressions.

First, I did a visual comparison of my 2009/2010 production Onyx to my beta version. The two bindings are nearly identical, but a pair of ribs on the production version heel housing make ID fairly easy (one of the heel lifts rests on top of these when it’s not in use).

Onyx binding heel.

Onyx binding heel, showing reinforcement rib that exists on production version.

In my view, getting into the binding is still Onyx’s biggest issue. You open the toe by pressing down with a ski pole on the tab in front of the toe jaws. My beta version required what I thought was a ridiculous amount of force to do this. Other skiers agreed, and so did G3. So perhaps the most important tweak in the retail version is less force required to open the binding. More, aside from being easier to open, my production binding seem to be easier to HOLD open — which is the important aspect of this entry method.

In steep or awkward situations, having to hold your binding open while getting your boot in is in my experience problematic. So making the Onyx easier to hold open is good, but why is my spidy sense tingling and telling me there is still room for improvement or even a different methodology? The future will tell. Read more

Posted by Lou on March 18, 2010 | Filed Under Binding Reviews | 137 Comments 

author
 Casco Eyewear Shields

By Jonathan
Casco Eyeshields

Casco Eyeshields, essential diaper change gear and good for backcountry skiing as well.

“Expensive, dorky, effective,” read the email subject header from my local co-conspirator in skiing and biking forays. A partner who clearly knows how to pique my interest!

“You might be into these. I saw them on an olympic xc skier and googled them out of curiosity. They got some funky flip-up feature that could shave your transition times…”

Anything to save precious seconds on my transitions! Okay, seriously though (although the walk-ski switch on my DyNA boots is a wonder to behold), I really like to be able to use the same eyewear for both the up and the down. Plus for all my nordic skate skiing, the ups and downs are constantly trading places.

For late spring and early summer backcountry skiing and ski mountaineering, I’ve always just been, ahh, “borrowing” my wife’s glacier glasses from our 2001 Chamonix honeymoon. But for the winter, as of last fall my regular sunglasses collection was getting desperate: my trusty sunglasses that I got back in 1993 had finally broken, ditto for a pair of sunglasses I’d noticed lying by the side of a trail while skinning up a closed ski resort a few years ago, my wife’s sunglasses from college (she graduated in . . . 1992) had poor contrast in low-light conditions, and ditto for that pair of sunglasses I found while xc skiing on the local bike path.

I bought the Rudy Sportmask in part because of their strong support of the National Ski Patrol, and the shields have been great even for fairly cold and long backcountry ski days (with my goggles stowed away all day), but even light snow often is too much for them to handle. (Or as my previously referenced partner inquired at the very beginning of a gloppy day, “Umm, can you, ahh, see?”) Read more

Posted by Jonathan on March 17, 2010 | Filed Under Jonathan Shefftz, Misc Gear Reviews, Your Guest Blogs | 2 Comments 

author
 Vertfest 2010 Race Recap

By Guest

Kirk Turner

Backcountry skiing racing.

Aerial view of the the Vertfest rando race lead group including the fastest three of the day, the Traslin Bothers Mike & Andy, as Well as Kirk Turner

The 4th annual OR Vertfest was held this past weekend, March 10th, at Alpental, WA. Vertfest is “The Premier Northwest Celebration of Human Powered Skiing”, and who can argue with that! One of the greatest aspects of this event is that all the proceeds went directly to support the Friends of the Northwest Weather and Avalanche Center (NWAC). Read more

Posted by Guest on March 16, 2010 | Filed Under Rando Racing | 7 Comments 

author
 Today, Fisher Towers, Utah

By Lou
Fischer Towers Utah

Fisher Towers, Utah. Am experimenting with my image zoomer compressor, unfortunately it messes this photo up a bit but if you click on the image it'll display a higher quality version, perhaps enlarged if your screen has the room. Yesterday was chilly but dry and Lisa got in a nice 40 mile road bike ride, but rain and snow beat the WildSnow trailhead approach vehicle into the mud, and we headed back home where the snow is thick enough to ski. On the way back, we were loving the clouded cliffs of the redrock country, and pulled over for this roadside grab shot. Click to enlarge.

Posted by Lou on March 14, 2010 | Filed Under photography | 7 Comments 

« Previous (older) Entries         
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.

All material on this website is copyrighted. Permission required for reproduction, electronic or otherwise. That includes publication and display on other websites by whatever means. PLEASE SEE OUR COPYRIGHT INFORMATION.

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.