Prepare for the unexpected in the backcountry with systematic practice. Avalanche rescue skills are critical to being a competent partner, but are a reactive approach to safety. It is more important to take a proactive approach to managing your safety in the backcountry. Get educated, stay safe, and know how to effectively use your tools.

We learn early and often in avalanche education that slides are more likely to occur on slope angles of greater than 30 degrees. We know this as the 30-degree threshold. Here’s some backstory on the good work of Ron Perla…

A good start for your tour begins with some basics: ensure your avalanche beacon has sufficient power, know your beacon and those of your partners, and follow through with a beacon check at the trailhead (and think about repeating the beacon check later in the day).

Many communities are knee deep already in beacon checks, snow assessment, and the move to non-rock skis. As daylight savings time reared up this weekend, so too did the need for avalanche beacon maintenance. Time to get on it. Here’s some easy first steps.

The Know Before You Go program, otherwise known as KBYG, receives an update for 2022 with an emphasis on motivating backcountry users to develop their avalanche awareness and motivate them to pursue more knowledge and experience.

Aaron Rose, a Colorado splitboarder, brings a grounded perspective to interpreting the dynamic backcountry realm. “The observed and felt clues yield the most evidence to consider terrain management and avalanche avoidance. Snow sense is fundamentally built on a visual-tactile experience. Auditory stimulus is secondary, at least for me.”