this post was submitted on 22 Jun 2023
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backcountry

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For snow sports outside of the resorts. This community includes back country skiing, snowboarding, telemarking and more.

Posting Guidelines

Anyone can comment or post regardless of their experience with snow sports in general. We welcome all those who want to ask questions or share their adventures.

Safety

Always know your limits when going into the back country. If you are just getting started, in-person avalanche training is essential.

Remember that anyone can post to this community regardless of experience so do your own research.

Books

Staying Alive in Avalanche Terrain by Bruce Tremper

Backcountry Skiing: Skills for Ski Touring and Ski Mountaineering by Martin Volken, Scott Schell, and Margaret Wheeler

AUTONOMY MASTERY AND PURPOSE in the Avalanche Patch, Bruce Kay

Mountaineering the Freedom Of the Hills

Avalanche Forcasting Centers

Colorado Avalanche Information Center

Northwest Weather and Avalanche Center

Sierra Avalanche Center

Eastern Sierra Avalanche Center

Mount Shasta Avalanche Center

Alaska: Chugach Avalanche Center

Canada

Montana

Sawtooth (Idaho)

General Avalanche Information

US Forest Service Avalanche Center

US Avalanche Center

Canadian Avalanche Center

Trip Planning and Mapping

USDA NRCS - for finding where the snow has accumulated

Hillmap

Cal Topo

GaiaGPS (non-free)

Google Earth Pro (free)

Acknowledgement

A thank you to /u/pragmaticminimalist and the /r/backcountry community on Reddit for supporting a great community for over 12 years. Many of the links in this side bar come from /r/backcountry as they are good resources.

Moderators

If you are interested in helping to moderate this community, please contact @[email protected].

We prefer moderators who have formal avalanche training (E.g. AIARE level 1 or equivalent) and a few years of back country skiing experience, but lets see how this goes.

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Sometimes skins aren't enough to get up steeper sections. In this photo, I am climbing Snow Lion couloir. I have metal spikes on my ski boots called crampons that allow me to kick into the hardened spring snow. Also, there is a whippet ski pole in my right hand to stop myself if I slide down the mountain (not visible in the photo unfortunately). This is similar to an ice axe but combines with the ski pole for ease of use. For more information, you can read about the self-arrest mountaineering technique.

Snow stability: In Colorado and many other areas with contenental snow packs, this kind of slope presents a high risk of avalanche for most of the year. However, prediction of avalanche danger becomes more reliable in the spring when the snow melts and sticks together more (known as isothermalization). However, one must always be aware of other factors affecting the snow such as the temperature the night before, rain fall, time of day, and more.

As always, seek proper in-person training before attempting this kind of thing. This post is simply to satisfy curiosity and drive discussion.

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