Avalanche Training: BCA Beacon Parks

This Sunday I visited Arapahoe Basin ski resort. It stays open much longer than most resorts in North America because of its proximity to the continental divide and annual snowfall of more than 400 inches. A-basin (Arapahoe Basin) is a fun local ski destination for adventurists nearly three quarters of the year. Typically skiers drive up to A-basin to visit the beach. However, when the resort received 21 inches of snow in the last 48 hours nobody was dressing up in party attire and drinking. Its funny how weather can change a skiers mind. This time of year everyone was trying to get one final day of good skiing in.

Our intention was to ski an backcountry chute off the North Pole gate that was just off the top of the leeway chairlift at A-Basin. Unfortunately because of the recent snowfall and weather on top of the mountain, ski patrol did not have a chance to go up to the North Pole gate for a couple days and would not open that section. "It receives a lot of wind-loading in a storm like this, we are going to wait 'till the afternoon to check out if it is safe to ski" said one ski patrolmen we talked to. The area called the “East Wall Traverse” was open but it was already skied out. Scott and I decided to rearrange our plans a little bit. We skied one run on the East Wall Traverse and although it was fun we decided to venture over to the avalanche training facility called, beacon park.

BCA (Back Country Access) is a company based out of Boulder, Colorado that specializes in creating avalanche beacons for backcountry skiers. They make the most affordable and reliable beacons on the market. It has become an industry standard and is the most commonly used beacon that I see. BCA has created beacon parks all around the world to test their product just like the one we visited at A-basin.

My friend Scott and I both use Pieps beacons, they work interchangeably with BCA and other models so we decided to test out our skills at the BCA beacon park. I like to use a pieps rather than a BCA because it is a three frequency beacon and has a longer range than a BCA. When we arrived there were 4 different hidden boxes we could turn on in the park. They were controlled by a small box with a BCA sticker on it. We flipped the switch on one of them, turned our beacons to search and began looking for it. Within a few minutes we were able to find the source of the signal and begin probing. When we hit the small metal box buried in the snow with our probe, a siren went off from the control box. It was actually a fun experiment. Here is a video of Scott finding the box on his own.

We then continued to train on a variety of different scenarios. We turned two different boxes on at the same time and tried to search for both at once. Another man came and joined us and we searched one final scenario. The man, who called himself Cheyenne, turned two random beacons on and we searched for them together. We found the two very quickly as a team. Cheyenne told us about a competition that A-basin puts on every year called the Basin Beacon Bowl where skiers search for buried boxes emmitting beacon signals just like we did. He said he won the contest the last two years before they moved him up to the pro division wehre competition was just too fearce. This is a great activity if you have the to get to a beacon park. I am happy that BCA and ski resorts are taking the initiative to create these parks for their guests to use and I encourage everyone with a beacon to try one out!

What do I do when the Snow Melts? Climb a 13er!

Although backcountry skiing usually starts in April as most of the resorts close down and the avalanche danger is a lot less severe, it is easy to get distracted by the new spring sunshine. Our minds start to wander towards other activities. Hiking and Mountain Biking are two of my favorite activities to participate in place of backcountry skiing. In this shot I am mimicking a 360 ski jump called a helicopter just below Mt. Powel. I often find that hiking and mountain biking can be very similar to skiing just without the snow.

I like cross-training because you can play through the same terrain you would if you had skis and there was snow but you get a different perspective on the land that you are traveling through. Venturing through the terrain I will ski in the summer is essential to choosing safe lines in the winter. Often, I look to see where fallen trees are and other obstacles that may be buried from the snow when I am hiking or biking. I think that summer travel through your favorite backcountry spots is also a great idea in regard to orienteering. Occasionally I will get caught in a really bad storm when I am skiing and it is really helpful to have familiar landmarks and a good sense of the trail when visibility is less than ideal. The other aspect of hiking and biking in the backcountry when the ski season begins to wind down is it keeps me in great shape. My personal goal is to skin into the Conundrum Hot Springs, which is a really tough ski tour, see this article in the Vail Daily. I will need to train for the trip by staying active even when the snow melts. Keeping my fitness level high in this mud season is important so that I can actually have fun on my trip.

Where is a fun place to train in the off-season? Fourteeners are common hiking destinations for most backcountry enthusiests in Colorado. My suggestion is to go off the beaten path away from the crowds in the spring and summer months and try to summit a 13,000 foot peak instead. Too many Coloradans have become caught up in the mentality “if it’s not a 14er, it’s not worth climbing.” When did we start judging a peak on its elevation rather than its historical significance, scenery and difficulty? Mt. Powell is the highest peak in the Gore Mountain Range at 13,580 feet. Although this peak doesn't sit in the pack of infamous 14ers, with an elevation gain of 4,500 feet and 12 miles worth of hiking, you’ll feel like you just climbed one.

The mountain was named after Major John Wesley Powell, who was a geologist, teacher and Civil War veteran. He was a great western explorer who climbed this peak on his way to the Grand Canyon. Powell is a perfect training peak for a 14er and a great challenge if you’re staying in the Vail Valley area and looking for a scenic camping trip. The ascent from the picturesque Piney Lake Ranch makes the first steps on your venture easy. The ranch is fully equipped with the amenities that every hiker is craving after a long day’s journey. Canoes, horses, lodging, food and supplies are all offered to backpackers and mountaineers passing by. But if you want to get away from it all, there’s an awesome vacant valley just beyond Piney Lake where you can pitch a tent. This relatively remote area makes for an exciting high alpine experience. It’s also one of the most beautiful hikes in the I-70 corridor. You could rush through Mt. Powell and tackle it in one day, but consider spending one or two nights camping in this valley soaking up the scenery.

Location: Drive 1 mile west from Vail Village on 1-70 exit 176 on North Frontage Road to Red Sandstone Road. Turn right and drive 0.7 miles to a fork in the road and go left on country road #700. This is a good gravel/4X4 road that leads to Piney Lake. Drive 11 miles and turn right outside the first wooden gate.

Final Days: Pond Skimming and Funky Atire

As today is the final day at Vail, I thought it was appropriate to post about common themes for closing days. Vail's final day celebration had many elements but the event that is infamous and at the core of the celebration is pond skimming. This article has a great summary of the history and activities that surround this event at Vail. Vail likes to call their event the World Pond Skimming Championship. This is the first year that Vail has held the pond skimming contest on the final day of the year. In years past, the resort held it on the second to last day as mentioned in this article. Vail is hoping to disperse the crowds and hopefully cut down on some of the partying by moving the event to Sunday rather than Saturday.

Not only do contestants fling themselves off a snow jump, but then attempt to skim across a 100 foot pond of water. The objective is to successfully go off the jump and skim across the entire pond to the other side without falling in. Over the years I have witnessed some pretty impressive costumes and tricks for this particular event. A lot of people try back flips and 360 and few land successfully or make it across the pond. It seems that the new wide powder skis with reverse camber technology make it easier on the contestants. The reverse camber concept came from water skis so it makes sense that they would perform while under these circumstances. However this event and final day at a resort has little to do with ski performance and tools. It is really a fun day where everyone gets dressed up, neon purple one piece suites seem to be a popular choice, to celebrate the season. Along with a pond skimming contest, a lot of skiers just have a big party on top of the mountain after the lifts close. Many resort fanatics want to preserve their final lift served run for as long as they can and some will wait until sunset or nightfall to make their final descent. This day also marks the beginning of the backcountry season. The lifts have closed down and it is time for everyone to earn their turns. Click here for more information on Vail's World Pond Skimming Championships. Here is the most recent article in the Vail Daily that outlines the events of the day.

Next Trip: Mount Holy Cross?

With the resort season winding down, the backcountry season begins. Around this time of year I always start thinking about the ideal backcountry adventures that I could plan. There is always one mountain that pops into my head. The only 14,000 foot peak in the Vail valley, Mount Holy Cross is essentially the reason there is so much protected forest land in Colorado.

Teddy Roosevelt declared the whole area surrounding Mt. Holy Cross a national treasure back in 1939 because of the perceived religious significance. Christians from all areas of the globe would travel to this mountain as a pilgrimage and testament to their faith. The mountain is only 14 miles from the town of Vail and is the largest peak in the Holy Cross wilderness. Half moon pass is the gateway to the mountain and is infamous for the moon lily flowers that blossom only on a on a full moon at night.

A friend recently contacted me about embarking on the challenge of skiing the cross this season and I became very intrigued. Although, I have climbed the mountain a several times in the summer, haling my skis in there was going to be a whole different story. The first thing I do when I am going to plan a adventure of this magnitude is do some research. When I typed in: Mount Holy Cross Ski Tour into Google, I came across this awesome blog post. This not only gave me the courage to think that this trip is manageable but also a lot of useful information about what time of year is best to ascend the cross.

After more research, we found that we had missed our window for this adventure. It is crucial to plan this trip while there is still snow on tigawon road and you can snowmobile or skin up there. By early April, the snow melt was too severe to make this trip a possiblity. I did read about one account of a couple proffessional skiers (Chris Davenport and Chris Anthony) who mountain biked up the 6 mile stretch of road carrying all of their equipment in a kiddie trailer behind them in mid April. They ended up skiing the cross successfully but endured a long 12 hour day of hard work. We ultimately decided that it would be too much work to attempt to both bike and skin up a 14er in one day.

Perfect Inbounds Skiing Conditions

Posted prior to a 19 inch day...

Wednesday, April 7th- "Best Day at Vail"

time to ride the lifts...

Some days are better in bounds....

I recently followed a storm that hit the Vail Valley last Tuesday and Wednesday night. The video above was posted on Tuesday from Vail The storm dumped 19 inches of snow on Vail Mountain Resort by 5:30 on Wednesday morning. In April, the consistency of the snow is usually different than most of the winter and the thick wet snow is usually a nightmare for both driving and backcountry travel. Rather than going back to the Camp Hale area that we had just spent the weekend exploring, a few of my buddies decided we would go directly to the resort and have the lifts help us get where we wanted to go. This is the type of weather allows the resorts to boast expressions like, "best day of the year".

On a big spring dump day such as it was it did not make sense to either skin up a mountain or take a snowmobile into the backcountry. With almost 20 inches of new snow the best bet was to go to the resort and that is exactly what we did. The lift lines were not horrible because it was a Wednesday and most people had to work and the snow was so heavy that in most cases you needed to use someone else's track to get in or out of a run so I was happy to see other riders out there.

In addition, this would have been a severely dangerous avalanche day in the backcountry. The avalanche report for that day as shown in this link: http://avalanche.state.co.us/pub_bc_avo.php?zone_id=2 was that all north, east, and south facing slopes were very dangerous. It was also a blue bird day, so the sunny weather quickly heated up the southwest slopes rendering them virtually to thick and heavy to ski.

It is important to understand which days are best to ski where. Although backcountry travel and skiing is often the most pleasurable and prestine type of skiing, there is plenty of good fun to be had in bounds. Check out this video of my jumping of the the chair 4 cliffs at vail and then throwing a 360 iron cross off the notorious "whoppie" jump at vail. No way you would get a line like that in the backcountry.

Please excuse these halloween skiing videos as placeholders. I am having technical difficulties with the recent videos and I will upload them when they are available. Feel free to giggle at Nacho Libre as he attempts telemark skiing on Loveland Pass. Cheers.

Folwer-Hillard Hut Trip

The Fowler-Hillard yurt (the hut consequently burnt down over the summer in a forest fire) in Camp Hale has some of the best backcountry skiing in the Colorado.

This is a shot of Mike Lebow airing off a little 10 foot cliff 200 yards below where the yurt was built. Although the area had received well over a foot of snow since we arrived and the avalanche danger was very high. As a team we assessed that skiing the low angle gladed (see the bottom) trees was a safe and fun option. Rob Coppolillo wrote an article called Brain Freeze about avalanche awareness in the backcountry. Rob writes, "You want to be with people with a 'shared mental model' that just means ski partners with shared goals, similar levels of risk acceptance and similar plans in terms of communication-what your looking for, what information you'll gather and how." Coppolillo, Rob Brain Freeze, Elevation Outdoors, Feb/March 2010. We had a great team that was able to communicate well with each other and avoid the extremely dangerous slopes. Our group checked the CAIC (http://avalanche.state.co.us/index.php) before we went on the trip and knew that the avalanche danger was considerable on all aspects so we decided that it would be best to only ski in the trees at low angles.

I was really proud of our group that we found terrain that had all the clues that it would slide and we decided not to ski it. It was a 37 degree slope which is the magic number for slides, it was an open area which enabled the snow to build up and be more dangerous, and finally it had tons of trigger points like cornices and cliffs at the top. Although this looked like one of the best ski runs our group had ever seen and we eat lunch on top of it, after digging a pit and doing our tap test we decided that we should move on to a safer area. Coppolillo makes funny comparison to the motivation posters that people put up in the office. His clever twist to reference backcountry skiing reads, "Teamwork: Because Who Wants to Die Under Ten Tons of Snow?" Although this is a joking reference his point rings true. We worked well as a team because the consequences of our actions were dire.

Because it was the first backcountry trip for most members of our group our expectations were very low. Before it burnt down, the Folwer-Hillard Hut was a beautiful spacious lodge in a picturesque location.

We thought it was really nice just to have shelter from the elements. Here is a snapshot of a couple of boys feeling at home in the yurt. After six hours of hiking up hill with 60 plus pound packs on we just happy to dethaw and cook a meal. The 10th mountain division did an excellent job building this hut in the place of the William Folwer Hut. Here is a link to all the specifications and details about the yurt we stayed in: http://www.huts.org/FowlerHilliardYurt.htm#generalinfo

It is interesting that this is the first of all the huts to burn down in Colorado after all of these years. One can't help but wonder if the new plethora of pine beetles in the area is starting to have an effect on forest fires around the state. This is a great article on the subject: http://www.guardian.co.uk/environment/2010/mar/16/forests-insects I believe that pine beetles are killing more trees than average and those dead trees are acting as catalysts for larger more destructive fires than in the past. We had a great time in the yurt but I think it would have been a much more historic adventure had we got the chance to stay in the hut. Here is an article depicting the 8th grade class that uncovered the catastrophe last summer: http://www.aspentimes.com/article/20090924/NEWS/909249997 In some cases, ignorance is bliss.

Gladed: Gladed areas are places that have the trees thinned out some to accomodate more ski traffic, and give intermediate skiiers the chance to experience the thrill of tree and deep snow skiing, but with more room to manuver through the trees. Gladed trails can happen naturally, or can be man made. Its basically a thinned out forest within the ski resort.