Lynne Wolfe writes for The Avalanche Review, guides for Exum and teaches avalanche classes with the AAI. Here she runs us through a checklist of things you should be thinking and talking about before, during and after a day in the backcountry. We’ve added in some photos and words as well. This isn’t designed to be a replacement for a Level 1 avalanche class, but more of a way to look through the protocol you follow in the backcountry. Go through Lynne’s checklist and analyze your most recent day in the backcountry. Hopefully you’ll find a few ways to improve…
Here’s a pre-trip checklist- using 3 planning/ assessment stages.
The Ultimate goal: Avoid this…
#1 In the Living Room – Do Your Homework
- Read the maps and do your planning
- Gather conditions info from previous avy forecasts
- Gather reports and beta from others
- Make timelines, turnaround times, and options at crucial junctions
- Who is going?
- With the group in mind, be honest about your strengths and weaknesses [Earlyups: Tailor you mission with the "weakest" link in mind. There's nothing worse than dragging someone along that's not ready for what you have planned.]
- Gear needed- who carries what? (no, you don’t need to bring a GoPro…)
- Skills- like first aid, technical skills
- Options and check-in points [Earlyups: Check-in points are good. Especially if you have a slower member of your party. By keeping the group together, everyone is able to participate in the discussion of what to ski, snowpack observations etc. This strengthens the group dynamic.]
#2- At the Trailhead
- Double check all the above
- Beacon check (yup, even in June…)
- Conditions check
- How’s everyone feeling? [Earlyups: Is anyone (or everyone) hungover? Sick? When people are operating at less than 100% it's not a bad idea to dial things back a bit.]
#3- On the Way and at Crucial Intersections
- Still OK with conditions? What do we see? Wind/ Recent Avalanche Activity/ Visibility? [Earlyups: Be actively discussing what you're seeing and feeling with your group. When you stop to drink some water, discuss your observations and red flags: Heavy Snowfall, Heavy Winds, Rapid Warming, Signs of recent avalanche activity. Be talking about how these factors are impacting the aspect you want to ski.]
- More in-depth stability: bull’s eye signs, pit results
- Have a system for deciding that helps to minimize the human factor- use ALPTRUTH or have a smack-down question “yes I know we WANT to ski it, but it that the right thing to do?” [Earlyups: The human factor is huge. When the energy is high and the group is set on their goal, sometimes they may be seeing what they want to see i.e. looking only for signs of stability in the snowpack while overlooking signs of instability.]
- Now make and communicate a plan for skiing it [Earlyups: Pick out safe zones and meeting points. Talk about terrain traps and features to avoid i.e. avoiding cornices, wind-loaded rollovers etc.]
“Let’s not jump in on top of these cornices”
- Safe zones (real not imaginary)
- Pre-arranged communication
#4 Post-Event
- How’d we do? Did we make good decisions, or did we get away with it?
[Earlyups: Our goal is always to live to ski another day. If you're drinking a beer and high-fiving your friends in the parking lot, you've achieved your goal. However, don't forget to analyze what happened out there and ways to improve.]
Don’t be like this guy with no gear or idea of where he’s at:
Be safe, and don’t forget to have fun (like our friend Kush here, even if he is flailing like crazy…)
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