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You may be risking your life to ski unstable snow in avalanche terrain.
You may be risking your life to ski unstable snow in avalanche terrain.
Meanwhile, you could be having fun skiing in non-avalanche terrain without any of the risk.
Meanwhile, you could be having fun skiing in non-avalanche terrain without any of the risk.
There is a stigma that you need to expose yourself to avalanches to enjoy the backcountry, but this is not true. With proper planning and intentional decisions, you can enjoy good snow in zones that are safe from avalanches.
Non-avalanche terrain is:
Non-avalanche terrain is:
Not extreme, but still fun, and is the only way to guarantee that you will not be caught in an avalanche.
Here is everything that you need to travel in safe zones:
Here is everything that you need to travel in safe zones:
my why:
my why:
"Seeing fresh tracks on dangerous slopes with an unfavorable avalanche forecast has always made me feel uneasy." Then...
"Seeing fresh tracks on dangerous slopes with an unfavorable avalanche forecast has always made me feel uneasy." Then...
When I heard the news of the horrific Feb. 17th avalanche near Truckee, CA, with nine fatalities, the deadliest in North America in decades, I felt like I needed to do something to help make the backcountry safer.
A lot of effort is put into teaching backcountry users about avalanche types and snow science, but these are very complicated things, easy to get wrong, and cannot guarantee that the snow will stay in place.
I have always believed that not enough emphasis is placed on practicing traveling in zones that are out of the paths of potential avalanches, especially when the avy forecast is unfavorable. Therefore, a lot of backcountry users overlook the fun and safe low-angle options in favor of more exposed zones, and in doing so, take unnecessary risks.
My goal with this site is two-fold. First, is to make a simple and clear resource on how to identify avy terrain, make routes that avoid it, and how to practically ski in safe zones. The second goal is to help change the perception of lower-angle slopes from something that is not worth skiing into a fun, safe, and low-risk option for days when the snowpack is unstable.
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