Friday, January 31, 2014

Avalanche Forecasts

Learn about the European Avalanche Danger Scale, snow stability, and what to look out for before going off-piste...


Snow stability is important: when the snow is stable it takes more than one person to trigger a release. When the snow is less stable, then just one person can trigger a slab. Plus there is more of a chance that the slab will release above you, making the consequences that much worse. Read on...

Tuesday, January 28, 2014

Salomon's 2014-2015 Gear Preview - Boards

Salomon-Gypsy-Wonder-Pillow-Talk-Snowboard-2014-2015 The Whitelines team headed over to Avant Premiere last week to check out next season’s gear. Some they were able to try and test, others they got some sneaky snaps...Read on..
They managed to source out the latest gear for you guys at Salomon. So take a look at their newest range of boards for next season’s shredders.
Take a sneaky peak here…

Read more at http://whitelines.com/uncategorized/salomons-2014-2015-gear-preview-boards.html#IzkItyQeljXImUAy.99

Friday, January 17, 2014

Staying safe in avalanche terrain.

Staying safe in avalanche terrain

courtesy of  Danny Uhlmann


 "...we want to draw attention to the fact that although experience is necessary to develop certain competences....having been exposed to the relevant risks and “got a way with it" is itself no good evidence to having acquired these competences. More generally, we want to caution against the inference that in most mountain sports, experience is by itself a reliable indicator of competence." 
Philip A. Ebert and Theoni Photopoulou, "Bayes’ beacon: avalanche prediction, competence, and evidence for competence"

After my first winter season in the Alps (2012-2013) I was both dazzled by the terrain and amazed by the access to it. There were many lessons I learned and many days spent in massive terrain here with clients and on personal trips. I guided all sorts of off-piste and ski touring days and taught a few AIARE 1 avalanche courses. As a new guide to this area it was hard to resist using the approach to stability forecasting and risk management I am used to from North America and apply it here. But the approach in Europe is much different; both among guides and among recreational skiers. The following are my observations about what I have learned, what I feel is missing here is Europe, and what I think we can all do to stay safe in the winter snowpack while riding.

READ ON ..

Monday, January 13, 2014

All the gear, but no idea

Le Matin Swiss has published a fuller interview with Dominique Perret. At 51 Perret, once dubbed The Best Freerider in the World, has hucked 36m cliffs and skied on the north face of Everest continues with the theme of off piste skiers who are geared up but clueless.

An avalanche at Mase in the Valais killed four people on Sunday including a guide. Another skier was killed at Nendaz and two other off piste skiers triggered slides at Nax and Nendaz but escaped. With 11 deaths in 9 incidents (8 at risk 3) it has been the deadliest start to winter in Switzerland for a number of years.
“In Switzerland we don't look at things from the right viewpoint. It makes me mad to look at people who spend 700-1000 Sfr on an airbag but then won't pay a cent for avalanche or off piste training. This conspicuous spending gives a feeling of invulnerability but it is dangerous and trompeur. People buy too much gear, manipulated by marketing but without really having the ability to react if there is an incident whereas they should be learning how to gauge risk and avoid it if it is too high. Those who know the mountains find it much easier not to ski a nice but unstable slope covered in powder. The indispensable avalanche beacon or ABS are not a life insurance as some appear to think."
Perret also doesn't wear a helmet. “Guides never wear them skiing. It is not by accident. In the mountains you need all your senses working fully, in particular hearing, in order to sense potential danger. We need to relearn how to listen and observe. Training with professionals can help. It is not when our mates are suffocating under 2 meters of snow that we want to be getting out the manual for our beacon."  Read on...

Thursday, January 9, 2014

Watch Out! Say Swiss Mountain Guides

After the deadliest start to the ski season for 15 years in the Swiss Alps an article in Swiss newspaper Le Matin warns that the avalanche situation is so bad that even pros don't want to go off piste and it doesn't seem like things are going to improve any time soon.

Seven victims in five days in seven separate incidents. 6 of them ski touring. The “White Death” has not stopped since the season began in the Swiss Alps. To such an extent that the Swiss Guides Association held a press conference this morning to warn of the danger of a catastrophic snowpack that has little chance of improving over time.
“It is as if there are ball bearings under the recent snow”, avalanche specialist Robert Bolognesi tries to give a simple idea of the situation. “There is the risk of slab avalanches, probably triggered by the victims themselves, and especially on north sector slopes. We need to be careful all winter”. Unless of course a period of cold weather is followed by thaw, ideally with rain. Then the “ball bearings” will have better cohesion as they freeze together. But that is unlikely.
Freeriders who themselves spend most of their time in snowy bowls and couloirs know the dangers. Confronted by a “hyper dangerous” start to the season the Vaudoise GĂ©raldine Fasnacht has decided to go to Ethopia for a spell! At Verbier Dominique Perret is pretty much staying on open and secured ski runs, elsewhere there are “at best rocks, at worst avalanches... why bother looking for trouble for nothing? The problem is that all winter will be difficult and frustrating in comparison with 2013 which was perfect in terms of the quality of snow and the stability of the snowpack. This season you will need to take great care!”

READ ON..

Saturday, January 4, 2014

The Alps face a warmer world

A glorious winter, but the Alps face a warmer world – bringing huge change

Under Mont Blanc's glittering peak, mountain guides and scientists tell the same story: the Alps are warming, the evidence of climate change is clear and the golden years of ski tourism will soon be past.  Read on..
Skiing on the alpine slopes near Chamonix

Partying Hard In Morzine and Avoriaz

  Partying Hard In Morzine and Avoriaz ...