This is a handbook for anyone venturing above the snow-line in winter or summer. The writer explains how to avoid avalanche accidents through observation, recognition of avalanche terrain and good route-finding. This advice is reinforced by a variety of case histories from around the world. The second edition incorporates up-to-date techniques and equipment and also addresses the problem of stability evaluation for back-country telemarkers, snowboarders and extreme skiers.
* For intermediate-to-advanced backcountry skiers* Includes trip planning, navigation, fitness, and avalanche safety information, in addition to techniques*Provides advice on how to make well-informed backcountry decisionsMartin Volken and his co-authors provide skiers with all the tools and knowledge they need to safely and successfully travel in the mountain backcountry. The guide features intermediate-to-advanced techniques for ski touring and ski mountaineering, from planning backcountry trips to perfecting turns in rolling terrain and mastering uphill climbing. For those skiers ready for a more technical, high alpine environment, they draw on traditional mountaineering skills, including roped climbing, setting protection anchors, using ice axes, climbing on bare rock, and more. In addition to mastering techniques, Backcountry Skiing also features information on recent evolutions in ski equipment; avalanche safety tips; a primer on mountain weather and glaciers, trip planning tools, a discussion of emergency situations, nutrition and fitness advice, and winter camping basics.Throughout this guide, a special emphasis is put on being well-informed and making good decisions - whenever you strap on your skis and skins and head out into the backcountry.
Winter recreation in the mountains has increased steadily over the past few years, and so has the number of deaths and injuries caused by avalanches. Staying Alive in Avalanche Terrain covers everything you need to know to avoid trouble in avalanche terrain: what avalanches are and how they work, common myths, human activities that lead to avalanche trouble, what happens to victims when an avalanche occurs, and rescue techniques. Provides step- by-step instruction for determining avalanche hazards, using safe travel technique, and making effective rescues.
ABCs of Avalanche Safety, 3rd Edition is still the handy pocket guide offered at a bargain price. And it is still loaded with the vital information you need to survive in the mountains: how to determine potential avalanche hazard, traveling safely in avalanche terrain, what to do if you're caught in an avalanche, and search and rescue techniques. A respected authority since 1961, this enduring classic has been updated with the very latest research in the field, including avalanche transceiver technology.
This book is essential reading for anyone venturing above the mountain snowline in either summer or winter. Emphasis is placed on prevention of avalanche accidents through observation, recognition of avalanche terrain and good route-finding, and is reinforced by case histories from Canada, the USA and Scotland.
Presents historical background on ski mountaineering, which is climbing a mountain on skis and then skiing down the slopes, and offers tips on climbing and skiing specific mountains.
12 panel laminated pocket guide Waterproof, pocket-sized, quick reference for evaluating and managing avalanche danger while you're in the backcountry. Full-color fold-out guide with the most critical quick info that skiers, snowboarders, and other mountain enthusiasts need while in the winter backcountry Carry-along complement to Tremper's best-selling Staying Alive in Avalanche Terrain and Avalanche Essentials: A Step-by-Step System for Safety and Survival The Avalanche Pocket Guide includes quick and visual safety reminders: the 5 As and 2 Cs to consider when evaluating avalanche terrain; the trusty Tremper Terrain-o-Meter; a snowpack stability checklist; quick review of snowpack stability tests, low-risk travel ritual; a gear checklist; Avalanche Smart Card graphic that pulls it all together; beacon search tips; and more.
Fourteener mania, the phenomena characterized by a seemingly obsessive drive to summit The List of all fifty-four of Colorado¿s 14,000-foot peaks, is an older tradition than many may realize. Along with intensely positive experiences in climbing is the possibility of the opposite extreme¿to become stranded, severely injured, or even killed, in disturbingly easy ways. This book explores this dark side of climbing. When an accident happens on a 14er, the victim is far from help and in an environment where rescue is difficult at best. The book is full of hair-raising stories of these disasters and resue attempts and also aids in avoiding such disasters.
On January 20, 2003, at 10:45 a.m., a massive avalanche in the Selkirk Range of British Columbia struck three members of two guided backcountry skiing groups and buried them. After a frantic hour of digging by those still standing, an unthinkable outcome became reality: seven people were dead. The tragedy made international news, splashing photos of the seven dead Canadian and US skiers on television screens and newspaper pages. The official analysis was that guide error was not a contributing factor in the accident. This interpretation was insufficient for some of the victims’ families, the public and some members of the guiding community. Buried is the assistant guide’s story. It renders an answerable truth about what happened by delving deep into the human factors that played into putting people in harm’s way as well as the peace that comes from accountability and the personal growth that results from understanding.
