Nov 5, 2024 | AIARE Avalanche Education, Backcountry Skiing, Education, Ski Mountineering
Colorado is known for big scary avalanches. But some seasons are worse than others. How do we tell if a season is going to be a scary one or a moderate one. A good way to understand it is through the idea of snow climates. Colorado’s mountains tend to follow the...
Oct 28, 2024 | AIARE Avalanche Education, Backcountry Skiing, Colorado, Education, Educational Program, Guided
Here’s some thoughts I frequently find myself giving to people asking how to get into the backcountry. The first thing is to understand it can be a long, complicated journey depending on your goals. It’s important to be realistic about your ability to commit the time,...
Oct 10, 2024 | AIARE Avalanche Education, Backcountry Skiing, Colorado, Education, Educational Program, Guided, Rocky Mountain National Park, Ski Mountineering
I’m really excited about getting this program running this winter. This is a program that I really think will provide the best bang for your buck as far as winter backcountry readiness is concerned. Many students I work with in avalanche safety courses don’t...
Sep 1, 2024 | Alpine Climb, Education, Expedition, Glacier
The more time I spend on glaciers the more I look back at my own journey and feel like I was not given a very good framework for understanding the glacier environment. Now, having spend over 600 days on the glacier I’m going to try to articulate some fundamental...
May 25, 2024 | Backcountry Skiing, Education, Educational Program, Ski Mountineering
I’ve gotten some questions about this from a number of people. I might go so far as to say it’s a troubling trend. You should really not think about it as ski “cutting” while on belay. You can sidestep, jump, stomp and observe on belay. But you...
May 9, 2024 | AIARE Avalanche Education, Backcountry Skiing, Colorado, Education, Ski Mountineering
In Colorado this spring there was a pattern with the kind of avalanches people have been getting involved with: dry snow avalanches in a spring context. There are a couple nuances with this specific setup that can help us operate more effectively in the spring. ...
