What is that Nicole up to?

Hopefully this word will never come out of my mouth in the case of a real, live emergency. That was the point of the Avalanche awareness course I took last weekend up in Tahoe. A 3-day intensive course that taught us about observations, planning, human factors (ie. choose your partners wisely!), terrain, weather patterns, and even some searching with avalanche tranceivers/beacons.  I was surprised that the course only spent a minimal amount of time on the searching bit, as I thought that finding someone buried under the snow of an avalanche would be pretty important. But as it turns out, it is even more important to avoid the avy in the first place - duh!

So how does one avoid getting caught in an avy?  Well, I learned that it is about being an investigator from the moment you start THINKING about planning your backcountry tour.  First, you need to follow the weather and snowpack in the region you plan to tour. When was the last snowfall?  What have the temperatures been doing to the snowpack? What is the temperature (and snow) doing now? What does the sierra avlalanche center say about the snowpack conditions?  What time of the year is it? What aspect has the most stable snow conditions? Green means Go! Yellow means watch your step.  Orange, red or black means that I am gonna get my ya-ya's somewhere/somehow else.  My instructor tells me that bowling is a great alternative.

OK, so the snowpack looks reasonably stable at low and high elevation on the North-Northeast faces, with some pockets of terrain that should be considered. Good time to go. So who are you going to go with?  The blowhard friend with minimal experience sliding on snow, that thinks they know all there is to know about the backcountry and will not listen to anyone else?  Or the friend(s) who know what they are doing on one or two planks, have the appropriate gear and knowledge, and are willing to work as a team?  I know who I would choose.

Next is the plan. Mom taught me long ago that sometimes life is not always better than plan B, and whaddayknow, that is what our instructors told us is a necessary part of a tour plan! So, to plan a tour one usually needs (1) Plan A: the smartest and funnest route that you think will work out and (2) Plan B: the bail out option if Plan A looks too dangerous or doesn't pan-out.  I have been practicing Plan B lots, so I should be pretty good at this!  Planning involves having some idea about the area you will ski, and having the correct map, a compass, a picture of the mountain you plan to climb, and a route up and down (and a the bailout plan, of course). This part is a bit tricky, so best to start off in the shallow end (baby slopes) and work your way up.  They gave us some key "secret" places to hit, which I have vowed to keep to myself. Although I imagine what they really gave us was the places that they no longer bother to go to.  I guess I will have to earn my way up to ski with the big guns.

Finally, plan execution.  But the planning doesn't necessarily stop there. As you head off, cutting tracks up the mountain, you take in bits and pieces of information about the snow pack, the weather, the time it is taking to travel. All of these pieces of information are used to evaluate whether or not to carry on with Plan A, revert to Plan B, or go bowling instead.  There are tons of snow tests you can do along the way, from poking the snow with your pole or probe, to making a snowball, to digging a pit, to ski cuts and "safe" attempts at triggering an avy yourself.  Now is not the time to let your guard down, but to take in every piece of information possible so that you can savour the lovely run down the mountain that is in your near future, and so that you can plan and take many more tours and turns throughout the lengthy remainder of your life.