Avalanche school in Cooke City Montana

You can ski great powder safely in the backcountry

Happy winter, folks! It is ski season, so I’m back to writing. Quick recap, I am a life long expert alpine skier. Groomers at alpine resorts have become boring so I search out powder. Perhaps I am sick, but the feeling of floating down a mountain, sometimes bouncing from turn to turn, never gets old. I finish those runs with a sense of euphoria and a grin so large it perhaps risks cracking my face.

I have now gone backcountry skiing a grand total of three times and loved it. (Not counting a couple helicopter trips and some cat skiing.) The wild outdoors, the untracked powder and a feeling that you beat the rat race of resort skiing. A parallel might be ice skating. Most people skate on a small ice rink. A relatively small blob of ice perhaps the size of a hockey rink or two. Starting and stopping at the borders or skating in circles. Compare that to the joy of skating on a lake or canal when the conditions are right; pure joy. The path is essentially infinite and there is nothing like skating on rock hard, smooth-as-silk natural ice. The skill required is the same (skating on a lake versus a rink / skiing powder on a resort versus the backcountry.) but the experience is vastly different.

There are two components of backcountry skiing. Up the mountain and the down the mountain. The up is primarily about physical fitness. Sure there is some technique involved but you are walking up a mountain, man. As an older dude of 65 years I find it hard. Damn hard. But the good news is that it has inspired me to improve my fitness level. I’m never going to scoot up the mountain like the 30 year old mountain-man guide with a big mustache. But I will improve and the side benefit is that I am losing weight and generally feeling better the more fit I become. Down the mountian is about skill, provided you are not so spent physically after the up that your technique falters. After a lifetime of alpine skiing (a good portion in powder) I have the skill.

This year I decided to anchor the season around a backcountry trip to the Purcell Mountain Lodge near Golden, British Columbia Canada. (In the Banff area of the world.) I looked at more spartan options at slightly lower price points but the thought of hard wood seats in a drafty lodge and pooping outside in an outhouse just didn’t do it for me. On deck to join me is my son Ryan, “nephew” Russ and friend Gary.

Backcountry skiing is somewhat more dangerous than resort skiing. The big danger is being caught in an avalanche. As a relative newbie to backcountry skiing I am a big advocate of guides. However, a common saying is the best doctor for you is you. Perhaps the analogy is a stretch, but I believe one is always served by being knowledgeable. So, as a season warm up and test run of new equipment I scheduled an Avalanche 1 course with Beartooth Powder Guides out of Cooke City Montana.

Now let’s pause for a moment and fill you in on Cooke City Montana.

Look on the upper right where it says Northeast entrance. That is Cooke City, just outside the border of the park. It is literally a dead end road in the winter. The Beartooth highway pass to Red Lodge is closed as is the Chief Joseph Highway to Cody. These are spectacular roads in the summer with stunning views. From Bozeman one drives east to Livingston, south to Gardiner, then on the only plowed Yellowstone road in the winter continue east through the Lamar valley to Cooke City. It is a 3-4 hour drive from Bozeman. Much of the road in the park is snow and ice packed. NOT recommended to drive this road at night. This is what we saw on the drive.

Lamar Valley looking east toward Cooke City

Coyote in Lamar Valley

Bison blocking the road (YouTube video)

This is a special place….

The town itself is shockingly small. Seventy five people in the winter. Our guides described it as the ideal place to put someone into the witness protection program. This was early season so it was exceptionally eerie, almost a ghost town. We were told in a couple weeks it comes alive with snowmobile tourism. Backcountry skiing is a small draw compared to the sleds. But keep in mind the skiing is typically done within the wilderness boundaries where snowmobiles are now allowed.

Now on to the class

We started first thing in the morning in the chamber of commerce building. A smallish conference room with 9 students and two instructors. Four locals from Red Lodge, one local from Bozeman and 1 from Helena. These were hardy mountain types who already backcountry ski and Kyle from Hawaii. Kyle is a high end ocean videographer who also does “tow” surfing. This is where the waves are so big that you have to get towed by a jet ski into the wave in order to catch it. Last year he landed on the jet ski breaking his femur. So this year Kyle is bringing the risk down a bit to backcountry ski and learn about avalanches. Whoa.. Son Ryan and I round out the group. Me as the old guy alpine skier and Ryan as the Bozeman transplant from Minnesota.

The morning is all lecture and PowerPoint, explaining the science about snowpack and the many different types of avalanches and what can cause them. At times it is information overload. How in the world can someone digest all this information and know how to be safe out there in the mountains? One video in particular freaked me out. You will want to look at this. Pay attention to the right side of the image where there is some angle and a long distance from the skier at the end of the run.

Remote triggered Avalanche (YouTube video)

The lesson from this avalanche is two fold.

1. Any snowpack that is connected to an angle over 30 degrees can be at risk. When you “cut the supporting legs” off an unstable snowpack an avalanche can occur even when the distance to the steeper slope is hundreds of yards.

2. The skiers knew conditions were dangerous but they skied the slope anyway thinking it was safe because the line taken was less than 30 degrees.

At this point we were given 50 minutes to reconvene at the trailhead with all our gear packed, skins on and ready to go up 1,000 vertical feet to the remote hut where we will spend the next two days and nights in the field. I made a big mistake by not being packed up and ready to go. Think all new equipment, food for 2 days, sleeping bag. Anyone else ever been there? A large group all prepped and ready to go and you are stressed out trying to get your shit together to go do something you are not an expert in. We were the last ones ready but fortunately the group did not have to wait too long for us.

After 1.5 hours or so we arrived at the remote hut. It was not a steep climb but this flatlander would not describe it as easy. Toward the end I will admit to looking around every corner wondering/hoping the cabin would occur. In my youth I might have described the hut as sweet. Wood stove for heat, bunk beds, outhouse a short walk away, dim lighting from a couple bulbs powered by batteries and a “pleasant” cold draft coming up though the floor. At this point in my life the conditions were a bit spartan. That night it blew hard, over 40 MPH I’m told. So as the wood stove fire slowly dwindled, the cabin got cold and the wind howled I lay awake catching intermittent sleep and wondering what in the world am I doing here?

Morning finally broke and my hut mates for two days went about making breakfast. These were experienced winter hut campers who knew how to pack fine meals. While they were eating vacuum packed eggs and sausage previously prepared I was making oatmeal. Not great.

We started with more lecture around the large picnic table. Terms like rounds, facets, slabs, aspect, depth hoar, loading, persistent weak layer, something on top of nothing, propagation, remote trigger, ski cut, SWE, snowpit….. You get the picture. There are many more terms. I seem to alternate between being confused and feeling that I am somewhat grasping the concepts. But, these are possibly life and death decisions. Being mostly right doesn’t matter. If a low probability incident occurs that creates an avalanche you are still in deep trouble. In most other parts of life a 99 on a test score will get you to the top of the class. In this world the one wrong answer/decision or unlucky break could put you and friends into harms way.

Anyway, we finish the lecture and go out to dig snow pits and look for buried beacons pretending to be our friends and family buried in an avalanche. Let’s start with the pits.

This is the process of creating a vertical wall of snow so one can examine the various layers of snow. Each snowfall creates its own layer and it is surprisingly easy to observe these distinct layers. At the most basic level, all avalanches are caused by a top layer of snow sliding because it rests on top of a weak layer. The pit process has several unique tests. The most important test is known as the ECT, Extended Colum Test. Rather than try to describe the test, shown below is a video done by professionals. It is a bit long at 15 minutes and much of it is pretty dry. But if you start at the 5 minute mark and go to about 11 minutes you will see the process being done on the snow with excellent narration. It is pretty interesting.

Most important part of snow pit testing (YouTube video)

We also spent a great deal of time, lecture and in the snow, on rescue procedure using beacons, probes and shovels. The primary objective of avalanche training is to avoid skiing in conditions and terrain that may avalanche. However, a lot of time is also spent on how to find and recover someone who has been buried in an avalanche. It is basically a three step process.

1. Turn the searcher beacons (those not buried looking for their friends) from transmit to search. Then methodically search until you believe the victim beacon is directly below your beacon.

2. Using the probes everyone carries in the backcountry, systematically insert the probe into the snow in a slowly expanding pattern moving outward from where you think the victims beacon is.

3. When you have a probe strike get your shovel and dig them out from slightly below where the prob strike was.

Of course there is a lot more to this and one must practice to ingrain the skills. I can only imagine how stressful this would be to do in a real life situation. When the victim is buried their breathing melts the snow around their face and the oxygen is rapidly depleted. The statistics quoted varied a bit but most experts say a victim has 10 to 15 minutes before their odds of survival drop dramatically. The people on the scene are the only ones that can save the victim. There is not enough time for help to arrive. We also practiced what is called a multiple burial. This was significantly more difficult/confusing. The searching beacons pick up signals from all the buried beacons so each person must be isolated one at time and then move on to other beacons. Even in this training environment I found it a bit stressful and a little difficult. I pray to God this is never a situation I am in.

Pulling it all together

One of the frustrating parts of this avalanche business is that it is not an exact science. We dug pits separated by less than 100 feet and sometimes got different results. Minor things can cause differences in snowpack. A slightly different aspect. (Direction…NNE versus NE) A minor difference in elevation.

Many people (including me) love watching videos of elite skiers coming down big slopes in waste deep powder. The instructors’ advice was to say these are unrealistic in most situations. It was suggested to mostly stay off big pitches until the spring. This is because when temperatures warm to above freezing during day the different snow pack layers become bonded together and eliminate the separate layers. The snowpack becomes one cohesive layer that will not slide. “Big slopes” are therefore typically skied in the spring. These conditions require temperature timing. Not too early to ski down ice and not too late when the snow becomes “mush”. In addition to mush being a knee wrecker it can also create a “wet slide” with the excess weight of all the moisture on top creating a slide of this top very heavy/moist layer. The magic moment is when the conditions turn to what is called corn snow. It is when the top couple inches become soft and are like corn cornels. It is isn’t powder skiing but it is the next best thing. I have never met someone who didn’t love a steeper run in great corn snow conditions.

It is also possible to have a slide in these spring conditions when there is new snow sitting on top of all the nicely bonded snow. One must dig pits at different elevations and temperatures throughout the day to “measure” how well the new snow is bonding to the old snow.

Another factor given considerable time was “Heuristics”. This is the human side of decision making and the factors that lead to poor decision making. Typical categories are:

Terrain familiarity - I have been here before. It never slides

Consistency - Getting trapped into following your past observations and initial plan. “We dug 3 pits already, this 4th one that shows possible instability must be wrong.”

Acceptance/social facilitation - I don’t want to be the kill joy that pulls the plug. I want to be a part of the group.

Expert Halo - He is guide, the one with more experience. Who am I to question him/her?

Scarcity - We go home tomorrow. It is now or never. Big storm is forecast for tomorrow, this might be the last chance for a long time.

My takeaway from this is to to think for yourself. No one powder run is worth the cost of it possibly being my last powder run.

The one quote that most stuck with me was from Logan, the lead instructor. “80 to 85% of the time I ski non-avalanche terrain.” This means slopes that are less than 30% and pretty much cannot slide. When conditions are particularly dangerous he does not even ski. A great day for cross country skiing, sledding or going to a resort “where I don’t have to think”.

If an avalanche professional rarely skis terrain over 30% why would I as a recreational backcountry skier go on terrain over 30% without a guide? The simple answer is, '‘I won’t”, with the possible exception of spring time conditions when all avalanche forecasts state the danger level as low and I confirmed with local professionals. Also remember that guides are not Gods. They are not omniscient. Accidents with guides in charge are rare but they do happen. Use your own judgment.

When to ski the resort

Imagine a 2-3 foot dump and the avalanche conditions are dangerous. This is the time to ski a tier B resort. These places can deliver great powder for days after a storm. I will ski them and write about them. If you can, turn away from Vail, Breckenridge, Jackson, Snowbird….These are great mountains but they are getting more crowded every year. The powder will not last and you will stand in lines. I have a new respect for ski areas and the avalanche control work the ski patrol does. What a privilege to ski powder with no worries about an avalanche.

Finally…Why?

Some of you may be thinking, so why do this backcountry thing? Why take the risk and mental burden of avalanche mitigation? Why ski three to four runs in a day in the backcountry when I can easily ski 15-20 runs at a resort?

In some ways it is actually less dangerous than resort skiing. It is VERY unlikely I am going to be hit by my fellow backcountry skier. With resorts getting more crowded and me not skiing at Mach 1 anymore it is getting more likely someone will hit me from behind at a resort. A friend of mine (an expert skier) was hit from behind by a kid. Broke his leg. Have you ever been to the first aid room at a busy ski resort? Walk in there once; you will be surprised at the carnage seen.

I am more likely to hit a tree at a resort than the backcountry. The reason is that I will push it at a resort in tight trees because that is where the remaining powder is. Powder is abundant in the backcountry. No reason to push it in tight trees.

I can drink hot cholate from my thermos carried in the backpack in a spectacular mountain meadow. No need to go into a lodge. A small group of friends skiing perfect powder in the wilderness is as close to heaven as I’m going to get in this world.

Next up, my one day skiing in the backcountry of Cooke City with guides and friends from the Avalanche class.