Mountain Fitness Model by Rob Shaul

Early Season Fever

Every fall in the NW the weather cools down, the precipitation picks up and the skis come out of thecloset ready for another season of adventure! Goals and dreams become plans for tours and climbs in my backyard and more exotic locales, partners sit down with beers and schedules made, plane tickets purchased. What happens when Mother Nature does not show up? Lean snowpacks, warm temperatures, shrinking glaciers can alter the best laid plans. Andrew McLean recently wrote about Redefining Challengein his blog as part of his personal avalanche avoidance practices. After counting 39 avalanche fatalities in North America I feel this topic needs a bit more detail to help us find options in face of less than optimal conditions.

I see redefining challenges falling under 4 distinct conditions/situations:
• Low Snow;
• High Hazard;
• Low Fitness;
• Post injury.
Ways to approach each situation requires us to look for:
• New Zones;
• New Risk;
• New Skills.

Cornice on the Exit Chute

High Avalanche Hazard might present the easiest solution; just avoid avalanche terrain. You can ride at the resort, go nordic skiing, play with your kids or discover a new area. Find a New Zone that you have not been to before that offers sheltered riding. Take an Advanced Touring or Level 2 Avalanche course to understand how to tour plan and evaluate terrain and snowpack with greater depth of understanding and use these skills to discover great tree skiing. This season I did this at Roaring Ridge on the East end of Snoqualmie Pass and enjoyed 2 dozen great powder days without another soul crossing my tracks or stressing about dangerous terrain since most of my runs were under 30 degrees and moderately timbered with new and old growth forests for 2,000+ vertical feet.

Low Snow can present High Hazard and just as likely as to leave hazards on the ground unburied. This falls under New Risks and requires one to develop a light touch to their riding. Your favorite spots may be un-skiable with only 2-4 feet of snow. Ground level risks take a more subtle appreciation of possibly injury due to a run in with a stump , log or boulder barely covered.

Staff Infection - Post surgery

Low Fitness/Post Injury require a similar approach since poor fitness may result in an injury just as likely as re-injuring by trying to comeback before a full recovery. New Skills often come from a new tack on reclaiming your fitness, such as yoga, crossfit and cycling. Patience, planning and discipline will facilitate long-term gains and recovery. I spent the last 2 years rebuilding my left shoulder from two separate incidents that erased two years of rock climbing. Athletes such as Beth Rodden , Steve House and Kelly Cordes have suffered from major injuries and each one has provided great insight into how they over came them through persistence and training.

I find the day to day challenge of progressing in my chosen path is not linear, number based or ranked on any list. It requires meeting the conditions on any given day and pushing the appropriate limit that the hazards permit, which means laps of vertical in the trees when persistent weak layers keep me off steep terrain or climbing 5.7s til my shoulders allow me to pull harder.

Planning & Prep K. Imig Image

As we move into another great La Nina winter and 2012 everyone should take stock of their navigational skills and tools before heading into the backcountry. First every group needs at least one set of the correct map(usgs 1:24,000 7.5 min for US travel), compass, altimeter and gps(can now be your smart phone with the right app.) Consider these tools a single set that should be used together to facilitate effective trip planning at home and navigation in the field.

Today we can buy software and print out the maps we want for the area we choose to travel in. National Geographic offers one of the easiest programs to use. Here is a sample tour on Rampart Ridge just easr of Gold Creek at Snoqualmie Pass. With the software, you can trace your route, mark your waypoints (specific spots along your route you mark to help navigate through terrain) and print out the map you need for the tour or tours of the day.

If you own a smart phone there are several options to convert your phone into an effective GPS unit. One such app is Topo.map. Once purchased, you can download an unlimited number of USGS maps and use the touch screen to place your waypoints, a much easier method then an actual gps device!

Even with all these tools you should take some notes to help track your progress such a Tour/time plan. Using an AIARE Fieldbook, it is structured to capture important information about Avalanches, Snowpack, Weather then write up notes for two possible tours. This tool allows you to update your plan and adjust to new or changing hazards that affect your route finding and navigation.

Next up, repair, first aid and ski touring kits that everyone should consider taking into the back country, for now check out this video by OR Ambassador and IFMGA guide, Margaret Wheeler discussing how to take a bearing and put it on a map from the comfort of your living room!

Skis

K2 Hardsides

La Sportiva Hi5

Bindings

Dynafit Speed

Plum

Boots

Dynafit TLT Performance

Scarpa Maestrale

Skins

BD Ascension

K2

This is a good guideline of gear that will take you from the slack country of the resorts to the summits and high routes of the great alpine ranges. Clothes and kits next week;)

Baker Roadcut Avalanche

Joseph called me a few days ago about coming up to Baker to go touring, it was an easy yes. Mark joined me for the rally North, showing up to my house early, ready to schred 2 feet of new we saw on the telemetry. We all made to the Baker parking lot and starting skinning by 10.

Skier Triggered Slab from Skin Track-Artist Point!

We passed multiple fracture lines from yesterday’s warming and were seen on all  northern convexities and unsupported slopes from 4000′-5,500′. The road cut slides were particularly striking along with a slide triggered from the skin track just under Artist Point.

We probed and found a consistent 2 meter base. Over on Herman and Herman Saddle the coverage looked leaner with rocks showing.We made four laps, each providing face shots and ear to ear grins! A temperature inversion helped bonding of the new 12″ and sluffing was the only action we saw on our runs.

Dropping in from Artist Point

Skin track triggered slide-Artist Point

Fitness will make or break your travel plans and no amount of high tech gear will over come this deficit. Mountain Athlete, Gym Jones, and The Alpine Training Center all focus on serious sport specific and core fitness with a periodization schedule in mind. They will get you ready for an epic season.

Dryland ski training-Mt Athlete

Endurance is more important than power so accommodate the uphill travel, Wild Snow’s Lou Dawson has a good discussion here.

Check out part two next week on gear and planning.

Choices, choices, 14 Din or go touring...

The plates added just 130 grams to the set up and fit all Dynafit bindings and selected 900 & STH Salomon models. I started with an older pair of 900s and had some trouble with the toe piece plate not matching up to the holes well. I switched to the 914s and they fit perfectly. They skied very well as I took them out to Alpental in blower pow to rain crust.

Binding Freedom Plates with TLT Speed toe & Salomon heelchallenging

The screws for the different bindings was challenging to match up due to Binding Freedom not including the TLT Speed into their kit screw set. I eyeballed the screws to the plate and was fine. Locktight is very important to keep the screws from loosening up.

Jack of all trades, alpine and touring

The boots to drive this rig are the Dynafit Titans. A perfect match equally adept on fast hard pack or deep pow, freeing me to just bring the extra bindings and boot soles to swap when I decide to change the activity. The swap takes 5 to 10 minutes and requires a phillips for the boot soles and 3 mm allen wrench for the bindings.

Who is this for? Anyone who has tried to simplify their system and demands solid bindings in bounds and a light touring set up that can handle a big mountain ride. This is my first step down the path of custom modification, aka touring alchemy, and I am hooked!

Happy Holidays,
Matt

Attentive attendees

Thanks to Micheal Jackson of ASAP and his elite volunteer staff, we experienced amazing discussions from the NW Avalanche Center’s Mark Moore and Garth Furber, Dale Atkins from Colorado and the wisdom from the Great White North came in the form of Colin Zacharis, Brad White, and Bruce Jamieson which was received with wide eyes anf thoughtful questions.

The highlights include Mark Moore explaining the increased risk or persistent weak layers in La Nina Northwest snow packs, the trials and details of the new international Danger Scale and the Northwest Avalanche Center. We learned about the new terrain warnings for Moderate and Considerable as well as how to use the Avalanche Rose forecast on the NWAC website.

Dale Atkins showing people their best chance to live

Later Dale Atkins discussed behavior and survival in avalanche accidents. He offered some important research pointed out how  arousal aka fresh powder eads to exploratory behavior, influencing our judgment negatively. This knowledge enforces the need to learn and conduct your back country travels with the best safety practices available. Dale also stressed companion rescue is the best hope of surviving an avalanche.

Bruce Jamieson delivered his most recent research findings that the most important observation are weather and the surface snowpack. This will help recreationalists focus their attention to what they can see and not stress about making pits to determine hazard and make decisions.

Finally Dan Otter spoke about his accident on Kendall Peak and brought home the point that best practices include continuous communication about the people, conditions and how they relate to the objective they would like to ski that day.

All in all, the take homes, avoid averages, measure exact angles where you take your observations, be humble in the face of the unknown, communicate what you know, see and feel, and use alternative plans to help mitigate the choice to go or no go with a single objective.

A few days ago, I had the pleasure to spend a few days on Mt Baker, aka Kulshan in November with Sara Hunter prepping for a climb on Cotopaxi in January. Our timing coordinated nicely with 3 feet of new snow that added 2 miles to the approach and some extra caloric boost to our hike in. After breaking trail for 4 1/2 hours, we camped at the historic Kulshan cabin site where Fred Beckey started his first ascent of the North Ridge many years ago. We hunkered down to a long, cold night with a quick skills session followed by Indian food and chocolate to put us to bed with full stomachs.

At sunrise, we enjoyed eggs, sausage and hash browns with fresh brewed coffee to warm ourselves up for the hike to the Coleman Glacier through thigh deep snow. 2 hours later we made it to Survey Rock and headed down to the ice to get our crampons dirty and hit something solid with our axes. This was harder then it sounds as 3+ feet of snow separated us from the glacier and all the visible blue was overhung ice.

Two hours later, we stomped some ice into enough cubes for a few cocktails and made good progress for Cotopaxi with Field Touring Alpine’s Ecuador January trip. Sara revealed to me her hometown is in Maine and she loves cyclocross which made this overnight winter experience seem tropical in face of 5″ of new snow overnight with temps in the teens. After breaking trail for a total 6 hours in 2 days, we roped up, self arrested and climbed enough ice to strike fear into Cotopaxi, good luck in January Sara!