The snowy, untracked backcountry is a potent magnet for skiers and snowboarders, especially in a winter like this when snowstorm after snowstorm has buried Western mountains in record or near-record snows. With heavy snow accumulation comes the threat of avalanches -- and that threat has become fatal reality for skiers, snowboarders and high-lining snowmobilers this winter.
Today, another Colorado backcountry skier died in a slide, according to reports that lead this evening's television news. A skier buried in a mammoth slide in the East Vail Chutes died, the second to be killed there in the past week. (Note that these chutes are near the Vail ski area but not within its boundaries.) He was skiing with a friend, who was also caught in the slide but was able to self-rescue. Two snowboarders have been missing at Wolf Creek Pass for a week.
Proper equipment (including beacon, probe and shovel) and avalanche awareness and training are required, but even those are no guarantee of survival. Groups venturing into the backcountry should be self-sufficient, because even cell phoning 911 to report an accident very likely won't bring rescuers in time to do anything more than recover a body. It takes rescuers -- whether professional ski patrollers, sheriff's officers or volunteer mountain rescue teams -- time to reach the site, and the longer a victim is buried, the less chance there is of survival.
The most sensible way to experience the thrill of deep-powder adventure while minimizing the risk is inbounds at a ski area, where snow safety personnel minimize danger by triggering slides in hazardous areas before opening the terrain to skiers and riders. In addition, while some people prefer to earn all their turns by climbing, others like to ride lifts, make more turns -- and live to ski or ride another day.
About.com:Adventure Travel's "Top 9 Inbounds Backcountry Experiences for Extreme Skiing" identified and described eight ski areas offering such challenging, snow-packed yet relatively safe terrain, with #9 being "Learn About Avalanche Dangers Before Going Off-Piste Skiing and Snowboarding". In a year like this, perhaps that ought to be #1. To that site's excellent eight ski areas for inbounds adventure skiing, I would add at least another nine. The combined list is:
- Aspen Highlands' Highland Bowl, CO
- Heavenly Resort's Mott and Killebrew Canyons, CA/NV
- Silverton Mountain, CO
- Jackson Hole's Corbett's Couloir and The Hobacks, WY
- Blackcomb's Gemstone Bowls, BC
- Park City Mountain Resort's Jupiter Bowl and Pinecone Ridge, UT (above right)
- The Canyons' Red Pine Chutes, Fantasy Ridge and Murdock Bowl, UT
- Keystone's Independence Bowl, CO
- Telluride's Black Iron Bowl, CO
- Crested Butte's North Face, Teocalli Bowl and runs below Crested Butte peak, CO
- Wolf Creek's Knife Ridge and Alberta Peak, CO
- Alta's Rustler area, UT
- Taos Ski Valley's Highline Ridge and West Basin Ridge, NM
- Big Sky's Lone Peak, MT
- Squaw Valley's Palisades, CA
- Panorama's Taynton Bowl, BC
- Sunshine Village's Goat's Eye, AL
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So which is About.com: Adventure Travel's and which is Travel-Babel's?
ReplyDeleteI'd add Arapahoe Basin—the East Wall and the chutes above it (which may be too difficult for most skiers). Also Crested Butte's Third Bowl and spellbound are terrific.
ReplyDeletesibylle