Washington Terrain Ratings

This nearly one-year-old thread interests me -- a new BC skier and student in the current Mountaineers BC ski course who finds the Mountaineers "M1 - M3" rating system somewhat vague and thus widely open to interpretation.

For context purposes, speaking from personal experience, ratings for Mountaineers alpine scrambles and alpine climbs are far less vague and thus less open to interpretation.

Mountaineers ratings aside, I'm curious to hear thoughts concerning the effectiveness and accuracy of this Colorado BC rating system and its applicability to WA BC skiing: www.wildsnow.com/articles/ratings/ski-bo...d-rating-system.html

I like the rating system featured on WildSnow, but I think it serves a different purpose than ATES. ATES relates to avalanche exposure, and I think the public communication model is easier for many people to use. In addition, ATES works in conjunction with the Avaluator to help people choose terrain appropriate for current conditions.

I am not familiar with the Mountaineers rating system. One school of thought in avalanche education says that beginners need simple/fixed rules, but such systems are too restrictive for experts. Maybe the Mountaineers ski rating system is expert-oriented?

Thanks for sharing your opinion on the "D" rating system.

Maybe the Mountaineers ski rating system is expert-oriented?

That's an excellent question for which I have no clear answer.  Obviously, the ratings are based on a combination of technical and physical skills demands.

In a few weeks, our Mountaineers BC Ski course has its final field trip which will be a good time for me to ask one (or more) of the instructors how the M1-M3 rating system works.

Sample list of M1 routes:
Alpental Ski Area
Bean Creek Basin
Bear Gap
Blue Lake
Bullion Basin
Castle Saddle
Chain Lake
Chair Peak Basin
Coleman Pinnacle
Commonwealth Basin
Cowlitz Rocks/M1Route
Crystal Mtn Backcountry M1 Route/M1
Dalles Ridge Traverse
Denman Chutes
Elfin Lakes Hut
Folklife Tour
French Cabin-Thorp-Knox Creeks Loop
Grand Park/M1 Route
Granite Mtn West
Hansen Peak
Heather Ridge
Herman Saddle
Herman Saddle & Beyond
Hex Mtn/Summit

Sample list of M3 routes:
Anderson Butte
Bacon Peak
Black Peak
Carbon Glacier
Chiwaukum Mtns
Chiwawa
Chowder Ridge
Clark Mtn
Dragontail Peak & area
Dumbbell Mtn
Eldorado
Enchantments Traverse
Garibaldi/Neve Traverse
Goat Mtn
Guye Peak

Thanks for that interesting list. I suspect, as you wrote, that the Mountie ratings are a combination of technical and physical qualifications. The avalanche exposure component is probably part of the technical requirements.

Looking through some of your proposed ratings -- I see that "Mazama Ridge Back Bowls" and "Ptarmigan Traverse" are both in the complex category. If these two are legitimately the same rating -- it sure seems like a 5 stage rating system is needed. Sure there are plenty of starting zones in the Back Bowls and slopes that I generally avoid. -- but it's also pretty easy to select a low risk route down the bowl. The Ptarmingan traverse has many more slopes and aspects to judge and you don't have the option of simply choosing an obvious route with 25 degree maximum pitch if you want to play it safe.

Thanks for the note.

I completely agree with your assessment of the rating discrepancy. The correct approach to solve this problem is to break the Mazama backbowls into separate ski routes, where some of the routes are "simple" or "challenging", and some are "complex".

For example, the approach to Mazama Bowls from Paradise parking lot is probably "challenging". However, the route down the road is exposed to big slopes, and that specific route has few options to avoid exposure to avalanches coming down from the ridge. This meets at least one of the most important criteria for the "complex" rating.

I assigned the "complex" rating to the backbowls terrain for the following reasons:

The backbowls include very steep terrain and obvious avalanche paths.
Some of these paths are mostly open and devoid of trees.
Some of these paths are steep and channeled ( nearer to Steven's Canyon ).
Large avalanches are possible.
Fast moving avalanches are possible.
Some of the slopes are devoid of trees.
The slopes are large enough to produce > Size 2 avalanches.
Numerous aspects and travel in/through/near all three elevation bands.
Avalanches run every year.
Considering a variety of size, speed, and type of avalanches, there are numerous terrain traps.
Abrupt changes in slope angle.
Depressions
Trees during travel to the backbowls.

In my opinion, the route to the backbowls, and the backbowls themselves, have high avalanche exposure during poor conditions, especially when snow and ski quality are high. The ratings are designed to help people develop accurate perception of exposure to avalanches, and given the above criteria, the area in general deserves a "complex" rating.