Alpental shot card

Cool photo. Is generating one of these part of daily routine for patrol?

www.flickr.com/photos/wardmedia/57590813...t-72157623355290403/

Goes to show that you never know where a favor might wind up someday.  Loaned that card to a volunteer patroller for a t-shirt they produced, "the shots are on us".
Those were seasonal data cards using a fixed reference point and thus being able to fire the recoiless rifles blind (no visibility).  Blast from the past for me.  Almost all of the avalanche artillery or avalauncher programs will use some similar technique because you know when you need to fire it'll be nightime or storming.  Only good until the gun is taken from mount or otherwise changed from its known position; and prior direct (with a clear view) targeting had to be accomplished to establish those co-ordinates before the need.  Back in those days that was pretty important but now it pales in comparison to trying to communicate the firing mission timing, and control to your best ability a target area free from users.  I might not have said anything other than taking the opportunity to remind Snoqualmie Mountain sliders to double check the phone line prior to a tour if you have any question of whether it might be threatening enough to tip the scales to need to shoot.  These days any time of day or night someone is likely to be getting after it regardless of hazard forecast.  Raises the question again, do skilled BC users really pay much attention to NWAC hazard forecasts? or has NW snow been forgiving enough to give more weight to individual comfort level and familiarity?  /G

Cool! I'd gotten snookered by the December 15 date, thinking it might be a daily thing. Makes sense now that it's the date of an annual sight-in.

I'd venture that a supermajority of skilled BC users pay close attention to avy hazard and hazard forecasts. Snoqualmie Mountain is a hard communications challenge.

Thanks!

Very interesting point Gib. I would hazard a guess it is the latter.

Seems to me that I when I was youngin' back in the early and mid-80s learning the BC, that many places skied routinely today were considered "verboten" back then. West side of Snoqualmie being one, the South Face of Granite being another (that lesson learned yet again this past spring).

Why? A lot of the info back then was more "continental" focused then coastal. Thus more PWL focused then storm cycle focused. As interest picked up in the 90s and 2000s, and transceiver technology improved, and most importantly ski equipment improved, people started venturing in to the typically rarely skied places. And the paradigm shifted on skiable terrain as the comfort level increased, and people recognized patterns that allowed for steeper powder skiing.

Still a very risky venture as we all know. The slide reported on Snoqualmie a few years is evidence. Just a few cents worth.

Which brings me to a funny story about the first time we met. So its either the last or near the last day of the 84-85 season, and of course all hell has broken loose about where to ski. A bunch of us (including our mutual friend Pete Herzog) see people going out the high traverse (which was NEVER open back then thanks to the insurance and legal communities).

So we decide to head out, and even worse we stop in that area above Knoll 2 and start to climb UP in to the slide path. Well along comes you and Matt and give us the "that's not a very good place to be" line. LOL.

Then guide us down what was my first run down Knoll 4in the Alpy BC. 30 years later it still is the best on those special days (like the week of Mar 19 this year).

that was probably me and erik stomping out there.
bF