5 Best Low Avalanche Hazard Routes

Mattski,The op asked for beta on where to ski during 'high' hazard and was offered advice from well intentioned experienced people. I don't see the criticism and every remark offered here is opinion, including your advice on using a tour and learn format with a guide, which is exactly the extraneous advice I offered. I once gave advice to a guy who asked, over the phone where to go BC skiing  the next day. I told him about the high hazard and recommended a route that had the least amount hazard exposure and I told him about a specfic terrain feature to avoid. I told him about that   terrain feature to avoid three times during our conversation so he was clear on the matter. He said he was clear on the matter. Check. I got a call from him after his ski tour. 'I know I f@cked up' he said. He told me that he had followed a skin track up through the area that I had told him to avoid.  The group that had set the skin track  had unintentionally  triggered an avalanche above him, and it hit him in the exact spot he was told to avoid. That group helped extract him from the debris and helped him get down. That group consisted  mostly of Guides, who picked that high avy warning day, to place a skin track in the worst possible location, and  chose to ski  steep wind slab. I hope you can see why I simply refuse to give such advice for the reasons that I stated in my first post on this thread. I'm lucky, yes there is that word again, that my friend did not have to die so that I might learn a lesson.

My point exactly, a response with a criticism wrapped in good intentions. Why put 'Guides' in caps? when you were not even present? Context matters with BC travel and education so offering actual low hazard tours actually means terrain that has little to no exposure to hazards. Your tour recommendation sounds more complex than your friend was looking for.

Another point I was making is that people, especially small children and dogs do not hear negatives when used frequently such as, 'No John, don't ski that feature when you are doing X tour it is very dangerous.' Studies show John only hears,'John ski that feature...' and does not register all the negatives thus making go/no go messaging dangerous due to the habit of doing what others tell us not to do.

It has been mentioned, but I would just concur with:

Paradise, the lower areas. There is a lot of shallow stuff here, which is unlikely to slide. This makes it good for higher avalanche days, and beginning backcountry skiers. I can ski a lot of it with my skinniest skis (just point and go). But avoid the road to Paradise Lakes, which is only safe really early or under really low avalanche danger days.

Artist Point, but do it the safe way. Stay by the resort track up to the pass, then stay to the left (not too far left, obviously, but left enough to avoid the hill on your right). This means you may end up dropping down a bit, but not that much (besides, you're on skis). At that point, you have a heavenly view of one of the most photographed mountains in the world. Feel free to reassess. The view is nicer on Artist Point/Huntoon Point, but it is plenty nice right there. If you decide to keep going, take the most moderate line (and away from the steep sides).

Kendall, although be careful late in the season in heavy snow years. The upper road cuts through a steep area that can definitely slide. Staying through the trees is probably safer, but I haven't skied that way enough to say how safe.

The resorts at Snoqualmie Pass have a lot of terrain that is fairly safe. If you go midweek or at the right season, it is free. As with all of these suggestions, use proper judgement. Don't assume something is safe because some bozo on the web said it is.

I agree with the Cross Country Ski Book(s) recommendation. The dividing line between "Cross Country" and "Back Country" is pretty fuzzy. Kendall starts with a road ski, followed by back country options (a lot of them). Most of the options are in the book (as are the other ones I mentioned). The authors do a good job of assessing difficulty, overall avalanche risk as well as risky spots. As mentioned in the book, don't assume they have it all down. Not only can conditions be worse, but the terrain can change (e. g. an area may have recently been logged). But I think it is helpful for someone who has never skied the area. You should always be willing to turn back if things aren't safe, but the book(s) minimize the chances that you will have a really short day (which also minimizes the chances that you will "push your chances").

I used to ask these general questions of my BC skiing mentors. What I realize now is that its impossible to generalize and provide a menu of routes based on a single variable -- a zonal NWAC forecast. So much of where I might go on ANY hazard day depends on snowpack, temperature, wind, time of year, snow patterns/history, and NWAC or TAY reports. I'm not just worried about the hazard, I'm worried about snow quality and objectives that make it worth my time. Kendall trees can be awesome or scary, Yodelin safe or crazy, Paradise fun or shitty, depending on whats happening in that area over a number of days. What I worry about now are route criteria based on what I know about those variables I mentioned above as a starting point starting at least a few days before I go out, and I'm looking for things that confirm or deny my biases based on what I see or dig into during the tour. If its an elevated hazard I might stay to terrain with specific features at a certain aspect and elevation, and be thinking about what would make me turn around.

I just read Bill Derry's remembrance of his son Jake's death last month on Granite Mountain:

"There is no such thing as backcountry ski safety.

Jake’s beacon didn’t work because he was actually in an avalanche. In an actual avalanche beacons often don’t work because they are crushed. Jake’s beacon was crushed and also stopped working because it was ripped off his body. Beacons are designed to stop working when the straps are removed because they assume you are done skiing.

Jake’s avalung was shredded. An avalung is also useless in an avalanche because in an avalanche your lungs are compressed and you can’t breathe and because you can’t move your arms to reach it because you are trapped by snow or because your arms are broken.

The probe and the shovel are useless if the beacon doesn’t work and you don’t know where the body is. In a real avalanche, the snow is compacted and turns to ice. The search and rescue crew needed a chain saw to get Jake’s body out of the ice.

The avalanche danger on Granite Mountain is permanently extreme. The entire face is an avalanche chute and there are no trees because of that. The avalanche forecast for the day Jake died was “moderate”. That’s about as low as it ever gets in the winter. The forecast was a mistake. They later changed it to extreme. Backcountry skiers should not trust the forecasts.

Ski movies often show pictures of skiers skiing out of avalanches. These are dangerously misleading. Those skiers are just in minor snow slides or at the very edge of a slide. They are extremely lucky. Jake could ski any mountain but when the entire mountain is moving underneath you there is nothing for your skies to ski against.

There is just too much information out there and too many product advertisements that imply backcountry skiing is safe. It’s not.

Too many young men have trouble fully comprehending the dangers of backcountry skiing and there is just too much information out there that suggests it is safe."

Fair enough. We might quibble with a couple of the fine points of his facts, but no arguing with the risks on any day. RIP Jake.

Hope this helps,

JR

The avalanche danger on Granite Mountain is permanently extreme. 

I agree completely. There was a very good post on NWHikers that mentioned that Granite is not a snowshoe trip. It is, however, possible to hike up there in the winter. But if you need snowshoes, you are off route or you timed your trip wrong. You should be walking on rocks, not snow. I know that is a different audience, but it is worth mentioning. To each his own, but the risk benefit of Granite never seemed worth it to me (theoretically you could ski it on a day when it is really icy, but why bother?).

how did you draw this conclusion based upon my short story? my friend is not a child and he has a Phd. I suspect he followed the other group because the snow was deep,which is common with high avy rating days, and the skin track was in already. He may have known that commercial Guides set  the skin track and felt they knew what they were doing. That is a common  hueristic trap. But I did not ask him, and while I was at home that day, I talked with many of those who were there.   

I agree. Your description could have been really obvious and the unfortunate decision making by your friend fairly common. I could easily see someone taking the information I just provided about Artist Point and doing the same thing. Go up there, get to the pass and just follow the tracks that almost always lead really close to the side of the hill (way too close, in my opinion).

skiseattle - I've been out of town sorry for the late post. Here are some suggestions since I most often am skiing out of bounds on red/orange conditions. However, here is a warning I am considered to be shady by many folks so please use my advice with caution. I would pick these areas on the really scary days. Yodelin, Skyline Ridge, Castle area around the Tatoosh, and Crystal Bullion Basin but there are some tricks to it you got to know the most safe routse which are still not perfectly safe by any means, some of the lower angle areas up around Paradise. What you need to do is pick an area on a lower avalanche risk day and study it. Then you got to get real familiar with the nuances and terrain in the area so when a big dump comes you are ready to just go big. Even a summer look at the area is good since it gives you an idea of the ground cover. If the snow is light enough lower angle stuff can be great. If you got 25 degrees in some spread out trees with 5% density for 2k vertical I will rip that up all day!

I have to be honest I have some special favorites, but I do not give those out.

A lot of it is about timing and how much risk you want to take on. You need to still really study the weather and how the snow is coming in, the wind speeds and check those meters religiously on NWAC at the snowtel sites. The game is to put the dice to your best advantage so you come back with a big pow day and safe and alive. Your schedule has to be super flexible and you need to strike when the action is there not on your schedule. You also have to change locations based on how the stuff comes in on the system. Maybe you planned to be in Snoq area and are stuck with the more painful drive to Stevens area etc.

I have to be honest I have been damn lucky and I am no avalanche expert. A lot of folks on here probably are, but I am not one of them. If Tremper is not one, I surely know I am not. When I took my avvie course he wrote the book for it. I know I just hate avvies because they are a big PITA and can kill you.

Then when you are out there you got to be constantly testing the slopes looking for trigger points, checking for layers, see if the snow comes off with little or no adhesion and while skinning up and floating through the stuff you got to make sure you properly handle microterrain issues especially if you are solo. Convexities at any time can just end your ski career. I have another rule......wait for a cool down FLs dropping from 3k to .5 to 1.5K and snow becoming intermittent. Let the stuff settle a bit maybe you are lucky and you get about 6" of 5% laid down on the other stuff. Luckily here in the PNW you can wait a bit and things usually settle and become cohesive, but this also a disadvantage if you wait to long because the pow does not keep as well. I also love if the big dump comes in with little or no wind. If you are going to ghost ski or hat ski yep you are going to be out on days you should probably be in a ski area, those red and orange days.

Good luck and remember you are rolling dice even in the less risky areas just try and improve your odds because one mistake and you probably are dead. This is why I recommend this type of skiing for those over 50. You are on the downhill anyway. However, ask yourself when you were walking on that wet rainy low visibility day, that you opted to not go big and get some pow on a red or orange day, did a car pass, you well you were rolling dice then as well. What happens if the driver is on the cell phone not paying attention and swerves into you?

I am certain I will get a lot of negative comments but this is how I play the game.