Managing hazards when skiing

Being that I continue to get slower and more conservative as I get older, I viewed this thread as likely being a good read for me rather than there being anything of value that I could contribute for the cause.

But as I read over the contributions to the thread, and as Lowell’s tactic’s 2 and 3 point out, there are lots of instances where folks use and/or could use a belay rope to mitigate actual or perceived risk. I still, too, find a piece of rope a useful backcountry ski tool.

I have 100’ length of 6mm perlon cord along with a couple of ‘biners and a couple of short runners that live in my pack on all but the most benign tours. I mostly use it to belay myself off while investigating snow stability and/or surface conditions on steeper pitches in case my footing fails me, regardless of whether the snow surface is too hard/steep for good footing, or the snow falls away beneath my feet. I have used it numerous times, and have “body bombed” a slope to failure while belayed more than once. I find it especially reassuring when approaching chutes or questionable slopes from above.

The one thing that I do with the rope that I have not seen or heard of anyone else do (maybe because it seems a bit goofy) is that once finished doing all the stability testing that I need to be more confident that a slope is not going slide out from underneath me, I make sure all the knots are taken out of the upper end of the rope and then, while still attached to the rope, I ski to the bottom of the pitch, dragging the single strand down behind me.

My logic on this is, before putting the rope away, why not drag it down while still attached to me just in case it turns out that I have erred and the slope goes. If I am buried at least my partner(s) should find following the rope faster than using my beacon to find me. A nice little side benefit is that the rope is really easy to coil after being drug downhill for a few hundred feet – all the twists and biases are gone

I also carry this rope on fall recon hikes while looking for new lines to ski later and find it handy for doing short rappels down steep sections rather than climbing around them.

I'm surprised no one has ever been hit and injured or killed by rockfall along the groomer under Bomber Cliffs at Mission Ridge. I've seen chunks of fractured basalt weighing as much as 50# come tumbling down and across bouncing waist to head high.

My logic on this is, before putting the rope away, why not drag it down while still attached to me just in case it turns out that I have erred and the slope goes. If I am buried at least my partner(s) should find following the rope faster than using my beacon to find me. A nice little side benefit is that the rope is really easy to coil after being drug downhill for a few hundred feet – all the twists and biases are gone

Makes sense to me.

Did you ever own one of these?



Add length markers to your rope and you could market a hot new product.  Call it an avalanche cord. 



The picture shows an avalanche cord I bought at REI in the 1970s. The cord is 100 feet long with markers every 10 feet. The markers have an arrow pointing to the end where you tie in.

I don't think I ever used it, but I'm glad I never threw it away. It's a cool old relic.

Clearly everyone's risk management system is different.  Reasons for differences could include expertise and experience (real or imagined), personal ambition, group dynamics, and who knows what else.  

The one time I looked down the Park Headwall with ambitions to ski it I had a serious reality check.  Things I thought about in no particular order:  I was already pretty tired/snow on the summit was cold and crusty and I had no idea what it was going to be like down there/maybe I could ski it while holding my axe?/mega bergschrund below=not a place to experiment with ice axe in hand if it is worse than it looks/Hans Saari and Carl Skoog.  Our party only did the 1st of Lowell's checklist before deciding to descend to the Cockscomb.  

Using Shred's checklist that day, the Park Headwall and I would have failed 3 (no safe exit until below the bergschrund), 4 (if ice I won't know until I'm on it -> Hans Saari), and possibly 6 (I was tired).  

Finally, I'm also not sure if everyone in that group is as strong as they get with all those assets Shred listed.  I know at least one where perhaps their ambition and Contour Courage often overrides what I would consider good judgement.  Then again, they seem to get away with bold moves in big places all the time so maybe I'm just getting lamer in my old age.

By the way, over in the Watson Traverse thread I added a 5th item to my list (after re-reading the Hans Saari account):

[size=10pt]5. Wear a harness so you can secure yourself to the slope if you need to place an ice axe or ice screw.[/size]

This is pretty obvious, but it makes you think about what you'd have to do in a sticky situation.

(Also, if you do check out the slope on belay, the belayer needs to have a totally bombproof anchor. The last thing you want is to pull him/her off the summit with you.)

Since I've never skied on belay or belayed a skier I've never experienced the force that it takes to keep someone from getting swept away if the slope does pop. I know that's a common technique for ski patrol so someone here must have felt it, how secure of a stance does the belayer need?

Hop-
You sell yourself short.