The North Face

Dec 05 | Snow Safety :: The Inside Scoop with the Hans Saari Fund

By Athlete Parents

NOTHING is better for teenageritis than spending time in the backcountry. Skiing, climbing, backpacking, hunting, whatever it takes to get kids into the mountains, burning off energy and having a blast. For the past five years The North Face has supported the Hans Saari Memorial Fund (www.hansfund.org) with annual Youth Ski Mountaineering Camps in the Teton Mountains of Wyoming. A major part of these youth camps focuses on staying alive in avalanche terrain.

 

If only I was 15 right now.

 

I became obsessed about the mountains at age 11. By crazy luck my parents encouraged and supported my mountaineering. Sometimes they loaded my pack on Friday night and shipping me off for the weekend with the local alpine club. Throughout high school I drove to the mountains every weekend, driving five hours each way from the wheat fields of eastern Washington. If I didn’t make it to the mountains because of rain, or botched plans, I did the regular teenage things: parties, driving around and returning to class on Monday feeling drained. The mountains were everything, and they still are. Since then my life has become dedicated to the mountains and I’ve become an internationally certified mountain guide, IFMGA. Whether working or not working I spend all my free time in the mountains. What else would I do?

 

I wish every kid could experience the mountains like I did. The problem is mountains are known to be dangerous. In winter that danger increases with avalanche hazards. With the advent of wide skis and the opening of ski area boundaries, youngsters have an ever-increasing ability to easily place themselves in harms way.

 

Mountain professionals know that avalanches are the single most difficult aspect of the mountains. Nothing compares. Not climbing a 20,000-foot mountain. Not skiing 50 degrees. Not going 30 hours without sleep on a mountain face. Nothing is as dangerous as being in avalanche terrain and not knowing.

 

The good thing is that avalanches follow some basic principles. If kids learn and follow these principles they can play safer in the mountains than at home. Avalanche safety for kids begins with learning how to use avalanche companion rescue gear, just in case something goes wrong. To avoid getting into bad situations we teach kids how to observe the mountains for dangerous avalanche conditions. These dangerous conditions are called red flags and include factors such as wind transporting snow, whumphing, shooting cracks, and terrain where avalanches are most likely to occur. Finally we learn about that ugly monster called The Human Factor. The most important Human Factor skill is knowing when to call it a day and turn around when the avalanche red flags are screaming DANGER. Turning around even when the sun is shining and the powder is deep.

 

Teaching kids these avalanche safety skills is fun and doable, but they need the opportunity. The Hans Saari Youth Ski Mountaineering Camps provide ski mountaineering mentorship from mountain masters such as Andrew McLean, Bean Bowers, Nat Patridge and Bela Vadasz. Students are taken into the mountains and taught the skills necessary to enjoy a lifetime of enjoyment in mountains. The focus is helping young skiers stay safe while skiing hard and learning about the dangers that exist in the backcountry.

 

This year's Teton Camp is scheduled for mid-June 2012. For more information on participating with the Jr. Ski Mountaineering Youth Camps log onto www.HansFund.org

 

Joe Stock - Hans Saari Memorial Fund Board Member

IFMGA Mountain Guide

 

Nov 29 | Kit DesLauriers :: Fun on a Kid's Level

By Athlete Parents

Starting kids early on the path of being a skier needs to be about fostering a fun experience if you want them to want to ski.

 First things first, don’t push it.  Kids attention spans are short so don’t expect to be on the slopes for more than two runs on the bunny hill and you might be pleasantly surprised but at least not disappointed.  I know it sounds like a lot of work for two runs but they learn quickly and once it’s fun for them it will last longer.

Secondly, just like each one of us each child is an individual, fun in the snow for my little girls might look different from your boys’ interpretation.  But if they aren’t against going out skiing on any given day (see above!) then consider how to make it more fun for them. 

Are they into a particular toy that they don’t want to leave in order to go skiing?  Let them take it along. Dolls and dinosaurs love to go outside equally.  A backpack can make it easier to carry more than one.  After all, don’t we put our adult toys in packs?

I like to break up the morning, or even the ski run, into sections and take lots of breaks to play, make snow angels, eat gummy bears on the chair lifts, make mini snow caves for our stuffed animals…

A ride on our sled stashed in the woods at the bottom of the hill is a fun and efficient way back from the slopes and what better way to multi-sport your outing?

Be silly, be in the moment, enjoy the fact that they still love to be with you because before long they’ll be non-stop charging the mountain with their buddies.

Nov 28 | Snow Safety Month :: The Inside Scoop with Protect Our Winters

By The North Face

Living in Colorado, one plague I dread every spring is the threat of dirty snow.

Blowing in from southeastern Utah, dirt poses two problems.

The first is personal danger, as dirt forms a weak layer and poorly bonds with newer snowfall, resulting in a sketchy layer buried in the snowpack as spring tours come into play.  Simply put – dirt equals danger.

Center for Snow and Avalanche Studies 

The second problem dirt causes is irregular melting and accelerated run off. Irregular melting forms sun cups which wreak havoc on spring corn cycles and have spawned an entirely new vocabulary with my friends. What was formerly thought of as buttercakes or reconstituted spring pow turns into frozen ocean and junkyard chunder. Ever had a ski partner go down with a broken rib from a fall on frozen chunder landing on their beacon?  Not pretty, I can tell you.

 Dirt and avalanches

Beyond the selfish context as a backcountry skier, dirt poses a much bigger issue than just personal safety. The Center for Snow Studies based in Silverton, Colorado has been focused on this problem for years, as it tracks to a much larger macro issue  - that of climate change.

 Note to self, ski the clean snow

The dirt that blows in on the front end of Colorado storms in the form of apocalyptic billowing red clouds is at least in part due to the fact that the southwestern US has been under prolonged drought for years now.  Climate models show we're likely to only see this increase as the planet warms, turning the southwest, eventually, into a dust bowl. While dust on snow has multiple causes (grazing, off road vehicle use, drilling impacts, agriculture), drought only exacerbates the impacts.

The kicker here is scientific research that culminated in a story in the Los Angeles Times by Eryn Brown (September 21, 2010), that shows dirt on snow reduces the amount of water flowing in to the Colorado River by a conservative estimate of 5%. What does 5% mean? 5% translates to over 250 billion gallons annually which equates to twice the amount of water a city such as Denver or Las Vegas uses in a year and equal to what Los Angeles consumes in 18 months.

 Independence Pass, CO. Snow to the left goes to the Atlantic, to the right the Pacific

Dirt also reduces snow’s albedo (reflectivity) by 30%, increasing melting by 50%. It’s akin to putting a black’80s concert t-shirt on during your next sunny spring tour. That rapid melt exposes surface vegetation earlier in the spring which consumes the runoff prior to reaching the river. Additionally, the faster decline of the snowpack negates the positive impact that traditional slower melts have in terms of cooling the atmosphere by reflecting heat.

So, next time you consider burning an old pair of rock skis as a tribute to the snow god Ullr add a few good words to keep the dirt away. And be sure to make good decisions, whether schralping pow in the backcountry with friends or in terms of consumption of plastic, energy and gas.

Penn Newhard is a Protect Our Winters Board member, Partner at Backbone Media and aspiring ski tech for his alpine racing kids.

 

 

Nov 21 | Snow Safety Month :: The Inside Scoop with Learn to Ski and Snowboard Month

By The North Face

 

Terrain Parks

Terrain parks are drawing more and more skiers and riders to learn the latest tricks and moves. Terrain parks and freestyle terrain is usually marked by an orange oval. Follow the four elements of Smart Style for a more enjoyable, safer terrain park experience. You should make a plan for any feature that you plan to hit, scope around the jumps and make sure your landing zone is clear, start small and build your way up to bigger features, and show respect to others in the park, as you will get respect in turn. Visit www.terrainparksafety.org for more information.

 

Layering

Dress appropriately for winter to ensure that you stay warm while skiing. A layering system, consisting of a wicking underwear base layer, an insulating layer of fleece, synthetic fill, or down, and an outer layer consisting of a waterproof-breathable layer, will help keep you warm and dry on even cold days. Avoid cotton layers, especially jeans, as cotton traps moisture and will make you significantly colder. For more information, visit the NSP website at http://nsp.org/slopesafety/howtodress.aspx.

 

Sidecountry

Sidecounty terrain is becoming more and more popular, as skiers and riders seek untracked powder runs. However, sidecountry is a misnomer; it would be better to think of it as lift-accessed backcountry terrain. The terrain outside a ski area, even adjacent to the ropes, is not patrolled or controlled by the ski patrol, and is the same as terrain that you would hike to from a trailhead. Lift-accessed backcountry terrain has all the possible dangers of any backcountry terrain, including heightened avalanche danger, hidden obstacles under the snow, and difficult rescues if you get injured. Before going to lift-accessed backcountry terrain, familiarize yourself with backcountry safety protocols, including carrying an avalanche beacon, an avalanche probe, and a shovel, and know how to use them. Check with your local avalanche center and know the avalanche danger, and take an avalanche safety class.

 

Tree Wells

Tree wells are areas of loose, unconsolidated powder at the base of trees, and are a particularly hazardous obstacle that can trap the unwary. In studies, over 90 percent of those who were voluntarily buried in a tree well could not dig themselves out. People die every year from Snow Immersion Suffocation (SIS) when they fall into a tree well. Always ski trees with a friend, and keep in sight of each other at all times. Be especially careful on deep powder days. For more information, visit www.treewelldeepsnowsafety.org.

 Hear what The North Face athletes have to say about Snow Safety:  http://www.thenorthface.com/en_US/exploration/know-boundaries/?stop_mobi=yes

Nov 14 | Snow Safety Month :: The Inside Scoop with SOS Outreach

By The North Face

Anyone who participates in snowsports knows that the enjoyment we get from playing in the snow comes with certain inherent and inevitable risks. Obviously these risks can not be eliminated, but they can be avoided by building awareness and practicing safe skiing and riding. While many veterans of resort skiing may see the Mountain Safety Code as something that is merely printed on napkins for the sake of inexperienced tourists, it contains useful information that can be beneficial to everyone on the mountain regardless of skill level. At SOS Outreach, we make sure all of our students are familiar with the Mountain Safety Code and ride safely and in control at all times. For those of you who may feel too experienced to read the napkin, here is a little refresher on the guidelines of the Mountain Safety Code: 

 

             1. Always stay in control, and be able to stop or avoid other people or objects.

             2. People ahead of you have the right of way. It is your responsibility to avoid them.

             3. You must not stop where you obstruct a trail or are not visible from above.

             4. Whenever starting downhill or merging into a trail, look uphill and yield to others.

             5. Always use devices to help prevent runaway equipment.
             6. Observe all posted signs and warnings. Keep off closed trails and out of closed areas.

            7. Prior to using any lift, you must have the knowledge and ability to load, ride and unload safely.

At SOS, we teach our students that the code is not only about safety, but also consideration for other skiers and riders on the mountain. Snowsports are something people do for enjoyment, and being a courteous and considerate rider will make the mountain experience better for you and everyone around you. We always teach our students to ride respectfully, have compassion for those they share the hill with, and encourage others to do the same.

SOS Outreach is a non-profit that provides value based leadership and character development training for underserved youth through outdoor adventure sports. Operating in 15 states, as well as New Zealand, SOS works to inspire a love of the outdoors in kids who otherwise wouldn’t get the opportunity to participate in the sports we all love so dearly. By exposing kids to new outdoor sports, SOS uses the outdoors as a platform for personal growth of our students. 

Hear what The North Face athletes have to say about Snow Safety:  http://www.thenorthface.com/en_US/exploration/know-boundaries/?stop_mobi=yes

Nov 07 | Snow Safety Month :: The Inside Scoop with Ski New Hampshire

By The North Face

As you become a stronger skier/rider inevitably you’ll end up hitting the woods and exploring gladed runs.  Especially on powder days you’ll find aggressive skiers and riders venturing further away from the heart of the ski area.  Often that’s where you’ll still find sweet lines and powder stashes even late in the day.  It’s easy to let the adrenaline take over and just charge down terrain that you dream of without thinking.  Times like that are when you need to take account of things.
 



First and foremost, if you’re getting off the beaten path don’t do it alone.  Ideally you want a group of three.  If someone takes a bad spill and is banged up you then have one friend to go get help while the other friend stays to give aid to the injured skier/rider, especially in case they lose consciousness.

As simple as it sounds, don’t explore terrain you aren’t familiar with.  There’s no explanation for the feeling of hitting the end of a run and realizing you are in a totally foreign location.  Hiking through deep snow is a disaster, especially when disoriented, don’t put yourself in that spot.  Stick with someone who knows exactly where they’re going or ask around to educate yourself.  If you aren’t 100% sure, stick to runs you know.  A cell phone in your pocket is not an excuse to be stupid.

Keep it Safe and Keep it Fun! 

http://www.skinh.com

Hear what The North Face athletes have to say about Snow Safety:  http://www.thenorthface.com/en_US/exploration/know-boundaries/?stop_mobi=yes

Sep 16 | Sage Cattabriga-Alossa Dishes on the Techniques he Uses in TGR's new film "One For The Road"

By The North Face

The world premiere of Teton Gravity Research's new film "One For The Road" is this Saturday at Walk Festival Hall in Teton Village, Wyo. TGR athletes are trickling in to town for the event and already Ian McIntosh, Erik Roner, Dash Longe and Sage Cattabriga-Alosa have arrived. In the video below, shot "Live From The Field" style, Sage talks about some new techniques TGR used while filming for this year's movie.

 

Learm more about the film and see when One for The Road is coming to your town :

http://www.tetongravity.com/one-for-the-road/tour/.

Jun 13 | Kris Erickson: Lhotse Ski Expedition - Almost There

By The North Face

Almost there.  I stop, hunch over, and breathe deeply.  The dry air agitates the bronchioles and leaves a searing sensation in my lungs.  The coughing starts and slowly builds into a fit.  Soon the spasms trigger my gag reflex and I start dry heaving.  Luckily I haven’t had anything to eat or drink in hours so all I can produce is a bit of spit.  My eyes are blurry and filled with tears from the episode but I can make out Kris with his camera carefully trained on me capturing everything. 

 

“So, how do you feel?”

 

“I actually feel really good.” 

 

After the recent events most people would consider this a blatant lie, an attempt to maintain my hardened mountain man appearance.  Maybe so, but in all honesty I do feel great.  At 7,400 meters coughing fits and the occasional dry heaving spell are to be expected.  My legs and head, however, feel good.  Progress is slow, but steady.  I look out from the Yellow Band and the entire Western CWM and much of the Lhotse Face falls away beneath me.   The scale is hard to comprehend.

 

It’s been four years since I have taken in this view, and quite honestly it is a sight I never expected to see again.  In 2007 I traded my services guiding climbers on the lower mountain in exchange for a chance to climb and ski Lhotse.  It was a “pie in the sky” dream, but the opportunity was there so I decided to go for it, no matter how small my chances of success.  As a very wise man once said, “You have to show up if you want to go skiing.”  I was showing up, but beyond that I wasn’t too hopeful.

 

I was given my chance.  While the rest of my team was summitting Everest I quietly set off alone on my own conquest.  As I climbed I periodically checked the progress of the long line of headlamps, which resembled traffic on an early morning commute to the summit of the worlds highest mountain.   At 8,300 meters my oxygen system failed.  Through the dark I could make out what I thought was the top of the couloir less than 200 meters above me.  Alone and with zero margin for error there was little I could do but take my skis off my pack and start down.  The descent was a slow, painstaking process: one turn at a time.

 

Many people ask me if my I was disappointed by my misfortune.  Some people would consider it a failure.  In all honesty, it is one of the ski descents I am most proud of.  A lot of hard work and a lot of luck allowed me to reach the heights I did.  A little bad luck kept me from the summit.

 

Once again I step into my skis for an acclimatization ski on the Lhotse Face.  The next time Kris and I make our way to this elevation it will be on our summit push.  It’s not often that you are given the opportunity to achieve your dreams and it’s even rarer that you’re given a second chance. 

 

It’s safe to say I feel damn good.

Jun 08 | Kris Erickson: Lhotse Ski Expedition- Waiting Isn't Alway's Easy

By The North Face

I’ve grown accustom to waiting in the tent for the weather to improve, it’s a part of every major mountain I climb.  This trip is no different, except this time the wait has the anticipation of months of planning and years of desire all wrapped up into these last few days, hours, and minutes of not knowing the final outcome. When the desire to achieve something great takes control of your life it isn’t always healthy and yet the growth I feel I attain from striping myself from most creature comforts and pushing my body and mind to the maximum provides enlightenment that truly is a great achievement. In retrospect, somehow the lens of life looks differently and my values shift with a new focus, I somehow appreciate the simpler things in life. My family has greater importance, food, smells, my own home, the way my sheets feel lying next to my wife, everything takes on new meaning. These are the simple things that make me appreciate how good life is and yet here I am stripped of all those pleasures pushing to my limit.

 

Five days ago Jamie and I skied from 7400 meters near the top on the Lhotse face, each turn a mixed bag of elation and suffering. It’s been a dream for years to make turns down the Lhotse face, one of the largest continuous faces for skiing in the world, spanning nearly 2000m of skiing potential on one slope plus 500m tucked in the couloir leading to the summit. Without the atmospheric pressure present at lower elevations to force oxygen into my lungs I could only make ten turns before the lack of it would lay me on my side. Smiling and laughing at the exhaustion of skiing in such a preposterous place I couldn’t help but love the feeling. Each segment of the face linked by a first turn and followed by another, and then another, my legs were strong but eventually my lungs would provide the reality check pulling the emergency brake on the process. My brain fogged with emotion from the position.

 

We’re back in base camp waiting for the current storm to deposit all the snow it can muster into the Lhotse couloir. We can only hope it leaves us with a fresh canvas to carve our skis down. The conditions were good last week and we felt strong, we’re being very picky about how good we want the conditions to be before our summit push.  Those first turns of the trip were the kind you remember for a lifetime just because of where they were. At this point I could go home and be content, well maybe not completely content but I would be damn happy just to have made the turns we did from the lofty heights of the yellow band. Most never get the opportunity to ski from that altitude on such a beautiful face but for us it was a strong reminder that half of our total objective still hung above us. Skiing only the lower third of the Lhotse face from camp 3 would be fun and worthy of a shout out but instead we want more. We want our dream of being the first people to ski off the summit of this elusive mountain.

 

As I sit here and work on editing videos with Hennie or plan the last details with Jamie, I can’t help but think about all my dreams that haven’t come true. There are so many in my life that I’ve pushed for only to fall short. That’s not to say those dreams are bad or a failure, dreaming is what makes us human with desire to achieve beyond our day-to-day life.  Its’ rare to hear the stories of the trips that never work out, those that involve months of planning and suffering only to end up forgotten. I can only hope for a few great turns on a patch of snow that marks a note in the history books worthy of being passed on. That’s for you to decide.

 

In a few days we will climb back up the mountain in our last effort to dream the wildest dream and hopefully make those first tracks off the summit of Lhotse. While we’ve joined the short list of people that have made a descent of the Lhotse face the true prize is waiting to be attained. Wish us the best of luck!

 

 

 

 

Jun 01 | Kris Erickson: Lhotse Ski Expedition- Thank You Sir May I Have Another?

By The North Face

Up? Again? Already?  It feels like yesterday we returned from our last rotation on the mountain and we’re already preparing to head up again.  The past three days in Base Camp have been a blur of eating, sleeping, and working on the video dispatches that are supposed to be flowing from our satellite modem on a regular basis.  We’re over a month into this expedition and for the first time in all of my travels I have yet to open a book.  Normally the ample amount of tent time on trips like these offer the perfect opportunity to catch up on all of the reading I have set aside over the previous months.  This time, for some reason, there always seems to be something that needs to be done- immediately.

 

During our last rotation Kris and I punched up to Camp III at just over 7,000 meters.  Maybe a more accurate description is that we slowly, labored our way up the Lhotse Face to Camp III in stifling heat and under heavy loads.  It sounds dramatic, but the Western CWM/Lhotse Face is one of the hottest places I have ever been.  At one point the thermometer on my watch read 108⁰.  Combined with the elevation the heat becomes almost unbearable, and once the sun is out, inescapable.  The high altitude environment is one of extremes- bitter cold, searing heat, howling winds, and heavy snow.

Despite this Kris and I were able to make good time and deliver a valuable load of equipment to Camp III.  We sat for several hours on our future tent platform light headed, slightly delirious and took in the view.  For the first time we sat at eye level with many of the mountains around us.  Pumo Ri loomed over Base Camp, Cho Oyu and Gyachung Kang stood proud in the distance, and Nuptse, just to our south, almost looked within reach.  Mt. Everest and Lhotse, however, still rose impressively above us with their summits nowhere in sight.

Tomorrow we head up the mountain for our third and final rotation before our summit push.  It will be the first time we take our skis above Base Camp and it will be Hennie’s first foray into the Ice Fall.  It’s safe to say there’s some nervous anticipation in camp.

 

There is no question this next rotation is going to be a painful one.  The game plan is to spend a night at Camp III, carry a load to Camp IV at 7,800 meters and ski the Lhotse Face back down.  It will be our first time on skis in over a month but conditions appear to be ripe for a ski descent.  Chris Davenport’s and Neil Beidleman’s ski from Camp III was inspirational and leaves us hungry and motivated to ski the face in its entirety.  Hennie hopes to perform his magic and capture our descent from Camp II.

The entire team is wondering how they will do with the new elevation gains.  As a good friend of mine would say, “We’ll all be experts in a bit.”