Backcountry Touring on a high-risk avalanche day: Should it even be done?
📍Ute Territory
Last week was pretty intense. We headed out to a 10th Mountain Division Hut right as we were getting a huge storm in Colorado. What was already an unstable snowpack became extremely dangerous as another foot of snow fell. It was beautiful and we all wanted to get outside and explore, but we were also cautious and nervous of just how likely an avalanche could be triggered.
Shriner Mountain Inn at Vail Pass, managed by the 10th Mountain Division Hut System.
When your skins get covered in snow before you can snap a photo of them.
Using Caltopo and a CAIC forecast and applying routefinding techniques taught in Bruce Tremper’s “Staying Alive in Avalanche Terrain”, we mapped out a super conservative plan to get to a low angled bowl a few miles west of our hut. It was a touch and go situation, where we navigated around terrain traps and anything remotely steep. We saw a ton of wind affected slopes and even heard some “whoomping” noises from the snowpack, all of which were signs to stay away from steep terrain. Throughout the weekend and days that followed there were multiple avalanches in the area, some lethal, all on avalanche terrain.
Putting in a fresh skin track at 11,000 feet.
Ultimately, we returned to the hut safely with a better understanding of what a critically unstable snowpack looks, feels, and sounds like. But our situation was unique, we had mostly very flat terrain near our hut, and we all agreed we wanted to stay far away from anything that could slide. The day was more about hiking, learning, and making observations than making powder turns. The situation could of ended much differently if we had a lapse of self-control and decided to ride something steep, or even if we hadn’t mapped our route properly and found ourselves in a terrain trap. Luckily, none of those things happened, and I think we all gained more insight from our decision to get out and focus more on the experience than simply on skiing or snowboarding.
So did we make the right decision? Should we have just stayed in our hut the entire day rather than venturing out? I think the jury is still out on that one. Ultimately, we never encountered any terrain that we thought was capable of sliding, and we learned a ton from our tour, but who’s to say that would be everyone else’s experience? A less experienced group of hot heads may have been tempted to ride more aggressive terrain. Or a hardened veteran of touring, very familiar to that particular zone could of pushed the envelope a little too far and had to pay the consequences. The other day I read some thoughts on the issue by Katie Cooney, an Idaho based artist and photographer, who also spends a lot of time in the backcountry. She was convinced that touring at all when risks are extremely high, especially during a pandemic, is irresponsible and shouldn’t be done. And I don’t entirely disagree with her. Without the correct planning and execution, you risk putting yourself and rescue operations in immense danger. There is no margin for error when the risk is that high, all your decisions have to be 100% dialed in, and if they aren’t, you could pay the price with serious injury or death.
My heart goes out to everyone across the country who’s lost a loved one this past week. It’s super sad, and a reminder that when conditions are as dangerous as they currently are, it’s not the time to make nuanced decisions, but rather to leave yourself a large buffer for safety.
Getting a few seconds of good light at Vail Pass on an otherwise stormy and windy day.
Portrait of the author, Drew Bennett, after a long skin back to the car.