Tuesday, December 11, 2012

Hero skiing at Copper Mountain Dec 9th and Registration for AVI L1 Course

My friends, I am so sorry for not being able to visit the backcountry and share my observations during the last few days. This weekend I was refreshing my wilderness medical skills, while report after report of superb skiing conditions kept my e-mail in-tray & FB messages active. And the video clips looked awesome. It was just plain torture!

First, one of MCS blog readers need your help. Chris left his BCA snow saw at Pilot Peak last Sunday. Below the description of the location he thinks he left behind the snow saw:
A group of us were up at MCS and Pilot Peak yesterday (Sun, Dec 9) and I left my snow saw at the top next to the pit we dug. It's just directly north of the lookout building on top of Pilot's about 10 meters down into the bowl. 
We skied that Lookout Bowl shot pretty much directly behind the lookout building & then traversed over to the west (skiers left) to regroup where there was a bunch of snowmobile tracks. There's a chance it could have been left there too. It's a 35cm BCA saw w/ a black handle. 
Hoping someone might be able to grab it if they're heading up there & I can come get it from them later. 
Contact number is 208-631-0577 or icuski2@yahoo.com
Reports for MCS above 7000 feet was of 15 cm of light snow in top of last week crust. The reports for Banner summit could have not added more positive adjectives! And no sign of instability were detected at MCS or Banner Summit.
It was unbelieveable! It's a whole different world above 7000 feet. We went up on Sunday (December 9) and it was even better. It was 9 below F at the highway with a few inches of new (white smoke) on top of some heavier snow Bluebird day! All good!!
Michael Lyons shared the following picture for Sunday's spectacular day!

Winter Wonderland at Copper
Check this video from my friends Evan and Greg - it is HOT!


Pedro (my son) and I decided to share a holiday gift with the backcountry skiing community and open an AVI L1 course scheduled for December 28th, 29th, and 30th. There are no fees for this course, but it will be expected from participants to volunteer a minimum of 3 days at one of the many Idaho non-profit organizations. I will work with each of you to find the optimum match.

This course will have limited spots. Female skiers/riders will be prioritized during the registration to skew the distribution to 50% of female participants. In order to participate in this avalanche course we will required that you come to the course with; 2 or 3 antennae avalanche beacon, 3 meter avalanche probe, metal shovel with extendable handle, a sight-through compas/clinometer, snow saw, ski touring (or split board) gear with skins, and own Snow Sense 5th Edition. You will have to bring the gear to the classroom session at my home December 28th. The field sessions are scheduled for December 29th and 30th. The location will be determined during the classroom session.

The link for the AVI L1 course registration is:

AVI L1 Registration - Dec 28, 29, 30 2012

We continue to receive a lot of valuable information from devices interfering with avalanche beacons. Check the next video for a cool experiment folks did with a GoPro. To the readers of the blog, please check your electronic gear to determine what is your exposure level due to electromagnetic interference. And remember that is a good practice to keep electronics at no less than 30 cm away from avalanche beacons, and if possible have gear like phones in "airplane mode".


Finally, the Payette Avalanche Center (PAC) and Sawtooth Avalanche Centers (SAC) would love to receive YOUR observations. PAC are interested in observations for our neighborhood, such as Mores Creek Summit, Big Creek Summit. For observations at Soldier Mountain and Banner Summit backcountry, please-please also share those observations with the SAC.

Payette Avalanche Center - BC Skiers Observations Link

Sawtooth Avalanche Center - BC Skiers Observation Link

Happy Holidays!