The Rick Mercer Report
Check out CBC’s Rick Mercer in Jasper National Park as he takes great pleasure in dropping bombs out of helicopters and acting as a buried target for an avalanche rescue dog.
Steve Blake, Jasper Park Public Safety specialist and President of the Canadian Avalanche Association, holds a pretty straight face as he sets Rick up for a successful day of blowing stuff up.
CLICK HERE to view the YouTube clip.
Early Season Avy Accident
While the base of the snowpack is generally solid this year, it didn’t start out this way. This article is a reminder to take care in early season bottomless fresh powder.
Anna Brown, an avalanche forecaster with the Canadian Avalanche Centre, explained that the snowpack was unstable because of the continuous storm systems coming through the area.
“It’s still sitting lightly on the terrain,” she reported to the Revelstoke Times in November 2009. “It hasn’t pressed in, it hasn’t had time to bond together, it hasn’t had time to squish in to the terrain and really set up.”
File this info into your avy safety databank and draw from it each fall season. Learn from the frightening close call that these four sledders experienced.
“You start to hallucinate, go in and out, and then it just goes to your mind, well, I’ll just go to sleep, it will be OK,” he told the Times Review. “You think in your head at that time it’s going to be okay, but the reality is it’s the worst possible time. You actually want to close your eyes and go to sleep.”
Cooper was anything but OK. Completely covered in snow for more than..”
CLICK HERE to be forwarded to the full article from the Revelstoke Times Review, Nov 26, 2009
Obvious Clues
Is Fernie in trouble for next weekend? How is the risk there?
Regards, Sam D.
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In the planning stages of any backcountry trip always review the most recent Avalanche Forecast available on the Canadian Avalanche Centre’s website.
http://www.avalanche.ca/cac/bulletins/regions
Simply click on the area of the map that you wish to go to. Carefully read each line of the report. Note the weather forecast included in the report and pay attention to the actual weather while riding. Consider how any variations in the actual vs. forecasted weather may affect the general bulletin ratings for the slopes in your riding area.
The bulletins really are your best source for general guidance before you go.
Attend an AST1 class to really help you get the most out of the Bulletin reports. Every season the recipe in the snowpack is different. Refresher classes are recommended to keep your observation and assessment skills sharp!
CLICK HERE to see this season’s avalanche classes.
While online, follow this link to use the Interactive Avaluator Trip Planner.
Once you are in the field the 7 Obvious Clues, noted in the AVALUATOR card below, should be continuously monitored. Conditions can change with elevation, aspect (orientation to sun and wind) and time of day.
By keeping this list top of mind you will be more likely to avoid a dangerous situation. The more of the Obvious Clues that you check off the list, the more your situation resembles a past fatality.
Of course a score in the red does not mean that an accident is certain, but it usually indicates that the odds are higher of triggering an avalanche in these conditions.
The more riders in your group that are gathering these clues, the more chance you have of truly catching the majority of Nature’s warning signs. It is just like building a puzzle….the more pieces that you can gather, the better chance you have of truly interpreting the picture.
Send us your photos of Obvious Clues gathered during your sled trips. Over the next couple of weeks we hope to add more details to this article and including examples of each of these Obvious Clues.
Avalanche burial - helmet cam video clip
React vs. Respond
Have you noticed that problems just seem to be ‘bumps in the road’ to some people, yet that same problem might completely overwhelm and immobilize other people?
Watch this video clip. A skier with a helmet cam was caught and fully buried. His camera recorded the entire thing including audio. It is eerie listening to his breathing as it gets faster and more shallow.
Avalanche Skier POV Helmet Cam Burial & Rescue in Haines, Alaska from Chappy on Vimeo.
Be sure to read some of the notes. “Chappy” has share a fair amount of detail about the behind the scenes activities and conversations.
What is the difference? Why do some people ‘respond’ to a problem and others ‘react’?
Over the past few seasons students have asked us to…
CLICK HERE to be redirected to the rest of the story.
Flickr, Facebook and Zac`s new Forum
NEW FOR ZAC’S !
(Now I am almost as web savvy as Monica, my 10 year old daughter!)
ZAC`S TRACS DISCUSSION FORUM
http://www.zacstracs.com/forum/
We invite you to share your avalanche stories, photos and comments. Trial and error hurts and experience teaches. Pass along your years of stories and observations to speed up the learning curve in our sled community!
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FACEBOOK
Check us out on Facebook as well.
Show your support by signing up as a fan while you are there!
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FLICKR
http://www.flickr.com/photos/zacstracs/
Over the years we have gathered bundles of photos and we hope that Flickr will be a good venue to share these. We`ll be sure to post a thread in Zac`s Discussion Forum when we upload new sets to this Flickr account.
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Canadian Avalanche Centre Snowmobile Outreach Program
Bring your riding group! Bring your family!
These 3 hr workshops will help you identify:
- your current exposure to avalanche risk
- your ability to avoid a serious avalanche accident
- 4 key web pages to access before each riding day
- 10 tips to keep your group safe while on the mountain
- terrain suited for your skill level
- the good, the bad & the ugly of avalanche rescue gear
- whether your beacon is suited to your search style
- where to go from here? on-going training opportunities
These evening presentations are sponsored by the Canadian Avalanche Centre (CAC) and will highlight tools, courses, and resources available through the CAC. This includes:
- Public Avalanche Bulletins
- On-line Learning Course
- Trip Talk
- Weather Products
- Recreational and Professional Training program
- the new AVALUATOR.
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If your group or business would like to request or host a presentation in your community, please contact Lori or Amber and we will certainly be pleased to work together.
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The 3 hr CAC Avy Awareness & Beacon Orientations are only $65/family or $50/pp to attend and include a free AVALUATOR, a one year Friends Membership to the Canadian Avalanche Centre, hands-on introductory beacon activities and handouts.
For UPCOMING COURSES, please CLICK HERE to be redirected to our MAIN SCHEDULE
To Register
CLICK HERE TO BE REDIRECTED TO THE REGISTRATION AREA.Confirmed Registrations
To review the class lists for all Zacs Tracs courses please click here=====================================
Donations to the CAC will be gratefully accepted and memberships to the CAC for individuals (Friend of the CAC – $20) and organizations (Supporter of the CAC – $200) will also be offered.
Click here to go directly to the CAC website; become a ‘Friend’ or ‘Supporter’
The CAC’s intention is to grow a network of persons interested in the services of the avalanche industry and to build a simple email system to distribute topical and timely information such as Special Bulletin Warnings and new research.
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For more info, contact Lori
Email: snowmobile@avalanche.ca
Phone: 403-850-3042
Best money spent...EVER!
Hi Lori and Randy,
The March 28/29 ‘09 AST level 1 course you instructed in Chetwynd was very informative, and I commend the both of you for doing a really good job.
Keep up the good work, for I sincerely feel that you are saving lives. The knowledge received from this course has definitely changed the way I will look at snow for the rest of my life.
All the information from the classroom session and all the practice from the field session was amazing. Our group is now turning the screws on the remaining members from our area that did not attend. I personally feel that anyone who is thinking about sledding in the mountains, or even experienced riders, should seriously consider taking this course, for it was the best money I spent, EVER!
I think most would agree that the unstable snowpack and all the attention with the unfortunate avalanche victims this year has really raised avalanche awareness, and what better year to learn and study snowpack conditions. I will admit that some of our (my) previous riding habits, and lack of knowledge could have easily made us a statistic maybe we were just lucky no incidences occurred.
For all those who have suffered a loss of a loved one due to an avalanche, my heart goes out to you. I hope I never have to use the knowledge from this course to rescue a fellow friend or family member, but I do feel a lot more comfortable knowing that I now have the professional training to recognise the dangers, and warning signs, and what to do if trapped victims in an avalanche has occurred.
Thanks again ZacsTracs, a definite two thumbs up from me! I wish you all the best, and I hope our paths cross again in the future.
Sincerely, Rick Sawchyn, High Prairie, Ab
You Tube Clip - Avalanche in motion at Clemina Creek
Careful, there is some language in this video that some may find offensive. This is a video that has been posted on YouTube. I have embedded the link should you wish to view it.
Take some time to view the many other pieces of footage that are linked to this video. If there are any that are particularly good….please email me the link. I would like to embed other clips as well.
A few things to notice:
- the rider makes it very close to the breakover point of this hill (the convex roll). This is a VERY COMMON STRESS POINT on any slope.
- notice how thin and rocky this snowpack is. ALSO A VERY COMMON CHARACTERISTIC OF WEAK SNOWPACKS.
- the vast majority of the hill slides. The weakness is very WIDESPREAD versus localized (or small pockets) of instability. Take extreme care in these conditions.
- notice that the initial avalanche has stepped down in a couple of places to even lower layers. Deep avalanche fractures can be very dangerous due to the amount of snow. Although they are harder to trigger, once started they can propagate widely across the slope.
CAC Photo Analysis - Snowmobile Fatalities
All of us at the Canadian Avalanche Centre extend our sympathies and support to the families and friends of those who have perished in avalanches this winter. We are continually striving to provide the best possible information, advice, education, and tools to all backcountry users. In an effort to prevent further tragedies, we have compiled this
photo analysis from a few recent incidents. We hope this information will help all backcountry users with future decision making in avalanche terrain….
CLICK HERE to view the full article prepared by the Forecasters at the Canadian Avalanche Centre.
R.I.P. Albert, you will always be remembered
Recently I took an avalanche course from Lori and Randy in Fort Saskatchewan then followed by the field course in Valemount, BC. Since the course and all the recent avalanche activity in the mountains this year we decided to play with a lot of caution. We were very cautious and spent most of the time in the tree’s and meadows, with some playing on smaller slopes after evaluating them. We played all day and were just having a great day. There was a mid slope over to the north east side of the area a few of them went to ride through earlier, that we were informed not to climb by our fallen friend, just play in the lower section that’s it. I seen him playing in the trees and meadows and making his way up the mid slope and decided to tag along, I always ride in two’s in case someone is stuck or in trouble. He never climbed and stayed in the mid slope, then he turned around on the burm to the slope and while he was turning around he was overcome by large avalanche, he pulled his Snowpulse bag and headed east, the avalanche by then was coming from the west, north and east and he was doomed. I pulled my ABS and hit my throttle, as the ground beneath me was disappearing and all I can see was a large wall of snow I started taking off, then bang, my head and chest hit the handlebars, I had a huge wall of snow hit me. Everything went black for a split second then I found myself pulling out of the wall and flying down the hill through trees and everything in my path, I held on for my life. I made it down, then right away every thing came to me that I learned in the course, I quickly opened my jacket to let all the packed snow out and cleaned my face and headed back up, with my ABS pulled and waving my arm to my friends on the slope beside they came to the hill. I took charge, looked at the risk and made sure my sled was faced downhill as well as the others. We started heading up with my Pieps DSP on search I discovered a burial at 55m, then we started making our way up, then it found at 33m then 16m at that time his sled was discovered just the handlebars and the top of the seat, heading in the wrong direction. We kept running up the hill in the exact direction of my Pieps and at 6m we discovered a bit of his Snowpulse bag sticking through the snow, we ran there and started digging him out. This all happened between 5 and 8 minutes of the incident. We got him turned over and commenced CPR that two of us learned through work earlier. Unfortunately he did not make it through this, and he will be in our hearts forever. But through all this I felt very confident about our ability to find him and get him out in a short time, and to be as calm as we possibly could. With the training we had this was invaluable, we knew exactly what to do and this kicked in immediately with out even thinking about it. I would have been totally lost without it. I also remembered once we located the victim, to put click my Pieps back onto send which is very important as well. The only mistake we made that day was we should of read the hill better, we stayed off the slope but we should of not been on the mid area at all, there were terrain traps and trees which took our friend’s life.
We will learn from this and spread the word, even though there are areas that look ok and there are a lot of trees an avalanche can strike anywhere and anytime, and the training we took from Zac’s Tracs was invaluable. Every mountain snowmobiler should have this. RIP Albert.
Regards, Ron Willert Snowandmud.com
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From all of us at Zac’s Tracs we would like to extend our heartfelt condolences to the families and friends of all the riders that we have lost this year. It has been a tragic season….and I am concerned that it is not over yet.
Please take a moment to read this article about Solar Warming. CLICK HERE
It is likely that very large avalanches are in store for this spring.
Mature timber will not necessarily guarantee a safe zone. Avalanches may create new paths this year. CLICK HERE to learn more.
While not all accidents are preventable, many may have been avoided. I keep asking myself what we could do to get the messages across to more people. Should you have any suggestions…please email me at lori@zacstracs.com.
Please take care everyone. Enjoy the snow, but save the slopes for next year.
For those wishing to attend the celebration of Albert Beck’s life, April 3, 2009 please CLICK HERE to be redirected to the Snow and Mud web forum for the details.
