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News Snowboarding

Jeremy Jones Talks Avalanches, Polar Bears and Fitness

Oneill chat to Jeremy Jones about his experiences in his new film Further coming out next month.

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Miscellaneous Tricks Snowboarding

Know Boundaries Episode 5: Respect the Mountains

The North Face athletes Jimmy Chin, Xavier de la Rue, and Dana Flahr provide insight on how to how to push the limits in the backcountry without exceeding your boundaries. This episode is just about respecting the mountain. The North Face riders share their experiences and top tips for avoiding avalanches. Check out the other posts in this series for more.

This is not a replacement for formal avalanche training. If you plan to go out the backcountry you must make sure that you have the necessary skills and equipment to make the right decisions

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Miscellaneous Tricks Snowboarding

Know Boundaries Episode 4: The Human Factor

The North Face athletes Sage Cattabriga-Alosa, Ian McIntosh, Xavier de la Rue, Jimmy Chin, Dylan Hood, Griffin Post, and Dale Atkins, President of the American Avalanche Association, provide insight on how to how to push the limits in the backcountry without exceeding your boundaries. This episode focuses on the human factor of avalanche safety.

This is not a replacement for formal avalanche training. If you plan to go out the backcountry you must make sure that you have the necessary skills and equipment to make the right decisions

This episode is all about making your own decisions on the mountain. You should choose carefully you ride with, it is no good you having the skills and knowledge to rescue a friend if they cannot rescue you if you get in trouble, choose your partner wisely. When you go up the mountain make sure that you make your own decisions. You just follow where other people are gone or what other people are saying, assess the area and conditions and make a safe decision as to where to go or even to turn back.

Remember! This is only a small snippet of information and is not a replacement for formal avalanche training. If you plan to go out the backcountry you must make sure that you have the necessary skills and equipment to make the right decisions

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Miscellaneous Tricks Snowboarding

Know Boundaries Episode 3: The Five Red Flags

The North Face athletes Jimmy Chin, Mark Carter, Ian McIntosh, Xavier de la Rue, Sage Cattabriga-Alosa, and Dana Flahr provide insight on how to how to push the limits in the backcountry without exceeding your boundaries. This episode focuses on the five red flags – avalanche warning signs to look for in the backcountry.

This is not a replacement for formal avalanche training. If you plan to go out the backcountry you must make sure that you have the necessary skills and equipment to make the right decisions

This post is about the five red flags. You should always be checking these when you go out on the month

The five red flags are:

  • Rapidly rising temperature
  • Recent strong winds
  • Recent avalanche activity
  • Cracking/Collapsing snowpack
  • Significant new snowfall

Remember! This is only a small snippet of information and is not a replacement for formal avalanche training. If you plan to go out the backcountry you must make sure that you have the necessary skills and equipment to make the right decisions

Categories
Miscellaneous Tricks Snowboarding

Know Boundaries Episode 2: The Avalanche Triad: Terrain / Snowpack / Weather

Kent Scheler, Lead Guide for Teton Gravity Research, The North Face athletes Sage Cattabriga-Alosa, Ian McIntosh, Xavier de la Rue, Jimmy Chin, Todd Ligare, and Dale Atkins, President of the American Avalanche Association, provide insight on how to how to push the limits in the backcountry without exceeding your boundaries. This episode focuses on an introduction to avalanche safety and backcountry gear. This episode focuses on terrain, snowpack, and weather.

This is not a replacement for formal avalanche training. If you plan to go out the backcountry you must make sure that you have the necessary skills and equipment to make the right decisions

This post is about the Avalanche Triad: Terrain, Snowpack and Weather.

Avalanche Triangle

So at the bottom is the terrain, and everything is built on that. So the terrain is a big aspect of it. The different slope aspects and slight angles will be more prone to avalanche than others.

You should always check the weather and avalanche forecast before going up the mountain. High winds and lots of snow could make the area more prone to avalanche.

The snowpack should always be checked on the mountain, one way of doing this is by digging a pit, this enables you to see the different layers of snow and give you more of an idea of how the snow will react when you ride on it.

If you are ever unsure just to back, it’s not worth it

Remember! This is only a small snippet of information and is not a replacement for formal avalanche training. If you plan to go out the backcountry you must make sure that you have the necessary skills and equipment to make the right decisions

Categories
Miscellaneous Tricks Snowboarding

Know Boundaries Episode 1: Avalanche Introduction & Backcountry Gear

Kent Scheler, Lead Guide for Teton Gravity Research, The North Face athletes Sage Cattabriga-Alosa, Ian McIntosh, Xavier de la Rue, Jimmy Chin, and Dale Atkins, President of the American Avalanche Association, provide insight on how to how to push the limits in the backcountry without exceeding your boundaries. This episode focuses on an introduction to avalanche safety and backcountry gear.

This is not a replacement for formal avalanche training. If you plan to go out the backcountry you must make sure that you have the necessary skills and equipment to make the right decisions

Avalanches are generally formed in certain conditions, this makes them reasonably predictable. In simple terms avalanches happen when two layers of snow do not bond properly meaning that when a trigger action occurs the top slab simply slides down creating avalanche. This trigger could be anything from you riding down, to a cornice, to the sun.

Avalanches should be, as with all aspects in the mountains, respected greatly. If you have any doubt about the safety of a route you are taking, you should always turn back. “Live to ride another day”.

There’s lots of equipment you should take with you into the backcountry, the minimum equipment you should take and what it does is listed below.

Basic Avalanche Equipment

  • The Transceiver(or beacon). This device allows you to locate another person in an avalanche.
  • Probe. This is so that you can probe down to more accurately find the person once you have found their rough position with the transceiver.
  • Shovel. And this is to dig them out.
  • Helmet. Always a good idea.

This is just some of the equipment that you can take with you there other things like Avalungs which can further help. All this equipment is useless unless you know how to use it, therefore you should create scenarios in safe grounds, like the resort, to practice your skills so that if the worst happens you know exactly what to do and how to use the equipment effectively and efficiently. To make sure you practice loads.

Of course technology does sometimes fail so you should test equipment before every time you go out, and you should have the skills to go to read the terrain and the snowpack and make decisions to the hoaxes never have to use this equipment.

Remember! This is only a small snippet of information and is not a replacement for formal avalanche training. If you plan to go out the backcountry you must make sure that you have the necessary skills and equipment to make the right decisions