U.S. Ski Team development athletes Ronnie Berlack and Bryce Astle died in an avalanche near their European training base of Soelden in the Austrian Alps on Monday. Berlack, 20, of Franconia, N.H., and Astle, 19, of Sandy, Utah, were freeskiing off piste with four others when the accident occurred. The Tirol regional avalanche warning service has released new details surrounding the accident.
Ten Bad Habits that Must Go for 2015
Some people make New Year’s resolutions focusing on diets and exercise. Others make plans on how to make the world, the backcountry skiing world included, a better place. Ski mountaineering Andrew McLean dishes on the latter.
Mountain Skills: Ilya Storm on 20 years of education, safety and snow science
Ilya Storm, 50, is the forecast coordinator for Avalanche Canada. Storm lives in Revelstoke, B.C., just down the road from Rogers Pass. Here’s an excerpt from our conversation on 20 years of education, safety and snow science.
BC Banter: Vt Resorts Embrace Uphill, Utah Revisits Rescue Protocol, TwentyTwo Designs Launches Beta Program, 10th Mountain Icon Passes Away
Two more Vermont ski areas are embracing uphill traffic. Late this month, Bolton Valley Ski Area and Sugarbush Resort released their new uphill traffic policies, joining the growing list of ski areas nationwide that welcome on-piste skinning. Bolton Valley offers two uphill routes open at all times, including during operating hours; Sugarbush’s policy is more nuanced, with specific trails open on both Lincoln Peak and Mt. Ellen at various times.
Mountain Skills: Karl Birkeland on 20 years of education, safety and snow science
Karl Birkeland, 51, is a longtime avalanche forecaster and director of the U.S. Forest Service National Avalanche Center in Bozeman, Montana. Here’s an excerpt from our conversation on 20 years of education, safety and snow science.
Backstory: Christmas Powder
I sit in a recycled ski chair on the cabin porch in Ouray, Colo., and watch giant, Christmas Eve snowflakes fall softly as I call my parents to wish them Merry Christmas. I am eager to tell my parents that I’m going backcountry skiing for the first time tomorrow. Instead, Mom reads her oncology report: cancer. In my mind tumors twinkle like Christmas lights throughout her. The conversation ends and snowflakes merge with my chilled tears.
BC Banter: Snowless on Turnagain Pass, Sentencing in Wolf Creek Avalanche Death, 22 Inches Fall in Tahoe, RASTA Glade Project Open for Comment
Warm temperatures have brought rain in place of snow so far this season at south central Alaska’s Turnagain Pass. Now, more than two weeks past the typical opening date, the Pass is closed to snowmachining due to lack of snow. Recent wet snow, followed by cool temps, has increased avalanche risk, and a December 14 storm “created the first documented weak layer of snow this season,” Chugach National Forest Avalanche director Wendy Wagner told Alaska Dispatch News.
Living the Life: David Rothman On Ski Culture, Recreation and Mountain Living
Sean Prentiss talks with author David Rothman about his ski–culture book titled: Living the Life: Tales from America’s Mountains & Ski Towns.
Splitboards, Sweat and Cheers: Racing the Eighth-Annual Dirksen Derby
Splitboarding is not usually this chaotic. It can certainly be scary or even dangerous, but this is a sunny day at Mt. Bachelor Ski Resort. The climb is just a few hundred feet, yet there are a few dozen fans cheering, as well as two-dozen competitors in various levels of fervor. It’s the eighth-annual Dirksen Derby Splitboard Race, a skin-up-to-banked-slalom-down suffer-sprint hosted by pro-rider Josh Dirksen to benefit local disabled snowboarder, Tyler Eklund.
BIFF AMERICA: ON CAMERAS
“A camera doesn’t make you bulletproof, and decisions should be based on snowpack, an honest assessment of your ability and the consequences.”
