A skier was killed Monday, March 22 in an avalanche outside of Colorado’s Beaver Creek Ski Area. According to the Colorado Avalanche Information Center (CAIC), the skier was traveling below tree line in an area known as the Sanctuary Chutes—a steep, northwest-facing chute—at approximately 10,500 feet when they triggered the avalanche around 3:00 p.m. This is the 12th fatality in Colorado this season and the 35th in the United States.

The lifts are about to close as I skin up the groomed slope of Buttermilk Mountain outside Aspen, Colorado, on a February afternoon. The last skiers and snowboarders whiz by on their way back to their cars after riding chairs all day. A father and his boys make one final lap through the mini terrain park as I pass by on my slow upward path. I feel heavy, laden with piecemeal equipment that is far from the latest, lightest, greatest stuff on the market. That’s OK. As a beginner ski mountaineer, lightness isn’t the most important thing anyway. The first step is to learn efficiency with the basic tools.

Mountain Mentors, a nonprofit that serves communities in Vancouver, Whistler, Squamish and Pemberton, B.C., offers a new way to venture into the mountains. The volunteer-led organization began in 2016 and works to pair and facilitate one-on-one mentor/mentee relationships, with the overall goal of creating backcountry spaces where everyone belongs and can safely participate. Mountain Mentors president Rosie Langford expands on what their mission means and what growth may look like for the community-driven organization in her own words.

Andy Traslin first ventured into the backcountry as a teenager while on a family ski trip to Whistler, B.C., in the mid ’90s. Inspired by Scot Schmidt in Blizzard of Aahhh’s, he wandered out of bounds and started hiking along a ridge. “I just started walking randomly with no gear. It was definitely a learning curve,” he says. Mike, Andy’s older brother, remembers him heading off, adding, “We were like, where did Andy go? I guess he saw where he wanted to be and went and tried it.” This Forest Gump-like attitude of getting an idea in his head and going all in has earned Andy the nickname “Andy Gump” from his older brother. It’s also been a driving force for the brothers’ many endeavors, which for three decades have exemplified the sort of understated yet bold skiing for which the Sea to Sky is known.

In October of 2005, Ed LaChappelle, the man viewed by many to be the grandfather of North American avalanche forecasting, published a paper in The Avalanche Review (24.1) under the title, The Ascending Spiral. Of the many important points made in this paper, one stands out: do nothing in haste.

Pieps has formally issued a voluntary recall of its DSP Pro, DSP Pro Ice and DSP Sport avalanche transceivers. The Voluntary Product Correction program was announced on March 3, 2021 for beacons distributed in Europe, Asia, the Pacific and South America. Details on a recall in North America are forthcoming.

In the vast majority of forecast zones, a weak snowpack has combined with a pandemic-driven uptick in backcountry use and excitement over fresh snow after prolonged dry spells. And as winter continues to gain momentum, avalanche centers are pushing through these challenging circumstances to communicate the risks of traveling in avalanche terrain through their daily forecasts.

Wyoming recorded its third avalanche fatality in a week yesterday, with the death of an individual in Grand Teton National Park in a line called the Broken Thumb Couloir. This fatality marks the 25th death in the U.S. in as many days. According to the Jackson Hole News & Guide, the Teton County Coroner identified […]

A snowboarder was caught and buried in an avalanche on Wyoming’s Togwotee Pass on Thursday afternoon. He was flown to Eastern Idaho Regional Medical Center, where he was pronounced dead. This is the second avalanche fatality in Wyoming this week and the 28th in the United States this season.