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And so it becomes important for any backcountry shredder to seek a balanced approach to looking at snowy terrain. For all the reasons we want to ride a particular line, we also have to look at all the ways in which that same line could pull our pants down and spank us. Being able to identify areas that present higher and lower risks in avalanche terrain is just as important as having the skills to slay a line with all due style.

So what, exactly, is avalanche terrain? At the textbook level, it is the classic avalanche path, as identified by three features: a start zone, track, and runout. The start zone is where a slab avalanche begins; the snow fractures and everything is downhill from there. Literally. The track is where an avalanche picks up speed and gathers more snow from the slope. The runout is where an avalanche slows down and eventually stops, depositing all its mass in a big ole’ nasty pile. These can be easy to identify (photo 01) or hard (photo 02). And avalanche terrain depends a lot on scale; an avalanche path can be a few meters long (photo 03) or a few thousand meters long (photo 04).

(photo 01)

(photo 02)

(photo 03)

(photo 04)

Confused? Let me clear it up for you. In my experience, if the riding is good, you are probably in avalanche terrain.

Now that we know that much, how do we deal with it?

The basic idea is that, considerations about snowpack stability and weather aside for now (to come in exciting future episodes of Know Da’ Snow…), you need to be super proactive in working the terrain to avoid trouble. Working the terrain means executing your movements to link up your quality shredding through areas of lower risk.

So, let’s look at a few photo case studies in terrain management, to get a feel for the kinds of terrain issues that need to be understood and respected in avalanche terrain.

The first example shows a fat looking, steep run at treeline (photo 05). Straight down the middle is wide open, but it is also dish-shaped, making it a gully. Further downslope, past the steep rolls below, is a field of busted and stunted trees, which lets you know that this wide open gully is an avalanche path, and you are in the start zone. The lines of least risk are on the small ribs to either side of the gully. The spacing there is perfect for fat pow turns (I know ‘cause I ripped one of ‘em right after I shot this last week), and you won’t be in the funnel if you trigger an avalanche, thereby reducing your exposure and risk level. Here is another shot that shows a good reason to ski treed ribs next to gullies (photo 05a)!

(photo 05)

(photo 05a)

(photo 06)

The next photo (photo 06) shows some great terrain management. From the top of the run (green circle), your buddies can watch you bag some turns all the way down. That way, if something pulls out on you, they can see where you are and where you could end up if you are caught in an avalanche. If all goes well, you pull out to the side at the bottom of the run to watch your buds and regroup (red circle). That way, if they trigger something, you are not in the path of the avalanche, and you can see your friends as they come down. Just looking for safe spots to watch from and regroup, and shredding a line one at a time, is probably THE MOST IMPORTANT RISK-REDUCING MOVE YOU CAN MAKE ON EVERY RUN YOU RIDE! Safe spots are often found at ridgelines above slopes, in stands of old-growth trees, to the side of obvious gullies, on top of vertical rib features, or on the flats way past the bottom of slopes. Safe spots are NOT anywhere where avalanche debris can hit you, pile up or push you into trees or over cliffs.

The next example (photo 07) shows some options that you could take on a piece of terrain, depending on what the avalanche danger is. From the top of the run (red dot), the best skiing would be down the green line, but only on a day when the avalanche danger is low. The start of the run is a start zone, and then you will be sliding down the avalanche path. You are exposed! For a lower risk option, on a day when the danger is moderate or considerable, the yellow line might be a better idea. The glades are not as steep as the gunbarrel to skier’s right, and have denser forest cover, so avalanches are not as likely (but are still possible in this kind of terrain (photo 08)). If the avalanche danger is high, skiing down the ridge in denser forest cover is the safest, lowest risk option (red line).

(photo 07)

(photo 08)

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As a final example, let’s look at a situation that went bad, and see the role that terrain management played

(photo 09)

on the outcome. These photos were shot a couple of days after an unknown group of three shredders found themselves in trouble. The bigger picture (photo 09) shows a ridgeline ascending toward looker’s left, with a broad, semi-treed slope lowest on the ridge, followed by a series of big gullies separated by sparsely treed ribs. Riding down the looker’s left edge of one of the gullies, someone in this party (it looks like the first person down) triggered the avalanche you can see, which ran down through the gully and spewed across the fan below. Because they rode down hugging the rib (photo 10), the person who triggered it was able to scoot quickly into the trees on the rib, and thus avoid getting sucked into the gully and through the little trees on the fan. Little trees can do very bad things to a human body before it gets buried under tons of snow! I hope that they had someone else in their group spotting their run from the ridgeline! Looking at how this slide pulled out,

(photo 10)

you can see that the lowest risk terrain feature on this particular line is, in fact, the treed rib; it did not rip out. However, the lowest risk line on the entire ridge would most certainly be the lower angle, more thickly treed ribs on the looker’s right edge of the ridgeline. So, good terrain management saved somebody’s ass, but better terrain management might have avoided the problem entirely. Choosing to ski the riskier, bigger line would have to be backed up with a situation of low avalanche danger. This was not likely the case here, judging by the naturally occurring fracture line that can be seen in the background, on very similar terrain the next ridge over; a warning sign that obviously was ignored! The lower risk lines should have been the choice on this day (despite some sweet bluebird skies). As a further note, after triggering this sucker, the safest line to get out of there and clean the undies would be to ski down the bed surface and debris where the avalanche has run. Traversing out beside the avalanche to get freshies (like these people did) is a BAD move, because you should be very worried about how safe the rest of the untouched slope might be at this point. Call me crazy, but it is probably safer to assume that it would be harder to trigger an avalanche on what is left underneath where you just triggered an avalanche.

These examples are only a few of the terrain concerns that you should be thinking about when you are shredding in the backcountry. The ability to work terrain comfortably and safely will grow with experience when you keep these issues in mind. There are lots of good backcountry safety books and recreational avalanche courses out there that are great resources to assist you in understanding how terrain features affect snow stability and avalanche risk, and I highly recommend checking them out. Reading this article is not enough!

And, as a bottom line, ALWAYS rip lines one at a time, moving from safe spot to safe spot, with your buddy watching you and you watching them in turn!



Previous articles by Tom Chalmers
Testing Avalanche Beacons
Season's Greetings Biglines!

An Interview with Tom Chalmers
Backcountry Evac
Septic to Epic
Remembering a Legend: Craig Kelly
Addicted to Porn