TERRAIN SELECTION: Where to Go or Not to Go
In a recent article he wrote for the Powder Cloud, ACMG mountain guide and educator, Colin Zacharias, shares some valuable insight in to commercial ski guide trip-planning strategies that he uses in the field.
Having worked as a guide in a heli ski operation for many years, he links the day’s core strategy making back to the morning guides’ meeting.
- was to adopt a terrain mindset that reflects the risk factors and willingness to limit exposure, and
- was to agree on slopes to avoid.
‘Mindset’ is a mental attitude, but stems from a guide’s hazard assessment, personal risk tolerance and experience in the field. Although informal at first, the ‘strategic mindset’ has since (early 2000s) been formalized and applied in various mountain operations.
Some examples of mindset would include:
‘CHECK IT OUT’: familiarity and/or confidence in terrain or team, or high confidence in dangerous conditions; goals to improve confidence throughout the day with careful observations without risk exposure; agree to select zone with limited exposure to avalanche terrain and by also avoiding runout zones and sticking to low angle, treed terrain.
‘STEP IT UP’: relatively high confidence in terrain or team; assumes low chance of avalanches with no persistent slab or windslab problems; agree that it is appropriate to venture into more exposed avalanche terrain, being mindful of consequences and prepared to choose alternative routes.
The article goes on to talk about route and alternative route selection, and shares examples of determining ‘open’ and ‘closed’ terrain using terrain images and topo maps — all great information, although I’ll let you read the article and dig deeper into it yourself!