On the picture is my friend and Backcountry mentor Lloyd Johnson, taking climbing skins off his skis before “ripping it down”. Lloyd has planned and led every single one of my Backcountry "ventures". He is a very humble and unassuming man, yet an incredible athlete. Lloyd guided all of our "back side" outings, cut all skin tracks and climbed up so fast that I could barely keep up with him. He is also an avid runner with 11 marathon finishes and 2nd place in his age group in Chicago Marathon.
Last week after a 3 days long class taught by “Utah Mountain Adventures” ski guides, I got a “Level I Avalanche Forecasting/Rescue” certificate. Now I can consider myself “legit” in the Backcountry. By no means do I think of myself as an expert, but at least I can be self-sufficient in the avalanche terrain and can stop being a liability to my ski-friends. I learned how to use beacon, probe, shovel, travel safely in the Backcountry, test stability of the snow and perform a basic rescue. I do realize that having this knowledge is not an insurance from being caught in the avalanche, just like having a driver license and obeying road signs doesn’t exclude a possibility of the fatal car accident, but at least I stopped feeling like a kid who is sneaking into the theater to see R-rated movie. The additional benefit of the class was a chance to ski with professional ski-mountaineers: Dave Budge (Dave climbed with Alex Lowe and skied Mt. Denali) and Mark Appling who has been a skiing/climbing guide in the Wasatch for the last 20 years. On Saturday afternoon Dave took us to the White Pine Trailhead in the Little Cottonwood Canyon. We skinned up a picturesque mountain a few miles west of Snowbird and after digging pits, testing snow and doing rescue drills we got to ski a juicy chute, whose name completely escapes me. On Sunday, Mark set an aggressive skin track up the Grizzly Gulch and we ripped a few lines in the Silver Fork – another Wasatch Backcountry notable. Both Dave and Mark are true “Mountain Men”, who turn their passion into a career which pays very little or has a huge pay out, depending on how you look at it…
Last week after a 3 days long class taught by “Utah Mountain Adventures” ski guides, I got a “Level I Avalanche Forecasting/Rescue” certificate. Now I can consider myself “legit” in the Backcountry. By no means do I think of myself as an expert, but at least I can be self-sufficient in the avalanche terrain and can stop being a liability to my ski-friends. I learned how to use beacon, probe, shovel, travel safely in the Backcountry, test stability of the snow and perform a basic rescue. I do realize that having this knowledge is not an insurance from being caught in the avalanche, just like having a driver license and obeying road signs doesn’t exclude a possibility of the fatal car accident, but at least I stopped feeling like a kid who is sneaking into the theater to see R-rated movie. The additional benefit of the class was a chance to ski with professional ski-mountaineers: Dave Budge (Dave climbed with Alex Lowe and skied Mt. Denali) and Mark Appling who has been a skiing/climbing guide in the Wasatch for the last 20 years. On Saturday afternoon Dave took us to the White Pine Trailhead in the Little Cottonwood Canyon. We skinned up a picturesque mountain a few miles west of Snowbird and after digging pits, testing snow and doing rescue drills we got to ski a juicy chute, whose name completely escapes me. On Sunday, Mark set an aggressive skin track up the Grizzly Gulch and we ripped a few lines in the Silver Fork – another Wasatch Backcountry notable. Both Dave and Mark are true “Mountain Men”, who turn their passion into a career which pays very little or has a huge pay out, depending on how you look at it…
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