Home > Trip Reports > Jan 7 - 9, 2011, Barron Yurt Video, North Cascades

Jan 7 - 9, 2011, Barron Yurt Video, North Cascades

1/7/11
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Posted by Jeff_Ward on 1/10/11 8:44am
Flew into the Barron Yurt near Harts Pass over the weekend.  We picked up 20 cms of new Saturday and the skies cleared on Sunday.  Low temps were in the single digits with light winds.  Needless to say ski quality was excellent.  Snow observations are on the FOAC exchange.  Looks like we're going to pick up another foot of new by Wednesday.  Should make things interesting. 

Video here:  http://ncmountainguides.com/permalink.asp?id=616#616
Sweet Lord Jesus  wow!
I love you Jeff Ward.... and all at NCH!
I need another sedative and stat after watching that!

Rockin' Video.

Holy crap.  Thanks for posting Jeff!

Very cool to have skiers in the foreground instead of just the videographer's fists and tips, not that we would have seen your tips this day.  Thanks!

author=glenn_b link=topic=18973.msg80241#msg80241 date=1294713758]
Very cool to have skiers in the foreground instead of just the videographer's fists and tips, not that we would have seen your tips this day.  Thanks!


Exactly.... The "chase" scenes really work as a POV . Makes me want to get one.
11 days and counting.

OUTSTANDING video and skiing!!

Yeah, the skiing has been pretty good up north.  I'm glad you enjoyed the video.  I'm headed up for another 5 days at the yurt starting Friday.  I'm sure conditions will have changed but I'm optimistic that the yurt will be insulated from the dreaded warm up.  I'll let you know how it goes. 

I believe this thread should be moved to "lift assisted" skiing.

author=Burma link=topic=18973.msg80568#msg80568 date=1294934292]
I believe this thread should be moved to "lift assisted" skiing.


I guess getting a helicopter drop-off at a yurt could be considered "lift assisted" but all of these turns were "earned" from the bottom of the run with skins. 

awesome video!
curious though, just cuz everything I have ever learned is that you should always ski a slope one at a time in the BC. What information do you have as a guide (who I'm assuming has extensive knowledge of the area and conditions) to allow you to ski in pairs like that? thanks!

Welcome to TAY Jeff where no good post goes unpunished. ;D

Great vid Jeff!

Skiing one at a time is just to avoid exposing the whole party to a hazard. If the hazard is not present then the buddy system or spacing out on a slope is acceptable. BC travel techniques as Colin Zacharias, the AIARE Technical Director says,
"Where you ski summarizes everything you know about avalanche concern. How you ski reveals your avalanche mitigation plan"

author=MattT link=topic=18973.msg81084#msg81084 date=1295470147]
awesome video!
curious though, just cuz everything I have ever learned is that you should always ski a slope one at a time in the BC. What information do you have as a guide (who I'm assuming has extensive knowledge of the area and conditions) to allow you to ski in pairs like that? thanks!

Good question.  Skiing a slope one at a time is prudent technique in avalanche terrain, especially when confidence in stability is low, information is lacking, or consequences are high (not skiing a slope at all is a much better option when any of these factors are present).  One thing about video or pictures is that it only shows a portion of the information.  The terrain we were skiing was fairly low angle and the shape of the slopes were pretty uniform with very few convexities.  The probability of triggering an avalanche on this terrain was very low and would only happen in very unstable conditions.  We had spent the last 3 days digging and testing the snowpack on a variety of aspects and elevations.  The current and previous weather had been fairly benign, and we felt like we had good confidence in our stability evaluation.  That being said, you can never be 100% sure of stability in the backcountry.  There are just too many unknowns.  The key is picking appropriate terrain for the current conditions, and giving yourself a wide margin for error.
It’s funny that you bring this up.  We actually had a conversation recently about how helmet cams could be added to the list of human factors when it comes to decision making in avalanche terrain.  Something to think about if you’re planning to get that sweet shot of your buddy skiing the gnar.       

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jan-7-9-2011-barron-yurt-video-north-cascades
Jeff_Ward
2011-01-10 16:44:55