Mountain riding safety tips

I own a mountain sled but have never taken one up there. Would someone with lots of experience give us flat landers some safety tips.

take a shovel with you. If you get stuck in the powder it makes digging a whole hell of a lot easier

Take matches. sometimes the powder is 10 miles up the mountain. if you get stranded making a fire will help

When in the powder, dont separate from your riding partner. Always check on each other every 30 seconds or so. Yeah it seems like a short time, but i was waiting 10 minutes for someone to come back after i had gotten stuck.

Be aware of rocks. They can tear up your sled and leave you stranded up top. If you see or hit a rock, wipe the powder off the top of it and make sure it is viewable for everyone else to see.

Only ride where your skill level permits. dont sidehill if you cant. Dont go boondocking if you arent good at whipping the sled around

Those are the things ive noticed as a mountain rider.

Get an avalanche beacon, preferably two so your riding partner has one also.
Practice using your beacon every time you are out on the snow, another reason for buying two.
Take an avalanche class or two...
Always carry a snow shovel.
Get a current avalanche forecast before heading out.
Dig snow pits and learn how to analyze the snow pack.
Scan the snow and terrain out in front of you looking for subtle changes in color, texture, unusual depressions etc
Don't drop into bowls or drainages you are not sure about getting out of.
Tell a reliable person outside your group where you intend to be riding that day.
Have fun!

Also make sure you carry extra necessities to stay alive if you get stranded.

In my back pack I have;

-a hand saw to cut fire wood
-first aid kit from Camping Section of Wal-mart
-survival kit from Scheels Allsports
-two 20 oz bottles of purified wated
-two freeze dried meals also baught at Scheels
-two 12oz ceramic coated tin cups (used to cook and eat the freeze dried meals/ melt snow for water)
-fire starter blocks
-two space blankets in addition to the ones in the survival kit
- a 16oz propane bottle and torch with electric igniter (easier to start a fire than waterproof matches)
- stainless eating utensils from the camping section at Wal-mart.
-extra gloves, balaclavas/stocking knit hats, socks and shirts.

In addition to those
I wear a beacon and have an avalanche shovel and probe strapped to the outside of my backpack for quick access.

Now for saftey tips;

1. Always carry you avalanche gear on you body and not the sled, you can carry a shovel on the sled in addition to the backpack. Somtimes you might be boon docking through the trees without your backpack and need a shovel to get unstuck.
2. Park far enough away from the bottom of the hill so that you won't be caught in an avalanche runout while your buddy is highmarking.
3. Only climb one at a time and keep an eye on the guy climbing, if he gets caught in an avy try to follow him down the slope (think about his speed of decent and the direction he is headed) make a mental note of where you last saw him and start to search below that spot using the two guidelines in parenthesis
4. No matter what don't go up the hill to assist a stuck friend. Just because the hill hasn't slid; doesn't mean it can handle the weight of two sleds at the same time. It is allways best to have more guys to search for one guy burried than it is to have to search for multiple burrials.
5. When there is necessity to cross an area that is known to have potential avys'; cross one at a time.
6. Never allow someone to ride in your group without the basic avalanche gear and knowledge to use it. Your life may depend on it and you definately don't want to be the one to tell your buddies family about his death.
7. In flat light conditions; make sure at least one of you has knowledge of the area and let that person lead. Maintain enough distance to stop should the guy in front of you hit a hole or drop off an undetectable cornice/cliff. This way you won't rear end him or worse yet land on top of him.
8. If you find yourself not sure of your surroundings in flat light and you can't find your way back out don't wander around until your low on gas. Instead stay calm and start preparing to spend the night and wait for S&R.
9. The more time you spend preparing for survival the better rather than wasting time when lost.

Jim

Excellent list and tips!

I also carry a whistle (not sure if those are in your kits or not)

Just this week they found a guy that had been out skiing in Northern Colorado. He survived over a week in mtns with the gear he had with him (he had a broken leg)

When S&R went out and found him it was the whistle that he used to alert them to where he was at.

Here is the story as reported by 9News (Denver TV station)

ROUTT COUNTY - When rescue crews finally found Charles Horton he could barely speak and was suffering from a broken leg.

Crews had been searching for Horton, 55, since Sunday in the Flat Tops area near the Routt and Rio Blanco County line. He was found shortly before noon Monday.

Horton ventured out on a day trip on Sunday April 17. Authorities believe the Steamboat Springs man broke his leg while cross-country skiing. They say he crawled about a mile from where he was hurt and slept under trees at night.

Horton was not reported missing until Sunday when his landlord returned home from vacation and found that he was gone.

Family and friends said Horton went to the Dunkley Pass Area. Crews located his car in that area Sunday.

Horton was prepared for back country survival and had a whistle which alerted searchers when they were near him. He was transported to a Steamboat Springs hospital.

A total of 15 crew members used dogs and snowmobiles throughout the search. A search by air wasn't possible due to poor weather.

Never go by yourself , Always stay in sght of your group ...........DON'T GO OVER THE TOP IF YOU DON'T KNOW WHAT'S ON THE OTHER SIDE ! :shock: ...............Anyobody been there?

If your highmarking , Plan your descent carefully before you go up (Know whats below before you start coming down), to the right and to the left .

the only thing wong with a quick glance throught he posts is "referably 2 beacons???"
1 beacon does no good at all.
EVERYONE MUST HAVE
BEACON
PROBE
SHOVEL
All the rest is nice, these are necessity.
I wont ride anymore without a ABS backpack, if anyone wants one email me for details.

I forgot to add a few things in my previous post that the reason evryone should have the probes and shovels in addition to the beacons is this;

The beacon will get you to the spot your buddy is burried but, one you get there you need to probe so you know exactly where to dig. because time is of the most importance. A good shovel for everyone is to ensure you have all people available to dig. The guy that is burried isn't going to survive very long with the little air he has. You should also look into taking a basic first aid and CPR class so If your buddy is not breathing you can have every tool available to revive him.

Here's another thing to consider, the majority of avalanche deaths are a result of a blunt force trauma injury. A good body armor vest like the Tekvest should be a consideration also.

TTT I figured we might need this brought back to the top for a refresher. Rather than a whistle; I now carry one of these(see link below) in my backpack. Alot easier to make a noise if your'e exhausted.

The one I have is the MSN; http://www.americansafetysupply.net/Airhorns.htm

Jim

Can you tell me what is included in the survival kit from Scheels? Is it the same as http://www.scheelssports.com/webapp/wcs ... &langId=-1 or is it something else? That was the only survival "kit" I could find on their website.
I have decided it would be well worth my effort to duplicate what you have and carry it in my backpack. Thanks for the excellent ideas and tips.