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Produced & Maintained by Idaho Mountain Express, Box 1013, Ketchum, ID 83340-1013 
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Copyright © 2003 Express Publishing Inc.
All Rights reserved. Reproduction in whole or in part in any form or medium without express written permission of Express Publishing Inc. is prohibited. 


For the week of December 24 - 30, 2003

Features

Ski mountaineers practice search skills

Club promotes safe backcountry travel


By MATT FURBER
Express Staff Writer

Rick Barker, organizer of the Sun Valley Mountaineer’s Club and 25-year veteran ski guide in the mountains flanking the Wood River Valley, is pleased with this year’s early season snow pack.

"We have been very fortunate so far," he said.

Rick Barker assists a Sun Valley Mountaineer’s Club member as they close in on the location of a mock avalanche victim. Express photos by Matt Furber

But, good conditions for backcountry skiing are no reason to rest easy for Barker or the dozens of members of the two-year-old club he helps facilitate. The aim of the club is to develop teams of skiers, who will become familiar with ski terrain in the Pioneer and Boulder mountains to the east of Highway 75 and the Sawtooth and Smoky mountains to the west.

Last Thursday, a day of high pressure causing a temperature inversion that provided warmer temperatures and crystal clear blue skies on Galena Summit, Barker and three groups of backcountry skiers met to practice search techniques in avalanche terrain. What began as an ad hoc group looking for skilled ski companions has become a more organized collection of people who each fall schedule skiing and training around family time and work obligations, Barker said.

"This year we are focusing on topics picked by members," Barker said. This season the group has already had workshops organized by avalanche and beacon specialists and experts in backcountry first aid and mountain weather.

Transceiver beacons in hand, Thursday’s mock search for buried avalanche victims got under way soon after skiers left the highway to hike toward the Cross, a peak just north of Galena Summit, the pass separating the Wood River Valley and the Sawtooth Valley that’s a popular destination for backcountry skiers and snowboarders.

An avalanche beacon is an electronic transmitter and receiver worn under clothing. During a backcountry tour it is in transmit mode. In the event of an avalanche rescuers immediately begin a search by switching their beacons to receive, or search mode. There are two types of beacons, analog and digital. The first provides a beeping sound to the rescuer that gets louder as he or she gets closer to the transmitting beacon. The second provides distance and directional information with lights on a built-in display. For Thursday’s exercises as many as four beacons were packed in Tupperware and heavy-duty camera cases and buried on slopes simulating victims stuck under avalanche debris.

Priscilla Woods unwrapped her Christmas presents early this year, especially for the training session because one of the goals of the exercise is to familiarize oneself with the equipment necessary for backcountry access and emergency preparedness.

"The goal is for skiers to find out what they know and what they don’t," Barker said. "Members of each group work together to learn how to communicate and watch each other as they ski between islands of safety. They learn to work as a group to find options and make reasonable decisions."

Searcher Alex Orb assembles his probe to discover the exact location of a beacon in a mock avalanche zone. Express photos by Matt Furber

Woods’ collection of gear includes touring skis and boots for comfortable hiking, which can comprise the majority of time spent in the backcountry. Her boots also provide stability for the ultimate goal: skiing untracked powder. Other gear essential to Wood’s enjoyment are climbing skins that affix to the bottom of her skis with adhesive, warm and waterproof clothing, eye and skin protection from the sun, a shovel, lunch and, of course, her avalanche beacon. She still needs an extendable probe to help complete her quiver.

As the skiers built upon bookwork in the field, the assembled skiers hammered out the kinks that were exposed during practical application.

The exercises were appropriately confusing at times. How many victims are there? How many have we found? Is your beacon on transmit? Did we check under that tree already?

At the end of each exercise the guides debriefed the group. The discussion included; how to start a search, missing victims buried high in the slide zone, when to take skis off or put skins on, how to wear and carry a beacon, what to do with it when a victim is located, how to pinpoint the location of a victim, how to distinguish multiple signals, and how to manage communication.

The exercise was not formal instruction but a review of principles, going through the paces, Barker said. "The thing with this beacon thing is they are horribly archaic for what you are trying to do."

But, for Woods and other skiers the beacon will help her ski companions find her if she gets trapped in a slide. And if she becomes involved in the rescue of a ski partner, knowing the ins and outs of her beacon will improve the chances of a successful search, Barker said.

Barker said that people often don’t want to take the time out from skiing to practice, but using the apparatus frequently makes it much more useful in an emergency. He said his favorite place to practice is on Baldy, where he and a buddy can easily set up searches when legs need a breather. One person can hide a beacon somewhere on a run. After the second person finds it, it can be hidden again and the other person can have a try.

"This is something we do on our own anyway," said fellow guide, Kingsley Murphy, hinting at the mountaineering club’s origins. "We thought if we’re training, we might as well help other people too."

The group training is also preparing for one-lift helicopter flights with Sun Valley Helicopter Ski Guides. The skiers will be dropped off in the backcountry and will ski out on their own or be picked up at the end of the day.

Barker, Murphy and Ed Dumke, another ski guide who helped bury beacons last week, said, however, that search practice is open to anyone who shows up.

"I was a little rusty on Tuesday," Dumke said of his first day of training for the season. "I feel a lot better today."

Barker said it usually takes him 15 to 20 practice sessions to get comfortable with his equipment before he gets back to the familiarity and comfort level that gives him confidence in his search and rescue techniques that are essential to backcountry travel.

"It is fine to practice in your home or in your yard, but real familiarity comes from doing it in snow on a slope on your skis," he said.

 

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The Idaho Mountain Express is distributed free to residents and guests throughout the Sun Valley, Idaho resort area community. Subscribers to the Idaho Mountain Express will read these stories and others in this week's issue.