peaker 0 Posted October 28, 2002 Share Posted October 28, 2002 I know its a bit early yet but Ive been wondering if anybody would be interested in getting a thread going to help keep up to date with BC snowpack conditions. Living in a country where you cant read or speak the language too well makes it hard to get up to date info. I know that there is a report that goes out around the Niseko area but its all in Japanese. What I had in mind was interested members posting their own observations. For example if you go out BC you just put up a quick post saying 1 the area you went to 2 the day you went 3 weather conditions observed 4 Snowpack conditions observed ( eg recent avalanche activity, snow pit observations ect.) 5 Your assessment of snowpack stability and decisions made. Hopefully this can help improve everyones knowlwdge and ability in the Backcountry. Of course its important to recognise that final decisions are always up to the individual and in no way should anybody ride in an area they arent sure about because somebody put up a post yesterday and said it was safe. Conditions can change in a matter of hours but discussing and sharing information can only serve to increase awareness of avalanche safety and provide a source of information that is difficult to find in English in Japan. Anybody interested? Link to post Share on other sites
Ski Japan Guide 0 Posted October 28, 2002 Share Posted October 28, 2002 Good idea...we are planning on having a few official threads going on in winter to cover this sort of thing. Feedback from everyone on the idea here would be really good. In the meantime, we must get back to working on this new site...... Cheers SJG Link to post Share on other sites
mogski 0 Posted October 28, 2002 Share Posted October 28, 2002 Good idea but isn't this kind'a like asking city folk to milk a cow? I mean most people, me included, have no idea about snow pack conditions etc. I guess we would not be the ones going to the BC you are talking about, but still if someone foolish enough did to have them put up their laymans view is well, rather dangerous is it not. Sure the final decision is up to the rider, but I think there are a lot of people who rely on this place for good information and many whom probably heed it too. Like I said, good idea, but I think there might be some dangers involved in illiciting peoples views when one cannot tell whether they are experienced or not. Link to post Share on other sites
snowboard_freak 0 Posted October 28, 2002 Share Posted October 28, 2002 I agree. It is a good idea. But as mogski already mentioned it could also be dnagerous. the bottom line is that everything in this forum is someones OPINION. Based on that all posts should be taken with a grain of salt. That is, read the posts, take in any useful information, then check out the current conditions (ie - when you get to the moutain) and if you are confident that you can handle it, go for it! Just use common sense and if you don't feell 110% in the run or BC then simply don't do it. Cheers Link to post Share on other sites
miteyak 0 Posted October 28, 2002 Share Posted October 28, 2002 The other problems here are in the nature of the danger here in Japan. The conditions for avalanche are never far away, and day to day changes can be large. Any advice I could give would be at least one day old by the time I get back to a computer, and i'm sure many others would be the same. Although it would be great to have a general idea of avalanche possiblilty, nothing comes close to knowing the weather, digging a pit, and assessing for yourself on the day. Brings me to another point, however. It would be good to have place/trip conditions/BC trips etc. forum somewhere other than an ongoing forum, where threads and information quickly dissappear to the back of the line. Link to post Share on other sites
peaker 0 Posted October 28, 2002 Author Share Posted October 28, 2002 I had a good think about the potential hazards of this kind of thread before I floated the idea. A few things that swayed me to think its worth doing. *Like Mogski said a lot of us have no idea about Snow stability but the only way to get better is to make lots of observations and think about what you learn each time you go out. By communicating with others we are just increasing everyones knowledge. * There are already heaps of posts on the board about going backcountry. (Backcountry includes out of bounds just near resorts.) Most of these just talk about the great pow ect. Surely putting up a post about how much fun it is riding pow BC without mentioning safety precautions taken is more dangerous than sharing with others what kind of steps you took to keep yourself and your friends safe. In the few posts tha have gone up already there is a lot of usefull information for people g about riding BC Quote: Link to post Share on other sites
peaker 0 Posted October 28, 2002 Author Share Posted October 28, 2002 Originally posted by miteyak: [QB]The other problems here are in the nature of the danger here in Japan. The conditions for avalanche are never far away, and day to day changes can be large. , nothing comes close to knowing the weather, digging a pit, and assessing for yourself on the day. very good points, this info could have just improved somebodys avalanche awareness. Link to post Share on other sites
Ocean11 0 Posted October 28, 2002 Share Posted October 28, 2002 I reckon the new site in November might meet different people's different requirements a lot better than the current version. A lot of work and thought has gone into it. Not long now... Link to post Share on other sites
oo 1 Posted October 28, 2002 Share Posted October 28, 2002 Great, roll it on Link to post Share on other sites
klingon 10 Posted October 28, 2002 Share Posted October 28, 2002 What with all this snow and everything, quite exciting hey? Link to post Share on other sites
IM 0 Posted October 28, 2002 Share Posted October 28, 2002 Snow condition changes hourly in BC. You need to spend time now to lean how to assess avalanche danger, how to use beacons, etc.. You have to decide go/no go and take the risk. Leaning how to dig a pit and a simple test will give you the up to the second info. for that particular slope you want to ride. David Enright, in Nagano does do clinics for avvey safety - somewhere in this guide? I would hate to see the tragety in Hakuba repeated. Link to post Share on other sites
damian 0 Posted October 28, 2002 Share Posted October 28, 2002 I take it that "digging a pit" does not mean making an outdoors toilet. Link to post Share on other sites
miteyak 0 Posted October 28, 2002 Share Posted October 28, 2002 Good job you verified that one, Deebee. I'd hate to see you dig a pit, squat, only to find yerself on a downward trajectory. Imagine being buried from the waist up... Link to post Share on other sites
Fattwins 0 Posted October 29, 2002 Share Posted October 29, 2002 Any info shared is good info. Anyone who does anything outdoors knows this thats why we call aheadto find out conditions. Everyone has to do their own asessment once they get there. Im in for sharing peaker although we are a long way apart. Link to post Share on other sites
frannyo 2 Posted October 29, 2002 Share Posted October 29, 2002 Sounds like a decent idea to me. Whatever, the forum is so much more busy than it's ever been, so it's going to be an amazing season info-wise I reckon. Link to post Share on other sites
enderzero 0 Posted October 30, 2002 Share Posted October 30, 2002 ...when most of us are too busy riding to keep up. Link to post Share on other sites
miteyak 0 Posted October 30, 2002 Share Posted October 30, 2002 Unfortunately, I've still got to earn a crust in the winter, so what info is mine will be yours, if there's a special place on the new forum for the BC chap/ess/s. (It'll be well outta date by the time I get it to you though) General sharing about conditions/likely dangers/incoming changes would be great. Great little note in 'Mike and Allens backcountry ski book' puts it in perspective though... If the avalanche information given here is anything more than a quick review for you, you're not ready to make any assessments in the backcountry. Link to post Share on other sites
Yuki's Passion 1 Posted October 30, 2002 Share Posted October 30, 2002 Hate to be repetitive if this questions been out there but are there any resorts in Japan where you can take Avalanche courses - especially up in Hokkaido?? Cheers for your help! Link to post Share on other sites
Fattwins 0 Posted October 31, 2002 Share Posted October 31, 2002 Bunch of BS there. I sure would like to know about nasty ice layers that aint going to go away all season. And what if the area your going to go to has slide to ground it would be nice to that too. Thus yyou might think about somewhere else. Go back to Canada 2 years ago we had the worst Ice layer in a 20 year span and the Avalanche Association spent a lot of time nd saved a lot of lives by pumping out info old and new. Link to post Share on other sites
miteyak 0 Posted October 31, 2002 Share Posted October 31, 2002 BS Fattwins? explain Link to post Share on other sites
peaker 0 Posted October 31, 2002 Author Share Posted October 31, 2002 Its kind of late waiting for the snow and all. With the weather the way it is we might get out this weekend. As far as this thread goes, I realy think just talking about having a good time and keeping ourselves informed and talking abput what we are doing out there safety wise is only going to help everybody to feel more confident to ride better stuff in a better way. I Want to ride bigger and better stuff this season but having a bit of feedback about not getting killed would be a real help to me. Heres a story for those that are interested. I actually got avalanched last season. This is what happened . I was at a nice spot in Hokkaido. I rode some nice pow with my girlfriend all weekend. There were runs established but we spent most of the day riding powder out of bounds. We both had beacons ond rescue gear. On the second day of the weekend my girlfreind said she had an injury and didnt want to ride the next day. I actually wasnt too bummed! The first thing I thought was "rad I can ride all the cool shit Id been looking at". I stayed pretty close to the resort for a few runs and then I though "**** it this is the last run for the morning Im going for it" I traversed out along a ridge in sight of the resort and sized up the tiny cornice Id been planning to drop. On the way out I had a bit of trouble. My board dropped through deep snow and a small cave engulfed the tip and tail. I totally Ignored the strong wind Id encouterd on top op the ridge I didnt even think about the fact that Id ridden accross hard wind blown crud and now I was totally stuck under deep soft snow. What I know now is that the little cave my board was stuck in was actually the underside of a wind slab. I extracted myself and traversed a little further. There I was! A small drop onto a pretty swwet looking run. A little air and then powder turns back onto the main run. I was right next to the resort, I was equipped with my beacon shovel and probe ( totally useless if you dont have a partner) and lunch was a few turns away. Stay tuned Link to post Share on other sites
Fattwins 0 Posted October 31, 2002 Share Posted October 31, 2002 I thought I did some things in the backcountry almost never change like a nasty ice layer or when things slide to ground mid season. I sure would like to know that. Link to post Share on other sites
miteyak 0 Posted October 31, 2002 Share Posted October 31, 2002 I think others (including myself) were for the idea, but maybe adding a note of caution/concern. Your point was another idea/opinion, that added to those already given. My main concern is having a regular spot to go to for such information, so that threads dont get lost under haords of others (which has happened many times in the past when ive posted for BC conditions). No need for BS comments. Link to post Share on other sites
Ocean11 0 Posted October 31, 2002 Share Posted October 31, 2002 I think you might be seeing some new functions coming up 'real soon' that meet your requirements for posting easily accessible info. Indeed, you may even be able to post shots of your pits (with deebee squatting in them), for all I know... peaker, I trust your story doesn't end there because you were killed in the subsequent avalanche? Do continue, please. Link to post Share on other sites
peaker 0 Posted October 31, 2002 Author Share Posted October 31, 2002 I'll finish the story but Ive got to go to work now. Link to post Share on other sites
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