Climbing and Avalanche Education

I guess I should start with a warning, the routes below might have errors and does not replace good route finding skills. Use at your own risk.

The Mount Forbidden area of the North Cascades is home to one of the 50 Classic Climbs of North America, the West Ridge. That by itself would make the area special but with Forbidden it is just the beginning. All the ridges are spectacular and arguably the North Ridge is as good or better particularly with the start up the Northwest Face of the North Ridge which adds an alpine ice face to a classic ridge.  I have been fortunate to have climbed these routes many times over the years and that familiarity inspired me to make a map of the routes.

One route I never was able to do because of the time of year I was there was Mount Buckner’s North Face.  I got to the base once but was turned around by weather.  The route I have lined out is the one I had anticipated following since we had plans to do other routes in Boston Basin but I have not actually done that descent from Buckner.  All the other routes I have done and replicated on the map using my memory and by overlaying the map on Google Earth and drawing in the routes.

For those that know how to import a GEOpdf into their phones here is a GEOpdf  map.
Forbidden Map

For those that would like to overlay the map onto Google Earth here is a KMZ file.
Forbidden KMZ

For those who would like a KML or GPX file of the routes here they are.
Forbidden GPX (Some browsers add a .xml extension, delete the .xml leaving only the .gpx extension before saving)
Forbidden KML

I hope you enjoy the map and data.

Imagine a person who had never seen anyone ski but had heard that skiing downhill was not only more efficient than walking, it was fun too. That person then got himself a pair of skis and went to the top of a ski area and tried skiing, again without any experience seeing someone ski. After many falls and struggles and likely long before reaching the bottom our imaginary person would be pretty convinced that skiing was not only inefficient but painful and no fun at all.

That story is an exaggeration of what I have seen about using skis to climb or as most call it skinning. Few people have had the benefit of seeing someone good at skiing uphill and there is a feedback loop that has happened that creates a false consensus that skinning is for nothing more than low angled trails in the woods. If you ever get to see large groups of people who are competent at skinning you would quickly realize steeper skinning isn’t inefficient you just have never seen it’s efficiency and haven’t worked at developing the technique.

Wow! I’m sure at this point some are offended but trust me that isn’t my goal. I really do not worry about people who would rather boot their way up a gully or run or belittle their opinion that they would rather boot. But if you want to take your backcountry skiing/ski mountaineering to the next level then understanding the importance of developing good uphill technique is likely your next step.

Let me continue with another story. When I first started skinning up to Tuckerman Ravine I was one of only a handful that skinned or used AT gear and heard over and over again how bad an idea it was. Now, on any given day I see nearly no one carrying his or her skis up to Hermit Lake. My experience in France seeing skiers skin allowed me back then to ignore what those in this area said but because, in the big scheme of things, I was only a beginner at skinning I wasn’t the best ambassador. Over time however people have seen more and more skinning and now it’s common on the trails.

The next step is taking that skill and increasing the steepness of the terrain you can skin and incorporating ski crampons. Given the type of snowpack and terrain we have here, ski crampons should be in the quiver of most of the people that ski in this area, yet they are rare. I have seen a few more people with ski crampons and using solid uphill kick turns and I am sure this will catch on. So if skiing in the mountains is your goal and you can turn’em going downhill, I would suggest working on these uphill skills:

1)   Quick transitions of all types

• Uphill to down hill
• Putting your ski crampons in and out of your bindings
• Skinning to booting
• Booting to skinning
• Downhill to uphill

2)  Master the uphill kick turn

3)  Incorporate ski crampons into your skinning

4)  Learn to read terrain for the ascent

5)  Learn the power of your lifters and their downside

6)  Remember that you spend a lot of time climbing and take that into consideration when you choose your equipment. Skiing the heavy  gear may seem to make sense to a skier used to lifts but buying the heavy stuff reduces your uphill ability. Think carefully about that weight to stiffness balance. Remember you may very well be a much better downhill skier than an uphill one so skiing down with lighter gear may be easier than pushing heavy gear up the hill.

There are a lot of ways to look at the avalanche problem.  There is a risk to oversimplification but equally there is a risk to complicating the hazard.  With that in mind how can someone that has limited experience or limited knowledge start the process of making a decision? Hopefully the bullet points below can help you.

1. Know when you are in avalanche terrain. Know the angle of the terrain you are on or are about to go on and learn the common angle for avalanches in your area. As a standard the bullseye is between 33 and 43 degrees. So measure, measure, measure both with maps or in the field till you develop a good estimation ability. Remember an icy 40 degree slope can seem very steep and a 40 degree slope with softer snow may not seem very steep at all.
2. Know the danger rating and believe it. Considerable and above is serious risk.  High and extreme should be avoided completely to the point it’s worth buying a ticket at the ski area.
3. Know the avalanche problem and how that affects your ability to see the problem.  If it is New Snow there may be a variable based on elevation due to precipitation rate but where there is enough snow (10 inches new snow or more) the problem is widespread.  If the problem is Wind Slab learn to recognize where the wind has blown the snow based on the “look” of the snow and the direction the slope faces.  If the problem is a Wet Slab, well then if it is warm you have a problem.  If the problem is Cornice Fall, stay away from slopes with cornices. Persistent or Deep Slab problems are hard to manage so be conservative, again when there is a Persistent or Deep Slab problem stay on terrain less than 33 degrees and even below 30 degrees if the avalanche forecast is Considerable.  With the Persistent and Deep Slab you need to consider connected slopes and terrain above as well since those hazards are more prone to remote triggering. If those problems are widespread or very reactive go to the ski area, generally in those conditions the danger rating will be high or extreme.
4. Watch the weather to see if it is stressing the the snow.  Is it getting warmer than the forecast expected, is the slope cooling rapidly, is the slope getting loaded by a local wind event not in the forecast or by a snow squall or snow shower not predicted.  Is something happening with the weather that the danger forecast and weather forecast did not expect.
5. Is the avalanche survivable?  Look at the slope, if it were icy and you fell down it could you survive?  If not is there an alternative line?  This may seem extreme but if the slope slides you will fall down it.  Hitting rocks or trees or getting flushed over a cliff isn’t softer because you are surrounded by moving snow.  Harder to perceive, is if the bottom of the slope will collect snow such that you will be buried too deep to rescue, if you are buried by 6 feet or more of snow you’re likely going to be a fatality.
6. Go one at a time through avalanche terrain and plan for a rescue.  Have the gear and have a strategy that will only bury one person and the others are in an effective place to get to the victim and uncover them in 15 minutes or less.

Notice there is very little snow science.  Snow is hard to know and your ability to collect data and evaluate it is limited particularly if you aren’t out every day or have limited experience.  I really hope these strategies help you.