How to Build a Rescue Sled with Your Skis: If you’re in the backcountry and one of your partners gets hurt, you’re best bet on getting them to definitive care is building a rescue sled from your skis. Once built, you can throw your buddy on the sled and start dragging him/her out. WIthout a rescue sled, you really don’t have any way of extracting an injured skier/rider from the backcountry. Hypothermia sets in quickly on an injured human and leaving someone out overnight while you go to get help isn’t a great option. Thus, we need to know how to build a rescue sled and get our patient out. […] Avalanche SnowBrains | January 30, 2014 4 Comments
Could You Self Rescue in the Backcountry? I love skiing in the backcountry. Touring, helidrops, slack country laps off the ski area boundary…all offer us a chance to get out into the mountain environment and play. Nothing, however, is without risk. Even when we take steps to mitigate our risk, be it through good decision making, proper equipment or looking at the snow, we can never truly eliminate danger in these pursuits; residual risk will always be present. This can be from injury, malfunctioning gear or just simple accidents due to bad luck. What kills me, especially from the viewpoint of a rescue professional, is that so […] Featured Article SnowBrains | January 24, 2014 0 Comments
Backcountry Essentials: How Wind Loading Works Powder Magazine just had Sean Zimmerman-Wall, a Snowbird, UT ski patroller write up a great piece on how wind loading work and what to watch out for. Strong winds create some of the most dangerous objects in the mountains: wind slabs. Wind slabs cause avalanches and avalanche are to be avoided at all costs. Sean Zimmerman-Wall is a full-time ski patrolman at Snowbird, an avalanche educator, and an Andean mountain guide. Check in on […] Featured Article SnowBrains | January 23, 2014 2 Comments
How To Pick a Backcountry Ski Partner: Picking your backcountry ski partner is key. A bad partner could cost you your life, a good partner could save your life, a great partner could help you to an accident free excursion. Silverton Mountain’s Doug Krause puts in his two cents on the subject for Powder Magazine. Here’s an excerpt: Who you ski with is potentially more consequential than what you ski. A strong partner enhances your ability to […] Featured Article SnowBrains | January 10, 2014 0 Comments
How To Spot a Bad Ski Partner: How to spot a good partner might be a better question, but there is no yin without yang. So, Backcountry.com hit on how to spot a bad ski or mountaineering partner. Some good points are brought up. “This week we sat down with four of our sponsored athletes and asked for tips to spotting a douchebag mountaineering or skiing partner. We spoke to Exum Guide Andy Tankersly, Exum Guide Garrick Hart, Arc’teryx Athlete and two-time […] SnowBrains | December 20, 2013 1 Comment
Swell Saturdays | How To: Take Care of Your Wetsuit This article from Surfer Magazine shows us some great techniques to take care of our wetsuits. After spending $400+ on your suit, you want it to last as long as possible. Wetsuits are some of the coolest things out there. If you have the right wetsuit, you can surf anywhere on Earth. 1) A thorough freshwater rinse. If you do nothing else, rinse […] Surf SwellBrains | November 30, 2013 2 Comments
How To: Compete on the Freeride World Tour | by Griffin Post If you are a TGR fan and have watched their last few movies the name Griffin Post should look familiar to you. Griffin has been scoring bigger and bigger segments with the premier ski movie producers lately along with his frequent travel buddy Todd Ligare. What you might not […] Daryn Edmunds | November 30, 2013 0 Comments
How To: NOT Get Your Car Broken Into A surfer/writer from Surfer Magazine recently caught a thief breaking into his car. He told the guy: “I’m not going to call the police. But I do want to know how you’re doing what you’re doing. I don’t want to know why. I want to know how.” And that started our conversation. For the next half-hour, he stood there and gave […] SnowBrains | November 26, 2013 3 Comments
How To: Build a Chairlift | Video & Photos of Whistler’s 2 New Chairs Whistler Blackcomb is currently in the process of building two new chairlifts that the snow world is highly anticipating: A new Crystal Chair & a new Harmony Chair. How do they get these chairlifts built? A lot of helicopter help, a lot of helicopters. And it’s fun to watch. Have a gander at this video and check out what these guys do. I don’t think I’d wanna be one of these guys on the ground guiding these huge pieces into place. Props to these technicians. Whistler Blackcomb’s Harmony high-speed, quad chairlift will be replaced […] SnowBrains | October 31, 2013 1 Comment
How To: Legally Smuggle Alcohol onto a Plane Alcohol is expensive on almost any flight. Remember when flying used to be fun? Free food, free booze, blankets, pillows, nice flight attendants? Those days are over, at least with USA airlines. Thus, we’ve gotta be intelligent in the ways we approach flying. If we go into it knowing that it’s a rough ride, we’ll be better off. We’ll be even […] SnowBrains | October 24, 2013 6 Comments
The Truth About Stance Stance is without doubt the most discussed topic in skiing and the first skill that is critiqued when watching a skier. Bend the knees, press on the shins, hips over feet and hands forward are all phrases that I am sure you have heard through your skiing life. Paul Lorenz | July 24, 2013 9 Comments
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