This post was written by Seth Masia, who I had the good fortune to teach with at Squaw Valley long before fat skis were even dreamed of. This article was published in Ski Magazine in October 2015. Yes, I do own a pair (2) of fat skis!

Last Saturday was the ESAC seminar and kick off dinner. Participants had their choice of 3 seminars – beacon and probe practice, slope evaluation and leveraging ESAC’s website to travel safely in the backcountry. Even if you’ve trained with a beacon before, practice, practice, practice. Mammoth Ski Patrol volunteered their time to set up a training scenario below McCoy Station for us. Teams of 4 were sent into the practice area to locate one or more skiers. Patrol had left clues, a ski, pole and glove, but our group needed to focus on teamwork and using our tools more efficiently. Once we found the general location of the skier, one person using the transceiver and the others on probe and shovel and scanning the area for more clues would’ve worked much better. 

 Ski Patrol will be running a beacon practice area near the bottom of Chair 6 at Main Lodge on Saturday’s and possibly Wednesday’s during the season. Check with them and the ESAC website for more details. Learning how to use a beacon, probe and shovel as well as knowing what slopes are safe are mandatory for backcountry travel and for most heli skiing trips. Go to the ESAC site, register and you can check conditions for Lee Vining to Bishop Creek.

 Many thanks to Mammoth Mountain, Rusty Gregory and Mark Brownlie for hosting the seminars and providing the venue and food for the kickoff party!

                                                    Chris

 

For more info – Eastern Sierra Avalanche Center

 

 

I’ll be coaching Rokka and L.A. Council again this year. Rokka will be Wednesday December 9 through Friday December 11, 2015.

L.A. Council will start Monday December 15 through Friday December 18, 2015.

Hope to see you all there!