 Poster: A snowHead
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Obviously A snowHead isn't a real person
Obviously A snowHead isn't a real person
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Please ignore my poor spelling . . . it's been a long day on the hamster wheel . . . 
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Well, the person's real but it's just a made up name, see?
Well, the person's real but it's just a made up name, see?
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BrightonSki, the usual way is to use powder traces, long pieces of fabric that unwind behind the skis when they come off your feet
By the way I changed your title for you
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You need to Login to know who's really who.
You need to Login to know who's really who.
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The problem is twice as bad as I previously thought
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Anyway, snowHeads is much more fun if you do.
Anyway, snowHeads is much more fun if you do.
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Are your bindings set accurately? if you're spending a lot of time off piste in powder it is worth giving your bindings a tweak, as the risk from not releasing is offset by the potential risk from avalanche or frost bite whilst hunting for the lost ski (or from skiing down on one ski should your hunt be unsucssesful).
BTW welcome to another B&H snowhead, that makes 3 of us that I know of.
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You'll need to Register first of course.
You'll need to Register first of course.
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Don't fall over?
Hope that helps 
regards,
Greg
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Powder traces work, but are an absolute pain in the ass to use! Whenever you come unstuck you end up spending valuable skiing time tucking the damn things back in your boots. OK, yes you are thankful that one time in ten when your ski decides to travel off for a few meters under the snow at a tangent to your own arc of flight...
I am told that you can get hi tech transmitters that let your skis be found with your avalanche beep kit. Anyone got any experience here?
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| Mike Lawrie wrote: |
I am told that you can get hi tech transmitters that let your skis be found with your avalanche beep kit. Anyone got any experience here? |
What would happen if you're searching for your best mate who has been caught up in an avalanche... and you find one of his skis?
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You'll get to see more forums and be part of the best ski club on the net.
You'll get to see more forums and be part of the best ski club on the net.
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Look for the other one. I'm sure you best mate would have wanted you to have them.
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rob@rar.org.uk, depends. If it was a Metron B5 I'd start looking for the other one 
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snowHeads are a friendly bunch.
snowHeads are a friendly bunch.
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rob@rar.org.uk, I believe that they're on a different frequency to the transceivers used for humans so that the two cannot be mixed up. It really kicked off on Teton Gravity when someone posted about taping an old human transceiver to his dog's collar.
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And love to help out and answer questions and of course, read each other's snow reports.
And love to help out and answer questions and of course, read each other's snow reports.
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Excellent - I often can't find my skis in the lunchtime ski rack, so something which calls out to me would be good! Wonder how effective the beeper is if your ski is under a couple of feet of snow?
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You know it makes sense.
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Ortovox used to make a "ski mouse" (or "ski maus" ). Small radio transmitters on your skis and a reciever that you carried. Similar in operation, but different frequencies, to avalanche transceivers. Googling for "ski mouse ortovox" found a 1999 price list at USD99 for two. Google also showed several people considering using them for finding lost dogs!
It is worth leaning how and where to search for lost skis. Know where you and the ski separated. The place you finish stationary in the snow is seldom that place, it can be ten meters uphill. Before you start stirring snow find the place where you and the ski were definately together and mark it, eg leave a pole there. Work out your direction of travel at that point and search from there.
The hard part for me is knowing where the ski and I separated. On untracked powder it is normally obvious. With well-skied powder it can be very difficult to distinguish my tracks from the rest. Hence making it hard to find the uphill limit of where to search. The fall normally starts a lot higher than I expected from my memory of the fall. Normally when I find the ski it is very close to the separation point and then I can easily distinguish where I fell.
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Otherwise you'll just go on seeing the one name:
Otherwise you'll just go on seeing the one name:
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BrightonSki, I have both powder traces and powder leashes. As Mike Lawrie says, if you fall over a lot then the traces are a bit of a pain to use (but I guess you at least get practiced at getting things back together). I would not want to use leashes if mixing off- and on-piste stuff, as having a ski clattering around your ears in a high-speed on-piste fall may not be too clever, but I now use them when going "back-country" or on seriously crevassed glaciers - when the consequences of losing a ski could be many hours (or even days) of hiking out. In these cases the advantage is not just knowing where they are but physically keeing the ski close to you - it's little benefit knowing where it is if it's at the bottom of a crevasse or over a cliff.
As Adrian said, try and track back up the line of your fall to see where your tracks stop. Often you will have lost one ski before the other so look for a double track turning to a single. Your missing ski will normally be within a metre or so of the end of the track, but it may well be deeper down than you think, so if you have one ski to hand use the tail of it as a probe (failing that try with a pole), slicing the snow perpendicular to your direction of travel until you hit something. With a bit of luck it's your ski.
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Poster: A snowHead
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Adrian, the problem that I have had on several occasions is that the ski travels on under the powder for quite some distance, and that it doesn't necessarily travel in the same direction that you go flying! The result has been that I have spent a whole hour searching for the ski, and once nearly got to the point where I gave up completely. Since then I have gone over to using the traces, but like I say, they are a pain in the ass to use.
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Obviously A snowHead isn't a real person
Obviously A snowHead isn't a real person
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Powder leashes. Attach yourself to the skis with them. Small risk of getting smacked on the back of the head but there you go.
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Well, the person's real but it's just a made up name, see?
Well, the person's real but it's just a made up name, see?
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I have seen people with powder traces streaming behind them as they ski. I guess this saves time if they plan to fall over and lose their skis many times. But they look untidy when they leave them streaming behind as they ski on piste!
If the ski travels a long way under the snow then it will be hard to find, so powder traces may be very useful. But as Graham said, "Your missing ski will normally be within a metre or so of the end of the track". So I stand by what I said about finding the point where the skier and the ski separated because that will help in many (perhaps even most) falls where the ski is not immediately visible.
Why would a ski travel a long way from the separation point and in a different direction to the direction before the fall? Perhaps because it hit something hard (a rock or some hard packed snow), was deflected and that caused the fall. So it may be good to find the separation point and study the snow just there.
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You need to Login to know who's really who.
You need to Login to know who's really who.
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David Murdoch, a colleague of mine nearly broke his back using leashes while ski touring. The ski came flying behind him and hit him right on the spine. I would definitely advise against using leashes.
Adrian, how far the ski goes under the powder obviously depends on the consistency of the powder, but in light fluffy stuff I have been amazed at how far they do go. I guess the direction thing just has to do with whther or not the ski is lying flat at the time of disconnect and also on just how parabolic the shape of the ski is. Again I have had some unpleasant surprises.
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Anyway, snowHeads is much more fun if you do.
Anyway, snowHeads is much more fun if you do.
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GrahamN's got it about right for me...
straps for deep snow and ties for the places where you just CAN'T afford to lose one.
And jack the bindings up a bit from normal as you wil be putting under a bit more strain so a pre-release is
almost as bad a late release. I find 8.5-9 works ok in deep stuff but not falling is even better.....!!
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You'll need to Register first of course.
You'll need to Register first of course.
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Mike Lawrie, nasty! Maybe I'll leave them behind next time...
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I use trails. If you are on steep ground and you go over an edge you can end up quite a long way from your ski...
Here's a tip. Wear a webbing strap around each leg between the knee and the top of the calf muscle. It only needs to be gently snug - not tight. Tuck the mid section (so it is doubled up) of each trail up under the strap and drop it down over the strap so it hangs down the outside of your shins. It will still fallout from time to time but it's much less hassle than stuffing it into your boot or up your gaiter. Using this method I find the inconvenience justified - I once spent 30 minutes looking for a ski. It's not what you're aiming for on a powder day!
J
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You'll get to see more forums and be part of the best ski club on the net.
You'll get to see more forums and be part of the best ski club on the net.
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One thing that we're missing out here is the feeling of satisfaction, when after 30 minutes of depth charging you finally find your ski again. Almost as good as getting fresh tracks for me.
Talking of long walks, I was skiing with Thomas, one of the guides with Piste to Powder in St Anton, and he told me about a day when he went off skiing the back country on his own, somewhere in the Arlberg, and broke both his skis one after the other. Fortunately he had his bivvy bag with him as he ended up spending two nights on the mountain before he managed to hike all the way out. He'd left instructions of where he was going to be, but for some reason S&R couldn't find him (needle in a haystack). He was quite matter of fact about it, telling me that the most dangerous bit was when he met up with his GF again and she nearly killed him.
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Kramer,
That finding the ski feeling is brilliant, especially as whenever one of mine has disappeared, I have instantly needed the toilet, and finding the ski means light at the end of the impending wee-wee tunnel.
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snowHeads are a friendly bunch.
snowHeads are a friendly bunch.
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| flicksta wrote: |
| That finding the ski feeling is brilliant |
I was in an off-piste class once and we came across a guy who had lost a ski and had been looking for it for some time. He said he'd been looking for over an hour, and by the sweat on his face and fact that he stripped to his thermals it certainly looked like that was true. My instructor asked him if the obvious line taken down the slope was his, and then skied across to an area where the guy hadn't disturbed the snow when looking for his ski. The instructor kind of fished around with his feet, without taking his skies off, and within five seconds he had hooked the guy's ski and flipped it out of the snow into his hand. He threw the ski to the guy and then skied off without saying a word! It was a pretty impressive feat, and the look on the guy's face was just priceless!
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And love to help out and answer questions and of course, read each other's snow reports.
And love to help out and answer questions and of course, read each other's snow reports.
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Thanks everyone, i'll pick up a pair of powder tracers I think, would rather put up with the inconvenience of having to tuck them in boots, then the nightmare scenario of losing a ski!
Anyone know where I can pick a pair up online?
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rob@rar.org.uk, there's definitely a knack to it, that's for sure.
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You know it makes sense.
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Otherwise you'll just go on seeing the one name:
Otherwise you'll just go on seeing the one name:
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Adrian,
Are you from Blue Peter?
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Poster: A snowHead
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The worst thing that can happen off piste is being caught in an avalanche.
The advice most guides I have skied with have given, is if the worst happens try and get rid of your skis so that they do not drag you under and try and roll out of the path of the avalanche.
Therefore the last thing I want is straps connecting me to my skis.
Lose my skis or lose my life? Easy choice.
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FAQ
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