I’ve tried, used, and broken a lot of gear over the years. The checklist below serves as a guide for the gear I pack on backcountry snowboard day trips. Of course, if you are doing over nighters or multi-nighters you would opt for a larger pack and include items like your thermarest and sleeping bag. The gear below has always worked great for me and it’s dealt with my abuse well. I use this stuff 2-3 times a week and it never lets me down.

SNOWBOARD - Unity Origin, or Capita Swallow Tail for the steep and deep. Make sure the board securely fastens to your backcountry pack.
http://unitysnowboards.com
http://capitasnowboards.com
SHOWSHOES - Use to break trail in deep snow, useful for long slog approaches. Break these out when you start to post hole. Purchase largest size available, I use ATLAS 1230. Rated at 175lbs - 250lbs.
http://www.atlassnowshoe.com/products/

BACKCOUNTRY PACK - Osprey switch 25+5 backcountry snow pack. With this pack you can keep your shovel assembled and have easy access to your probe and snow study gear.
http://www.ospreypacks.com/
TREKKING POLES - Get something light and adjustable. You’ll use these alot
during slog, ascent, and snowshoeing. Make sure they attach to your pack. I use Leki Ultralite Ti Air-Ergo.
http://www.leki.com
SNOWBOARD BOOTS (crampon/snowshoe tested) - I use ThirtyTwo 304s because
they fit my snowshoes and work perfectly with my CAMP crampons. Solid boot and does well hiking backcountry or talus fields.

CRAMPONS - Buy something solid that will last and make sure they work with
you existing snowboard boot. I use CAMP. They strap on to my snowboard boots vs. models made to fit hard alpine touring boots.
http://www.camp-usa.com
ICE AXE - At least 60cm, I use the Black Diamond Raven 65cm. Pick yourself up a self arrest and ice axe leash (learn how to self arrest).
http://www.bdel.com

AVALANCHE BEACON - BCA Tracker, digital beacon almost walks you to the victim. Learn how to use it along with your probe and do practice tests with you group before you leave trailhead. Don’t trust new BC partners, show them you can find a beacon and have them show you. Its your life.
http://www.bcaccess.com/bca_products/tracker/index.php

SHOVEL - BCA shovel for digging out victims and doing snow profiles. Some BCA shovels come with a probe that stores inside the shovel, these probes are generally too short for deep burials.
http://www.bcaccess.com
PROBE - BCA probe, collapsable and stored in side your shovel or snow saftey section of your pack. 300mm or longer is best for deep snow.
http://www.bcaccess.com
SNOW STUDY KIT - Inclinometer, termometer, snow crystal cards, profile
cheat sheets, ruetschblock cord.
http://www.rei.com
WATER FILTER - MSR waterworks EX, attachs to osprey pack bladder. If using in exterme cold, disassemble after use and blow out remaining water.
http://www.msrcorp.com
PETZEL HEADLAMP - 2 beam focus lamp, light, extra batteries.
http://www.petzel.com
MOTOROLA RADIOS - Communication is essential in the backcountry. The talkabout series works well, lots of people have them. 7 mile radius.
http://www.ebay.com

GPS MAP60CS - GPS with current destination topo uploaded, parking area and waypoints marked. Extra batteries for GPS.
http://www.garmin.com
FIRST AID KIT - Basic REI kit. I include smelling salts, space blanket, weather proof matches, iodine tablets, compass, fire paste.
http://www.rei.com

The snow gods have been very good to us the last couple of weeks. Over the weekend of Nov. 5th-6th we recieved a huge dump of about 15″ setting up a nice base on top of the snow fall from October. On top of the previous week’s wetter snowfall, Summit County and the surrounding resorts recieved almost 40″ of fresh powder. Starting Nov. 12th, Loveland Resort was reporting 5″ new at 10,500ft. The 13th, came with another 8″ fresh and lots of wind. The 14th another 8″ dropped over night and we rode beautiful bluebird knee deep conditions at the Pass. Yesterday, we woke to another 10″ fresh on the slopes and very cold temps. Took Tuesday off and went up to Copper Mountain, with clear skies and summit temperatures of 7 degrees F, the powder was super light and blower. We did lap after lap on the Excelerator in deep powder, the crowds weren’t very bad at all because it was so cold. Happy to report that Copper has top to bottom skiing open with many trails and acerage open. The park is stil the same as last week with a bigger quarter pipe. Winter Park, Breckenridge, Keystone, Loveland, and Arapahoe Basin are all reporting new terrain and lift openings after this weekends storm. Most resorts are reporting almost 40″ base and its only November! Our original plans were to head to the Pass yesterday and get some more backcountry in but CDOT never opened the gates.

Loveland Pass - CDOT Avy Blast [Video/Snd.mov]
Loveland pass was closed all day today due to avalanche danger. The storm over Colorado has produced heavy snow and lots of wind. Sustained gusts of up to 45 mph on Loveland pass record by the CAIC weather station. Backcountry users should be very careful in the up coming days and keep careful eye on the large wind load slabs forming. Bring your gear and wear your beacons.

Due to the pass closed, we ended up riding at Loveland Resort. The wind was bad but the snow and crowds were great. No waiting in line, they had Chair #2 up and running but it was winding as hell up near the summit. Chair #1 is running as well and we had lots of fresh snow to shred all day. Around 9:30am, patrol lifted the ropes on Knix Knox and we had a few laps of really deep heavy pow.

By close of day, Arapahe Basin reports 14″, Copper 13″, Loveland 12″, and these reports came in at 2:00pm MST. Breckenridge and Keystone are also open with plenty of fresh snow. Tomorrow should be pretty sick snowboarding.

Check video clip link above, it shows Loveland Pass early as we wait for CDOT and crew to blast the Seven Sisters chutes.

 
CAIC Forecast - Northern Mountains: 11/12/05

Colorado Update

Date: 11/4/05-11/6/05

Quick update from last weekend, then on to the good stuff. AKD and I rode up at Copper Mountain for opening day. American Flyer was open all the way to the half point on the mountain. Excelator was open to ski racer traffice only. Copper claims 1600ft vertical of sking on opening day and they came close, easily 3 times longer then the white ribbon of death at Arapahoe Basin. They had a really nice little park setup at the top of the lift, lots of boxes, metal flat downs, metal kinks, cbox, gap to funbox, and 2 quarter pipes. After a few hours the crowds got bad so we went to the bar, had a few drinks and came back out to soft loose snow. The rest of the afternoon was mellow, riding around searching the mountain for hits. The snow started to fall late Friday night and we were out at Ceceila’s in Breckenridge, I have to say the drive home at 2am to frisco was insane. We were happy to see snow and decided to hit Abasin in the morning. Cold and windy we rode some fresh at abay for the morning until it got too crowded. The pass was closed from Friday night throughout the day and night on Saturday. I decided to head home early and rally the troops for a dawn attack on Loveland Pass. Mike and I got to the pass gates around 6:30am on Sunday. CDOT and my plow drive homeboy Rock were blasting the seven sisters slide paths and brought down a good amount of snow. We knew it would be and epic day, no one up on the pass for days and over 20″ of new snow. We were 1st and 2nd car through the gate and got a hitch up quickly. Surprised, the pow was a bit wet and a little heavy but super fun. We rode pretty much all day fresh lines, knee deep in spots and really deep in the north facing trees. Later in the day I met up with Jordan and Fejj and we got a car shuttle going. 2pm rolls around and we’ve all had such a great day we head over to Loveland resort for lunch. Sorry I don’t have ANY pictures or video from this day other then CDOT blasting the chutes. The snow was too good to stop and waste time.

Photo Spread

Date: Winter 04/05, Spring 05, Fall 05

Below are pictures that never made it into my blog entries or trip reports. These pictures are a mix of places and people from the last year or more.