Freeride snowboard and backcountry equipment

On the occasion of my European gliding, I wanted to join the freeride tours of local faces, the "locals" quite a few times. They usually didn't want to - they kept to themselves where the best deep snow was in the nearby "secrets".

So I experimented with my own freeride map with quite a bit of getting lost, wandering and trying - often alone. So did my friend Golo. He is also used to going into the unknown alone. If "local cowboys" did take me with them, they had one question: do you have avalanche safety gear?

 

Do you have a beeper, snow shovel, probe or avalanche airbag?

 

If it wasn't, they immediately shook it off. So I bought it. Understandable. Why would they take any responsibility for an unknown snowboarder whose skills are unknown? In addition, these riders were always confident figures, advanced riders who do not necessarily like to feed others in their free time. The last push to get normal avalanche equipment was when my friend Gabi Csorba and I flew to British Columbia. Snowboarding overseas for a month was my old dream, and backcountry gear is a must if you want to ski off-piste.

It's actually been a long time coming for me to put together the rescue backpack. Many years ago, during the "Slovak period", we visited Vratna a lot, and my younger brother Csaba and my friend Ákos were swept away in a coloar by a surprisingly strong avalanche. They got away cheaply, Csaba got up in the middle of the avalanche with a few bruises from the cubic meter blocks of snow, half covered. Ákos traveled 200 meters in it and prayed. The others just watched like a plowed mouse in an area the size of 2 football fields. It was hopeless to ask where Ákos could be. His new Hammer broke in two, but he escaped unscathed. He dug himself out of the snow blocks with 10 seconds of work. Fortunately, it wasn't wet or a large amount of powder snow, which would have condemned them to immobility under the snow, but large broken blocks with relatively many gaps between them, leaving air to breathe and move to wriggle out. After all this, Ákos bought two beacons and explained to us how to find each other.

1. Later, with Csaba, we skied on the southern Chopok, when the whole mountain started, approx. 500 meters away. It was "only" a layer of avalanche, half a kilometer long, roaring, carpet - we took it to a party and slid in it.
2. When we skied the Kaprun XXL with the Riders and Mokus from Baja (10 km pure freeride from 3000 m), two large avalanches came towards us, but they stopped in front of our position. We didn't know that but. You must not set off here after 10:00 a.m. in sunny weather. By this time we had our own avalanche airbag, but luckily we didn't need it.
3. It hasn't been in Nendaz yet. In the Swiss Háromvölgy, we were again taken away by a smaller avalanche. Golo in my neck, me below. At first we didn't take it seriously, but then it didn't want to stop, at quite high speed, and finally we crashed into a tree in the snow.

I think this is enough reason to collect what we need when we go on a freeride tour. So what does avalanche gear look like, why should you have it on hand, and how should you go about it?

 

1. The Beeper, the beacon.

Once the snow gets buried in such a way that you can't move, you have 20 minutes left to live without help.

• If you don't have a beacon on you, they won't find you!
• Before anyone hopes that he has all kinds of passive Recco on his clothes and coins in his pocket, I have to disabuse you: the search engine does not show it.
• Only large search helicopters have such a powerful beacon that maybe it receives a suitable signal from a Recco or a metal surface. But the helicopters never come within 20 minutes.

 

So, you can only count on each other. From here, however, the search only works correctly if

1. I have a beacon not only for me who is in trouble, but also for those who are looking for me.
2. if I don't emit a signal, I'm untraceable.

 

There are single-antenna avalanche beacons and multi-antenna ones. They emit the same signal.

It is more difficult to search with the single-antenna transmitter, it only shows the distance, but there is no "direction-arrow" on them. Sometimes a right angle turn is necessary in the search to find a signal. You are looking for your buried companion in a spiral. Multi-passenger - user-friendly - you can continuously follow the direction of the arrow. It doesn't matter who they are looking for, whether they wear a single or multi-passenger avalanche seeker.

Brands

1. The Orthowox signal German, therefore the most advertised here are
2. Jeremy Jones is a Swiss Mammothuser , excellent.
3. The Austrian Beep is also very good, of course it is the most common in Austria, I am using it now.
4. The French ORPHAN was the earliest available at our place, my friend Ákos bought one, he bought another antenna.
5. And in Canada, it completely dominated the field BCA the North American company.
   They may be the oldest, but they are all good.

Prices

1. Single-antenna: HUF 30,000 - 50,000 (price of 1 snowboard binding. Or let's say: price of a 3-day ski pass.)
2. Multi-antenna: HUF 65,000 – 120,000

 

Snow shovel/avalanche shovel

This could really be for anyone: not a big weight, a few hundred grams. If one of us has found our partner in trouble, then everyone has to shovel. Even then, time decides life or death.

Prices

They are available in the Snowboardshop from HUF 6,500 to HUF 13,000 aluminum avalanche shovels.
Forget the plastic head - the kiss is dead.
Entry fee: Half a day, max. 1-day ski pass inventory.

 

 

Avalanche probe

These look like tent poles. There is no need for an expensive carbon design - it is completely unnecessary. In general, the 2.5 meter long probe is enough for our purposes.
Even if everyone in the team doesn't have a shovel, at least we all have a shovel!

There was a guy in my shop who only bought an avalanche beacon. He said the rest doesn't help him. To this I said, if the others thought like him, even if he gave the signal, they wouldn't dig him out with their five fingers either. It also occurred to me that I will not show the north wall of Mölltal to "those"...
But these were, in summary, the "passive" aids. Because the result here requires external help, another person.

Prices

It can be purchased in our store between HUF 11,000 and HUF 13,000.

 

 

Avalanche airbag

This is a "very, very great" invention! We activate this real "active" help when we have already been "taken" by the avalanche. If we pull an "emergency lever" hidden in the shoulder strap of our bag, "many 10-liter" airbags pop out from the side of the bag and we almost turn into a Zeppelin airship. With this increased buoyancy, in cases 95%, we are able to "swim" with the avalanche, on top of the snow. 

 

 

 

This is our only chance if:

1. We set off alone on freeride terrain,
2. We don't have a beacon on,
3. Our comrades have no beacons,
4. Our comrades have no shovels,
5. Their peers have no idea what to do at this point,
6. All our friends were also taken by the avalanche.

 

The avalanche airbag is usually a perfectly correct backcountry backpack, in which the necessary equipment can be attached by design: snow shovel, probe, ice ax, and when walking/climbing, a snowboard or skis can be attached to the outside. The BCA brand has been developing this product for 20 years. Of these bags, I recommend the 20-25 liter ones for snowboarders who use lifts. It doesn't need to be bigger. Only those who stay up on the mountain overnight should buy a 30-40 liter bottle.

 

Brands

1. BCA,
2. Ortovox,
3. Mammoth (RAS)
4. licenses of the above – K2: BCA – Jones: Mammut – Head: Ortowox

 

The BCA can be filled with compressed air, so the bottle is a little bigger, but you can even refill it for free at a diving base. This is the cheapest to operate.

Swiss Mammut and German Ortowox fill with nitrogen. The bottle is smaller (thus the total weight), but filling is expensive. Mammut is refilled for €20, Ortowox for €40. When I had to remove my avalanche bag on Ferihegy to get on the plane to Canada (and the same thing happened back to Hungary), it didn't matter if it would cost €0 or €80 to operate the bag in the Canadian mountains. We were afraid of the Rocky Mountains, perhaps too much, but here BCA was the practical choice.

Everyone should consider how they stand on this question if they are seriously and of course persistently interested in deep snow skiing or snowboarding. If we only get into trouble once - if the others help us - we will immediately appreciate the forward-looking attitude.

 

Backcountry backpack

One of the most popular pieces, the American Ride Camo backcountry bag, is available in our store and is an excellent example of an optimal investment.

1. Compared to its demanding design, we offer it for the price of a street backpack.
2. Easy movement while carrying the snowboard, the board holder provides both horizontal and vertical mounting options.
3. Factory designed compartments and fixings for the blade and the probe.
4. Easily accessible glasses holder (separate compartment on the top of the bag).
5. Built-in back protector.

 

Price

HUF 20,000 (on sale now!)

It's not such a big amount: a day and a half ski pass. And don't you think, that's why we feel that, in addition to being reasonable, this thing also has a social component - joint responsibility for each other.

 

Andrew