Australia's Leading Alpine Safety Training Company
  • Home
  • Overview
  • Training Courses
    • HUNTING HIMALAYAN POWDER
    • Backcountry intro
    • Jones avy savvy weekend
    • Women in the Backcountry AST1
    • Avalanche Skills Training Level 1 (AST1)
    • Avalanche Awareness Training 2
    • Refresher Training
    • Ski Mountaineering
    • Youth Program
    • Duke of Edinburgh Award
    • Snow Camping
    • Alpine First Aid
  • Team
  • Video
    • Podcasts
  • Store
  • Contact
  • Blog

The right call

9/5/2018

0 Comments

 
By Dave Bain
Picture
Photo: Andy Blair
Forecasts, work diary, forecasts, work diary. It is all I can look at with the storm approaching. One day is all I’ve got and the timing is on point. My mind goes to where to ride, where’s the wind been blowing and what’s the weather going to do. I dream big, I always do. My mind always goes to the western faces first. It’s my favourite place to ride by a country mile. As I pick up a mate we discuss just that. Not only are there so many epic lines, but it’s the space out there. Feels like you are actually in the mountains. And that’s just it, in the mountains. A tricky snow pack, some warm days and cold nights and now over a metre of wind blown snow on many of the lines. A voice in my head telling me it’s not on. About every twenty minutes we mention it again “what about this line” or “we could ride it like this”. Fantasize, dream, then safety, reality. The risk is too high, the reward not high enough. There is safe terrain also loaded with fresh just waiting to be slayed. The right call, the safe call is made. The western faces will still be there next time. We lap deep pow lines in the trees and mellower terrain from sun up to sun down. We hoot, we high five and our legs burn. In failing visibility late in the afternoon, two avalanches let go near us, we hear them, we spookily feel them. Stops us dead. We’re in safe terrain, it’s all good but we look at each other. Decision vindicated. The right call, the safe call and bucket loads of pow to boot. 

​Dave Bain
Picture
Photo: Dave Bain
0 Comments



Leave a Reply.

    Archives

    March 2022
    January 2022
    May 2020
    March 2020
    October 2019
    July 2019
    June 2019
    April 2019
    March 2019
    January 2019
    December 2018
    November 2018
    October 2018
    September 2018
    August 2018
    July 2018
    June 2018
    May 2018
    April 2018
    January 2018
    December 2017
    November 2016
    September 2015
    August 2015
    July 2015
    May 2015

    Author

    Snow Safety Australia is a NSW based information website. 

    Categories

    All

    RSS Feed

Training Courses

 AST1    AAT2     Ski Mountaineering
​Snow Camping   BC intro

Company

About

Support

Contact


© COPYRIGHT 2011.
​ALL RIGHTS RESERVED.
  • Home
  • Overview
  • Training Courses
    • HUNTING HIMALAYAN POWDER
    • Backcountry intro
    • Jones avy savvy weekend
    • Women in the Backcountry AST1
    • Avalanche Skills Training Level 1 (AST1)
    • Avalanche Awareness Training 2
    • Refresher Training
    • Ski Mountaineering
    • Youth Program
    • Duke of Edinburgh Award
    • Snow Camping
    • Alpine First Aid
  • Team
  • Video
    • Podcasts
  • Store
  • Contact
  • Blog