Truly Tested: BCA’s Tracker2 Beacon

By Rob Coppolillo

More than a year has passed since we began itching for a look at Backcountry Access’ newest beacon, the three-antenna Tracker2 ($335). Production delays kept us guessing, but the gang at BCA said it was all to get the new Tracker2 just right—and for the most part they’ve done just that.

BCA introduced the first two-antenna beacon, the Tracker, more than a decade ago (still available for $290). Suddenly, avalanche transceivers were easier to use and more accurate when searching for burial victims. European manufacturers followed suit, launching two-antenna beacons of their own and kicking off an arms race to see who’d develop the first three-antenna model. Turns out the Euros, like Ortovox, Pieps, and Barryvox, beat BCA to the punch, but that certainly doesn’t mean anybody’s been KO’d.

Why does anybody need three antennae, you might ask? Three is better than two because they make beacons easier to use and more accurate when searching for a buried transceiver. Without getting too geeked out, the three-antennae models give more accurate information, especially with a deep burial and when “pinpoint” searching just before probing and digging. Bottom line is you want your buddies using a three-antenna rig if you’re buried beneath the snow and counting the seconds. … Continue Reading

Avalanche Near A-Basin Kills Snowboarder

The Steep Gullies, about a mile west of Arapahoe Basin, in a photo from 2000; Steep Gully #1 is on the left. Photo by Bob Berwyn

By Bob Berwyn

A snowboarder died March 10 in the backcountry near Arapahoe Basin after triggering an avalanche in what’s known as the First Steep Gully, just outside the ski area boundary. It was the fourth avalanche death of the season in Colorado. On average, six people die in avalanches in the state each year.

According Dan Burnett and Becky Baylor, coordinators with the Summit County Rescue Group, the snowboarder triggered the avalanche and was swept about 1,000 feet over the steep, rocky terrain. Burnett said the snow only piled up 18 inches deep at the bottom of the avalanche, so the victim likely died of trauma suffered during the slide. Officially, the cause of death has not been announced, pending further investigation.

Read the rest of this story at Summit County Citizens Voice, the website created by longtime Colorado journalist Bob Berwyn. According to the Colorado Avalanche Information Center, this slide was powerful enough that it broke trees six inches in diameter. The CAIC also reported that there was another, remotely triggered avalanche on Wednesday morning in Steep Gully #4, and a skier-triggered slide in Steep Gully #2 on Monday.

Haute Cuisine: Hut-Trip Cooking

Mmmmm...pizza! See below for a link to the recipe. Photo by Gregg Larson, HutTrip.com

By Gregg Larson

Editor’s note: Gregg Larson is the creator of HutTrip.com, a two-year-old website that offers tips and news about the 10th Mountain and other Colorado huts. This article has been adapted from a post at his site and is used with permission.

Anyone who has been doing hut trips long enough has developed a set of recipes that they take each time. I have run into just about every type of chef while visiting the huts, from freeze-dried food chefs (just add water!) to people who seem to bring up an entire fridge worth of food.

Here are a few things I have learned when planning hut-trip meals. … Continue Reading

Trip of the Week: Ski Harvard

High on Harvard, headed south. Photo by Ben Conners

Sure, we’ve already featured an ascent of Mt. Harvard this winter, but Ben Conners and Matt Kamper’s climb last Sunday was a stylish one-day ascent of Colorado’s third-highest peak, with a ski descent right from the tippy-top. Plus, we can’t get over how great the Harvard area looks in winter.

Entering the key chute below the summit. Photo by Ben Conners

Conners and Kamper climbed the south ridge of the 14,420-foot peak. The winter closure on Cottonwood Creek Road added 3.5 miles to the morning skin and yielded big numbers for the full day: 20.5 miles round trip, with 5,700 feet of vertical. Neither forecast (weather or avalanche) was perfect, but the boys got lucky with the former and carefully managed the latter, giving them a beautiful day out. Eight hours up, three hours down—you gotta love skis!

The photos here are reproduced with permission; see the full report and many more photos at 14ers.com.

PLB Mistaken for Avy Beacon

The mysterious personal locator beacon (PLB) that baffled rescue groups and law enforcement this winter had been mistaken for an avalanche beacon by the guy who received it as a gift. The clueless skier (mercifully unnamed) did not read the directions nor register the device, and had been innocently switching it on each time he headed into the backcountry, thus triggering multiple responses from concerned rescuers. Makes you wonder what his skiing partners were thinking—whatever happened to the beacon check? Actually, it makes you wonder a lot of things…

Read today’s Denver Post story here and MoJo’s earlier story about the PLB mystery and interview with Alpine Rescue Team president here.

Powder Ghost Towns, Part V

“That rubble is what the owners left when they walked away from Ski St. Mary’s,” wrote Sinjin Eberle, correctly identifying the final mystery resort in our series and thus winning a copy of Pete Bronski’s Powder Ghost Towns book. Here’s some info from Mr. Bronski about the erstwhile resort northwest of Idaho Springs:

St. Mary’s really has a two-part history. Skiing here dates back to the earliest days of recreational skiing in Colorado; by the 1920s, skiers were hosting July 4 ski tournaments on the glacier. Decades later, Ski St. Mary’s came into existence in neighboring (and private) Anchor Gulch. Like so many other Powder Ghost Towns, it went through a series of name changes and changes in ownership, but ultimately folded. … Continue Reading