Sidecountry Safety Basics on Wawa Ridge - SOAP BOX COMP

Hi Everybody,

We made this video (below) during that super unstable week in mid-March when there were so many avalanche related deaths in the Banff/Louise area. No matter how much information is out there, the general public and even the ski-touring public, seem to just not grasp the severity of the situation they surround themselves with sometimes. Gadgets and gizmos only get you as far as the store you just bought them from. Knowledge and experience both weigh nothing and never run out of batteries. Take the time to gain the knowledge and experience about what winter backcountry travel really means. Then use every fiber of your body to stay safe so you can live a long time and teach the next generation how to travel safely in the mountains. Case in point about earning your turns… here's my main man Ollie putting in some shovel time at Avalanche Awareness Days learning to build an emergency snow shelter with K-Country Search & Rescue:

My son Ollie turned 9 the day after we tried to do a tour on Wawa Ridge adjacent to Sunshine Village. We were hoping that the Feb 10th layer and early season depth hoar wouldn't get in the way of our tour, but once we saw how weakly the new soft slab was bonded and how loose the depth hoar was we decided that all it would take is one micro-convexity to let go and it could have a cascading effect to layers below. Getting bashed through the trees didn't sound like much fun, so we called it and went back inbounds. Just make sure you always provide yourself with a tomorrow to go back again. Patience is a virtue… the conditions will be right someday.

Anyway, without any further delay, here is Sidecountry Safety Basics: