abc
Well-known member
Here in the east, we don't have tree wells. So the only danger of skiing unknown trees are being closed out by dense trees, or encountering dead end drops.
The death at Mansfield brought that last risk a little closer to home. It's not clear if the skier fell off or skied off a cliff. But suppose he skied off a cliff he didn't know, or didn't know the condition of the landing...?
I was skiing some of the woods in Stowe Saturday. I'm not particularly familiar with the resort. Even though I know the runs, I don't know all the woods. But this particular patch of woods I had already did once, slowly and cautiously. So the second time I entered it, I THOUGHT I know it so was enjoying going smoothly through it, picking new line with as much fresh as I could find. (so I wasn't doing the exact same line as my 1st run) At one point, I couldn't see where the path would lead to, and I stopped.
I could see skiers going below on an open run. I was only 10-15' above it. There were tracks going in other direction. But the path in front of me was fresh. So tempting... I was almost ready to just go for it with a leap of faith. But being old and a chicken, I decided I want to pick a path I can actually SEE the landing.
After a quick traverse, I found an easy drop into the run below. I decided to go back up the 10-15 yard to check where I would have landed had I continued to pursue my original "fresh line". My heart skipped a beat. Not only was the landing uneven, there were some snowmaking stuff on the side of the trail that I might have bumped into. High likelihood of not ending well.
Often times, we follow tracks in the woods without actually seeing where we ultimately end up. 9 out of 10 times, it leads us out safely. I've certainly have had cases where I really shouldn't have, but my luck had so far held. And even of the many cases I stopped and went elsewhere, only to find it was perfectly safe to have continued on. Every one of those "safe ending" case pushes me insidiously towards being just a little bolder. But this was one case I'm glad I stopped and went the other way.
How do you keep yourself safe in unfamiliar woods? Stopping every few turns is a bit of a kill joy. But sometimes a seemingly easy path may not be so. How do you balance?
The death at Mansfield brought that last risk a little closer to home. It's not clear if the skier fell off or skied off a cliff. But suppose he skied off a cliff he didn't know, or didn't know the condition of the landing...?
I was skiing some of the woods in Stowe Saturday. I'm not particularly familiar with the resort. Even though I know the runs, I don't know all the woods. But this particular patch of woods I had already did once, slowly and cautiously. So the second time I entered it, I THOUGHT I know it so was enjoying going smoothly through it, picking new line with as much fresh as I could find. (so I wasn't doing the exact same line as my 1st run) At one point, I couldn't see where the path would lead to, and I stopped.
I could see skiers going below on an open run. I was only 10-15' above it. There were tracks going in other direction. But the path in front of me was fresh. So tempting... I was almost ready to just go for it with a leap of faith. But being old and a chicken, I decided I want to pick a path I can actually SEE the landing.
After a quick traverse, I found an easy drop into the run below. I decided to go back up the 10-15 yard to check where I would have landed had I continued to pursue my original "fresh line". My heart skipped a beat. Not only was the landing uneven, there were some snowmaking stuff on the side of the trail that I might have bumped into. High likelihood of not ending well.
Often times, we follow tracks in the woods without actually seeing where we ultimately end up. 9 out of 10 times, it leads us out safely. I've certainly have had cases where I really shouldn't have, but my luck had so far held. And even of the many cases I stopped and went elsewhere, only to find it was perfectly safe to have continued on. Every one of those "safe ending" case pushes me insidiously towards being just a little bolder. But this was one case I'm glad I stopped and went the other way.
How do you keep yourself safe in unfamiliar woods? Stopping every few turns is a bit of a kill joy. But sometimes a seemingly easy path may not be so. How do you balance?