Related: What To Pack For A Ski Tour: A Comprehensive Guide

The Dream Hut Trip Backpack

A large 50-60L backpack with features specific to ski touring. Most manufacturers advertise their multi-day packs for the mountaineering crowd. Thankfully, you’ll find many cross-over features that work for both ski touring, splitboarding and mountaineering. In a perfect world, I dream of a pack with the following features:

• Rope carry system (usually sandwiched between the top lid and the pack body)
• A-frame and diagonal ski carry with reinforced side straps for ski edges
• A helmet carry system that doesn’t interfere with the lid buckles
• Secure crampon and ice axe attachments
• A padded hip belt with a side pocket on one side and a gear loop on the other
• A main compartment to swallow most of the bulky gear and a large top lid for knick-knacks

Choosing the right size backpack for your body is crucial. Manufacturers often release gendered options in S-M and M-L based on your torso length. It’s best to try out different backpacks fully loaded at the store. I’ve got a slender figure with virtually no hips and a long torso. Finding a pack with a small hip belt but a long torso length has proven to be a challenge over the years.

The Overnight Hut Essentials

The way I see it: ski touring hut trips are demanding – accumulated fatigue and poor sleep affect my backcountry mental game. Having all the hut essentials to maximize comfort after hours will stack the odds in my favour when making life-saving decisions at 3000m. Before packing for your backcountry hut trip, research the backcountry huts you’ll be visiting. Nowadays, most huts are equipped with a wood or propane stove for boiling water and heating the interior space. You’ll still come across the oddball one, which is essentially a bare metal box anchored to a rocky cliff, somewhere up high in the alpine. Their location and amenities will determine the insulation requirement for hut-specific gear such as your sleeping bag and baselayers.

Sleeping bag: A lofty sleeping bag rated to at least -10C filled with down or synthetic insulation works wonders for ski touring hut trips. I prefer down insulation since it’s lighter and more compressible than synthetic insulation, keeping your pack weight and size down. On the flipside, down loses its loft and insulation potential when wet. Not much of a problem when you’ve got access to a heated hut.

Most huts are poorly insulated, with temperatures hovering close to freezing overnight. You’ll need a little more insulation than what you would find in a summer sleeping bag to stay warm. It’s also important to consider what the warmth rating stands for. A -10C sleeping bag is rated for a lower limit of -10C, where you’ll make it through the night, but not without a few shivers. The “comfort” limit for those bags is often closer to -3C depending on the bag’s insulation and design. You’ll find more information on winter sleeping bags in the post, Backcountry Winter Camping Gear For Alpine Touring.

Spare hut clothes: There’s nothing more satisfying than taking your drenched ski boots off and slipping into a fresh pair of socks. I recommend a spare set of merino baselayers and socks to wear in the hut and in bed. Merino wool is pure magic. It wicks moisture away from your skin and doesn’t hold on to odour – for the sake of everyone around you.

Hut shoes or booties: Insulated hut booties are key. I feel for the folks who keep their ski boots on in the hut after forgetting to pack their hut booties. It’s worth mentioning that keeping ski boots in the hut is bad etiquette – you’ll leave a wet mess all over the wood floors. I always bring insulated booties with integrated gaiters and a grippy sole, especially useful for shovelling a path to the outhouses. To keep the smell at bay, outhouses are often separate from the sleeping and cooking quarters.

Inflatable pillow: The true ultra-light alpinists out there will shun me for this. I will not compromise on my sleeping system. While you can make a good-enough pillow by stuffing your down jacket into your sleeping bag stuff sack, I prefer a dedicated inflatable pillow that’s highly compressible and has a smooth face fabric for comfort. I never forget my trusty pillow when packing for a backcountry hut trip.

Stove: While most modern huts are equipped with a wood or propane stove, some huts require you to pack a small camp stove for cooking. If that’s the case, keep it simple and bring food prep to a minimum – boiled water, dehydrated rations, and no dishes.

Food and drinks

Food and water intake for a ski touring hut trip depends on your own needs. I don’t need much to get by, but that’s often not the case for most folks. To keep pack weight and size down, I stuff a sil-nylon compression sack with dehydrated food and powered drinks. Doing so, you’ll mostly avoid doing dishes.

• For breakfast: oatmeal crowned with raisins, cranberries, figs, butter and brown sugar, sealed in individual ziplock bags. Pro-tip: freezer bags can handle boiling water, so you won’t need to do dishes after breakfast. The extra butter will give you plenty of calories throughout the day. I also bring powdered coffee or tea.
• For lunch: pepperoni sticks, nut mix, and chocolate to be consumed during your tour with 1.5-2L of electrolyte water.
• For an appetizer at the hut: a warm, salty miso or chicken broth on the menu to reset your electrolytes and warm your core.
• For dinner: a dehydrated ration such as the one offered by Peak Refuel works wonders. Simply add water and you’ve got a tasty, healthy meal. The dehydrated packets are pricy, but are crammed with calories, more so than the competition. Chocolate and candy are a great way to end your meal with a sweet bang.

First thing in the morning, I drink plenty of water. I’m often dehydrated from the previous day’s effort. It’s best to start your tour hydrated, so you’ll be more efficient on the uptrack and drink less throughout the day.

Packing Checklist For A Backcountry Hut Trip

The post Packing For A Backcountry Hut Trip: Tips For A Great Ski Tour appeared first on The Uptrack.

Related: Getting Caught In An Avalanche: A Wild Ride

Is It a Transceiver, Beacon, or Bacon?

Commonly, the terms “transceiver” and “beacon” are often used interchangeably, but “beacon” is factually incorrect. A transceiver functions as both an emitter/transmitter and a receiver. Likewise, a beacon exclusively emits. To say the truth: I catch myself using the wrong terminology often enough.

What’s an Avalanche Transceiver?

Understanding the inner workings of an avalanche transceiver is the first step to selecting the right one. The core concept is that the transceiver provides two essential modes: send and search.

Send Mode: The send mode emits a radio signal at an industry-standard frequency (457 kHz) that’s recognizable by all transceivers worldwide. As soon as you turn on your transceiver, automatically entering send mode, a radio signal is broadcast. This signal can be picked up by other transceivers in search mode.

Search Mode: When you are close to an emitting transceiver, your own transceiver in search mode detects the radio signal and provides you with visual clues as to where the emitting transceiver would be located. It indicates the distance and direction of the emitting transceiver by analyzing the strength and orientation of the signal using a minimum of three receiving antennas. Typical search ranges vary from 30-50m. Any device below that threshold should be disposed of.

Key Features

When you’re wandering through the aisles of your local gear store and wondering how to choose your next avalanche transceiver, I’ve outlined a few key features to look out for.

Lockable Send/Search Toggle: This is an important one. A transceiver must be able to flawlessly switch between the send and search modes and stay locked in its position. There have been instances in the past of transceivers switching into search mode or even turning off after a hard fall, unbeknownst to the user, due to the locking mechanism failing. Professional skier Nick McNutt reported on this flaw with his Pieps DSP Pro transceiver when he got buried by a fast-flowing avalanche and couldn’t be located by his peers.

Three Antennas: Transceivers require three antennas to accurately detect a burial’s location. Those antennas work in tandem to provide the user with both the distance and direction of the source, regardless of the buried victim’s orientation. Two-antenna models are absolutely obsolete and should only be used as spares for practicing avalanche scenarios.

Search Range: The transceiver must have an appropriate search range. Most digital transceivers now advertise a search range of 70m (under optimal conditions), with some offering an extended search range of 100m using the analog signal, which only provides an intermittent audible cue without distance or direction. A higher range improves your odds of picking up a signal in the wake of a large avalanche.

Display Screen: Modern transceivers are equipped with a simple digital display that indicates the distance, direction, battery level, multiple burial incidents, and even a visual cue as to whether the buried victims have a heartbeat or not. The display screen must be user-friendly and intuitive. There’s no time to waste during an avalanche burial, as every second passing by could mean the victim’s last breath.

Multiple Burial Search and Mark/Flag Function: Transceivers have a function for detecting situations involving several buried victims. The transceiver automatically locks on the strongest signal, filtering out the other signals. Once a victim has been located, it must provide the option of marking him, thereby ignoring the signal, which allows you to move on to the next buried subject.

Group Check Function: The group check function is an essential tool that checks the functionality of transceivers within your touring group. The checking transceiver analyzes the frequency, period, and pulse duration of the emitted signal to ensure your group’s devices (including your own) are within industry-standard tolerances.

Automatic Revert to Send: when search mode is activated, most transceivers now revert to send mode automatically if they detect no movement for 2-4 minutes. This safety feature allows searchers to be located if buried by a subsequent avalanche.

User-Friendly Harness: a comfortable, user-friendly harness, which secures the device to your torso, is an often-overlooked feature that makes a difference when you choose an avalanche transceiver. The main clip that secures the device must be easy to release with one hand. Again, every second counts in a burial. The leash connecting the transceiver to the harness must be extensible and long enough. And, the torso straps would ideally fit your body shape and provide some breathability. After all, you’ll be wearing it for several hours of intense physical activity.

Useful Advice

Here is a bit of advice that you’ll find useful after you choose your avalanche transceiver. Take it or leave it. Generally speaking, read your transceiver’s user manual before making any rash decisions.

Wear the transceiver under your outermost layer… ideally. In theory, it speeds up searches as you won’t have to dig deep through your clothes. In practice, it doesn’t make sense if you’re wearing several layers and plan on de-layering as soon as you start sweating. To me, it sounds much worse to remove the transceiver and its harness while delayering, even if you are in a safe spot. What if a surprise avalanche rockets down the slope towards you? Suddenly, you’ll be without a transceiver.

Avoid interference with electronic and metal objects. As a rule of thumb, your transceiver must be located more than 30cm from electronic devices and metal objects in send mode and 60cm in search mode to minimize signal interference. As such, the transceiver can be worn in its harness or in your pants’ side pockets as long as you respect the rule above. Storing your transceiver in cargo pockets is not recommended, as it can be ripped apart during an avalanche incident.

Perform a group check every time you head out in the backcountry. Transceivers may eventually break down and must be checked before every single outing. Switching on search mode and looking for your friend’s signal isn’t going to cut it. The group check functionality verifies the transceiver’s signal frequency, period, and pulse duration. It will alert you when a transceiver is dropping out of tolerance.

Practice rescue scenarios multiple times before and during the season. It’s important to maintain this skill as speed is of the essence in an avalanche burial. To minimize the expected chaos, it’s crucial to understand the ins and outs of your model. Closely spaced, multiple-burial scenarios in forested terrain are often harder than practicing in open alpine terrain.

Change your transceiver’s batteries once they get down to 40-50%. Below that point, the transceiver may turn off unexpectedly under cold conditions, either due to weather or de-layering.

Alkaline and lithium batteries are solid options for your transceiver. Use the option recommended batteries in your transceiver’s user manual. On one end, alkaline battery levels decrease faster but progressively in a cold environment. On the other hand, lithium battery levels hold up better to cold but tend to drop off unexpectedly once in use. Some transceivers, such as the Mammut Barryvox, can accurately estimate lithium battery levels as long as you swap for a fresh set of batteries when the time comes.

Avoid dropping your transceiver. Remember those three antennas that determine the direction and distance of emitted signals? They are very fragile and are prone to damage. Care to not drop the transceiver and keep it away from water or snow.

Related Articles

– How To Choose Touring Skis: Shred On
– How To Choose Ski Touring Bindings: Clip-In And Ski
– How To Get Into Ski Touring (Backcountry Skiing)

The post How To Choose An Avalanche Transceiver / Beacon appeared first on The Uptrack.