Why one of them was relying on the GPS handheld in zero visibility weather...Learn from the Snowboarding Master SO YOU do not make these same three mistakes!!! So it's time for a story...A true story involving none other than the Snowboarding-Master himself...AND MY TRUSTWORTHY GPS HANDHELD UNIT...It was the winter season in February 2005, while cruising at my local snowboarding turf...I had been itching to get out of bounds and although it was snowing hard and near blizzard conditions and being early afternoon... I asked my wife if she wanted to climb to the top of Annupuri with me and hit some of the backcountry powder runs before finishing out our day...She said NO...I said "but we got the gps handheld we'll be fine"...She said the conditions were to gnarly for her and besides ,she wanted to retire to the pub for some beer and relaxation...I said cool...I will meet her in a few hours... So I proceeded to head up the lift (I noticed I was the ONLY one on the lift) but I got my gps handheld ! and started to climb by myself to the top of the mountain. About half way through my climb I noted how late in the afternoon it was and how I was the ONLY one climbing...but I got my gps handheld!!! After about another 30 minutes climbing I saw someone headed DOWN the ridge toward me...It turns out it was our local avalanche master and he stopped me and wanted to talk to me about my intended route down... I told him my planned route and we discussed the conditions and the weather for a few minutes before he headed down and was out of sight in seconds... I started to feel ALONE...I didn't clue in on it at the time... but... he felt the conditions did not favor a run down through the backcountry at that time, but he kept his opinion to himself...He didnt have a gps handheld, but I did ! I proceeded to climb another 10 minutes or so in blizzard conditions to arrive at the top of the peak and spent about 5 minutes in the hut with the 2 other guys who were prepping to bail ...They asked if I wanted to tag along with them, but I was tired and said I wanted to rest before heading down...They said good luck and warned me of the changing terrain in the last few days due to the heavy snows...I said yah man I been here many times before and I'm cool with it... besides I have my gps handheld!!! So I chilled for about 10 more minutes, but in 10 minutes the weather went from bad to worse and by the time I got ready to go and got out of the hut, it was windier and stormier than I had ever seen it, with zero visibility ...I mean ZERO visibilty I couldnt see my snowboard when it was strapped to my feet...I got out my gps handheld from my pack and put it in my jacket front pocket for easy access.. I wasn't concerned YET and strapped on my board and headed down in a total whiteout through familiar territory... But within a few minutes I got a little disoriented, I realized I was letting the wind push me off to the side more than I imagined...I finally realized I had gotten off course and was now on the wrong side of the ridge in no mans land and now in some seriously dangerous avalanche turf... One of the most dangerous avalanche zones in this area... I pulled out the GPS handheld unit and realized that yes, I was off course ,but not too far and could traverse around and get back to safety...The only problem was the wind was blowing so hard, I couldnt see the front of my board and the wind was pushing me away from where I wanted to go... I wasn't making any progress toward the safety zone...I didn't want to unstrap and try to climb as it was so windy I was afraid of losing my board, so I pushed on and figured I could clear the ridge a bit lower...Well I was cruising at a crawl when suddenly ....................................................................I was flying through midair thinking I was gonna die...I had just slipped off a major cornice that wasn't on my GPS route...I landed in very deep powder with rubbery legs and even worse visibility...falling several meters onto a very steep slope...Panic...Panic... Relax...Relax... I didn't die or get hurt...My legs shook like jelly!Ok NOW I was shook up...I waited for about 10 minutes to get my legs stretched and functioning again and got my composure and my mind back on track and said to myself..."BOY I REALLY FUC$#@d UP THIS TIME"... Then I checked the GPS handheld which said I was in the clear, but the terrain said I wasn't...I decided to go with the terrain's message...The ONLY good decision I made all day!I finally cleared the ridge a few minutes later at a snails pace and saw my first tiny little dwarf tree, which told me I was on the right side...I continued down the mountain until I got into familiar turf and started to let it fly and got below the really bad wind lines into the protected trees... From there it was a heavenly run in waist deep powder and a face shot every turn, but I didn't enjoy it as much as usual...My confidence was in my boots...It took me much longer than usual to hike out and get back in bounds as I had to hike out through some very deep windblown pow...My cell phone started to ring...I finally answered it and told my wife, I had some "DELAYS" but was hiking out now.She could expect me at the pub within an hour... MORAL of this story??? MY GPS handheld unit led me off a major cornice that I couldn't see and I was lucky it didn't let loose and start an avalanche sucking me down into the no man's land... Even if I survived a long fall and/or burial, there would be no way back up and it would mean an all night hike back to the nearest road...I was lucky it wasn't a cliff ...I was lucky that I only free fell several meters or so... I learned to make sure I NEVER use the GPS handheld unit blindly without having checked the route in advance in visible weather , so I never get in a situation like that again... Make sure you never follow YOUR GPS HANDHELD UNIT blindly using someone elses waypoints and routes, because you might end up going off a cliff or cornice that isn't shown or wasn't there before... REMEMBER THIS...GPS WILL TELL YOU WHERE YOU ARE...GPS WILL NOT TELL YOU THE WAY TO GO... IT IS UP TO YOU TO PICK THE SAFEST WAY... Ok NUFF SED...GPS still helped me to get back on track and back to safety in a pinch... FIRST mistake I made... I went into the backcountry by myself... SECOND mistake I made... I went too late in the day, not prepared for an overnight stay... THIRD mistake I made... I was relying on my gps handheld too much... FOURTH mistake was making the first two mistakes in sketchy weather ie BLIZZARD... LIVE AND LEARN...I lived and I learned ...I hope you do TOO!!!!!!! A true story told by the Master about the Master...... in this case Master of Disaster... OK Laters all from the Snowboarding Master ! One last thing... I am a Snowboarding Master but I am NOT an Internet Master, see how this site was PLANNED then BUILT and is QUICKLY and EASILY maintained... PLUS ...more importantly how to attract the right traffic to your business website by clicking on the graphic!!!  If You are like Me, Then I KNOW you want to be out doing some outdoor activity, not sitting in front of your &$@?* computer all day................ See how with SBI ! .....Check it out TODAY ! IF you have ANY questions here is a convenient way to ASK OTHER SBI USERS A QUESTION KNOWLEDGE IS POWER! INFORMATION IS KNOWLEDGE!!!! INFORMATION IS YOUR POWER!!! USE YOUR POWER!!!! |
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