This is a blog I wrote for Chill a few weeks ago. As we adventure with Obie, I often wonder – am I doing this for me or for him? It’s a good perspective to maintain. It’s a long weekend and Scott, Obie and I are going down to Mt Cook National Park to fly in by heli and stay at a high hut then ski the Tasman glacier. I do this a lot for work but the boys haven’t done it so I think it’s fair to say this is a bonafide family trip!
Oh and I didn’t run the Snow Safety courses during the spring holidays. Look out for them in the next July holidays. They’ll be advertised on my website.
Kids and Adventure
Is it a good idea to take kids into the backcountry or side country? Since side country is backcountry in terms of being outside the ski area boundary, then there’s really no difference. Here in the Craigies at least, it feels like it’s a bit of an issue as people duck in and out of the ski areas. It’s easy to take the kids on missions with short hikes.
I recently read world champion Adventure Racer, Nathan Fa’ave’s book “Adventurer at Heart.” I was both inspired and appalled by the level of adventure he was prepared to hit with his kids. Sea kayaking around D’Urville island, Nathan paddled a double sea kayak with his three kids while his extremely able wife, Jodie, paddled a single kayak. They got caught in rising seas and a tricky tide as they tried to negotiate their way past a headland into sheltered waters and camp. Nathan’s water experience from 20 years at the top of Adventure Racing, as a sea kayak guide and his sheer physical strength got them through but I was left wondering: “What if they’d bailed out? Three kids and Nathan swimming and Jodie trying to pick up the pieces in rough seas…” Although I’m ok in a boat (I can take care of myself only) sea kayaking is not my thing. It’s easier for me to view the scenario in the mountains: Myself and another able adult take three kids into the backcountry – say the Ryton from Mt Cheeseman. We are two hours from Cheeseman ski field at the quickest and two hours from Mt Olympus ski field. Weather comes in and stability is changing rapidly – a fast moving southerly hits hours earlier than expected. Can we adults handle it? Can the kids? Are we equipped for it? We may need to change course and hike further with skis on packs. We may need to drop straight to the valley or take a longer route on the ridges to get to safety. Worst case – we may need to dig in and wait out the storm.
I’m a proponent of adventure with kids and like Nathan and Jodie, I believe in the benefits in terms of life skills and resilience gained in the outdoors. However, skiing in avalanche terrain (which the Fa’aves don’t do with their children) takes a new level of seriousness to me. Last year two promising 20 year olds (friends of a friend) from the US junior ski team died in an avalanche after they crossed a boundary rope in Colorado. Fresh powder would have been clearly visible from the ski area.
When our kids ski black diamond runs so young, it’s natural that we’d seek out better runs for them – or they’d find it for themselves. My son (9.5) has been asking to go into Crystal valley for a couple of years now. I did take him there last year with some other kids and adults but we pulled the pin at the top due to poor visibility and deteriorating snow stability. Once you commit to skiing into Crystal, there are huge slopes above and you cannot escape. It was better to leave it for another year. Everyone was a bit disappointed.
The thing that bothers me about these mostly stable recent years in the Craigieburns is that one year, it will change and become a season with persistent weak layers in the snow pack. And we must be able to adapt to that change and change our behaviour. How and what we model to our kids is especially important. We are churning out these solid skiers. Where will they take their skiing? To Europe? To the great off-piste runs of Chamonix? To North America (Whistler, the Colorado and Canadian Rockies, Red Mountain, Montana, Utah, California)? To Japan – where the hazard rises and falls very quickly due to ongoing snowfall? To Northern India? In these amazing places, access to the backcountry may be very easy but avalanche conditions can be decidedly less defined. A world of ski adventure awaits.
Risky behaviour is fine when there’s low risk and you are aware of the risks you are taking. However low avalanche hazard never means no hazard and it’s important to understand that – and understand what it takes for hazard to change. If you have the experience to go backcountry or side country with your kids, teach them about avalanches. The younger ones can’t really probe or dig – but they should know how to use their avalanche beacons. Older kids should carry a probe and shovel. They should be aware of what exactly is avalanche terrain and have an understanding of slope angle, aspect, elevation and slope shape – and how these factors work together to create avalanches if there is unstable snow. There are simple tricks for understanding surface snow instability and kids can easily be taught the class one signs (avalanches running, cracking, collapsing, snow or wind loading, rapid warming etc) to help them identify when the likelihood of avalanches increases. Teach safe travel protocols – how to spread out and how to identify and regroup at islands of safety.
To alleviate my angst over this issue, I’m running a snow safety course for youth (12-18) at Broken River on the best day of September 27 or 28. Numbers are limited to 8. Tune into BR for details: http://www.brokenriver.co.nz/prices/avalanche-courses/
Next year I plan to run them earlier in the season at both Mt Olympus and Broken River. I’ll probably take 10 year olds by then!
Anna Keeling 