Whiteout conundrum…..

bandit wrote:

Snapzzz wrote:

The answer to that is to tag the kids.
In whistler all the kids in ski school are tagged with gps so a control station knows at all times where they are. Apparently i hear that if a Ski instructor 'loses' one child without even knowing about it they are informed by radio. Clever stuff.
It can't be long before they could put GPS tags into lift passes so the ski patrol can see who is on the mountain and where they are in such conditions.


I know some people would object and scream big brother but the safety rewards are immense.

http://www.whistlerblackcomb.com/tickets/seasonpass/kids_passes/flaik.htm

The technology is pretty well there now in the USA with EpicMix

http://www.epicmix.com/Faq.aspx

Doesn't that just track the last lift you would have used though? It won't locate you the way the Flaik system does.

This is a good and important thread. Avalanches apart, a complete whiteout is one of the most dangerous situations a snowsports person can get into.

A compass? Well yes, but does your lift pass show N & S? I have never seen one that does. Resort and run knowledge is useful knowledge to add to the use of a compass. I have never carried a compass when skiing, and I don't know anyone that does, but some people will.

A mobile phone app? Late in the day, when the January temperature dros below -15 deg, batteries has a propensity to go flat. If that is the safety net, I would not like to hang my hat on that.

If you are lucky enough to be skiing in a low resort ~ they have their whiteouts too, you can see more clearl if you ski beside the trees, and obtain the benefit of reflected light.

I have been caught out many times in whiteouts, sometimes it was down to a bad mountaineering judgement, sometimes an unexpected weather change.I have been caught out on the wrong side of a mountain, when the Lift company closed it for the day ~ most times resulting in some expense in getting back, once in a 15 mile low level walk.

I have also taken a chance and followed two guys I judged to be locals, down a glacier, and they were not hanging about! That day I learned a lesson about skiing whiteout in a high area.

I have occasionally made judgements at the top, that this was not safe skiing, and have gone down the hill on the Gondola. I see no difference to doing that, and turning back off Striding Edge, in a whiteout with sheet ice on the rocks. It is a mountaineering judgement.

No easy solution.