A Story of Mountains, Monks and Dogs (2015)
The St Bernard monastery is only 15 miles from Verbier, though the last part of the road is closed by snow in the winter. But who was...
Real Skiing
Thoughts on skiing real snow
Search
David Roberts
- Jan 5, 2020
- 2 min
The Numbers Game
Whenever we check an avalanche forecast, the first thing we see is usually a number. This is the hazard, rated on a scale of 0 to 5....
89 views
David Roberts
- Jan 4, 2020
- 4 min
Some Human Aspects of Avalanche Safety - Part 3 of 3
In Part 1 of this series we got to grips with meanings of some words that help us to describe how we think about safety in the mountains....
14 views
David Roberts
- Jan 4, 2020
- 3 min
Some Human Aspects of Avalanche Safety - Part 2 of 3
In Part 1 of this series we got to grips with meanings of some words that help us to describe how we think about our safety in the...
7 views
David Roberts
- Jan 4, 2020
- 3 min
Some Human Aspects of Avalanche Safety - Part 1of 3
In the second half of the twentieth century and on into this century, the science of snow and avalanches became increasingly understood....
15 views
David Roberts
- Jan 1, 2020
- 7 min
BASI European Mountain Safety module - Emergency Skills (2016)
So far in this series of articles, we've looked at what equipment to buy, how to plan and carry out a ski-touring day and some of the...
7 views
David Roberts
- Jan 1, 2020
- 8 min
Preparing for European Mountain Safety Assessment - The Core Skills (2016)
Unlike most BASI modules, which combine training and assessment, EMS Assessment is that: an exam. Remember that the people who are...
22 views
David Roberts
- Dec 29, 2019
- 7 min
Ski-touring Days - Some Examples (2015)
In my previous blogs, I've outlined what you should look for in ski-touring equipment and the tools that you can use to plan an enjoyable...
6 views
David Roberts
- Dec 29, 2019
- 8 min
Planning a Ski Touring Day (2015)
In order to pass the BASI Level 4 European Mountain Safety module, candidates need to log six days of ski touring. This can be one of the...
5 views
David Roberts
- Dec 29, 2019
- 3 min
Why Go Ski Touring?
Ski touring has become an increasingly popular part of the sport of skiing in recent years. Lighter & better boots, bindings and skis...
3 views
David Roberts
- Dec 29, 2019
- 5 min
Avalanche Airbags: How do they work and are they effective? (2018)
Anti-avalanche airbag (a.k.a. balloon) backpacks have become increasingly popular over the last 20 years. They have almost become the...
11 views
David Roberts
- Dec 29, 2019
- 5 min
Navigation for Skiers - Part 4 (2019)
In the first three parts of this series we've taken a brief look at different scales of map, what contour lines mean and using a compass....
2 views
David Roberts
- Dec 29, 2019
- 4 min
Navigation for Skiers - Part 3 (2019)
In the first two parts of this series we looked at different scales of maps and the information that we can get from contour lines. In...
4 views
David Roberts
- Dec 28, 2019
- 3 min
Navigation for Skiers - Part 2 (2019)
In the first part of this series we took a brief look at what the different scales of map mean. In this part, we'll try to understand...
6 views
David Roberts
- Dec 28, 2019
- 4 min
Navigation for Skiers - Part 1 (2019)
One of the ski-touring skills that many people find hardest to acquire is mapwork. Being able to use a map to work out where you are,...
7 views
David Roberts
- Dec 23, 2019
- 9 min
Equipment for BASI Mountain Safety Modules (2015)
Beyond Level 2, the BASI syllabus starts to diversify into a variety of specialist modules. You might want (or need) to replace the boots...
20 views