linking together in telluride

BC Link Radios - Linking Together in Telluride

April 13, 2015

In addition to essential avalanche safety tools including education, beacons, shovels, and probes, the Telluride Mountain Club is now advocating the use of radios tuned to the same channel. The goal is to make the Bear Creek backcountry area just a little bit safer.

By Mike Hardaker | Mountain Weekly News

You can never be too safe when it comes to the backcountry. In addition to essential avalanche safety tools including education, beacons, shovels, and probes, the Telluride Mountain Club is now advocating the use of radios tuned to the same channel. The goal is to make the Bear Creek backcountry area just a little bit safer.

Telluride Radio Initiative

Bear Creeks steep, chute-choked drainage is known as some of the best lift-accessed backcountry terrain in the United States. It is also known as one of the most dangerous backcountry areas. In fact, according to the local Sheriff's office, Bear Creek is the deadliest location for skiers and snowboarders in all of Colorados San Miguel County.

This is a huge part of the reason why it has been so difficult to keep access to Bear Creek open. After being closed to the public for nearly five years, the Telluride Ski Resort finally re-opened the area gates last season. The re-opening was thanks in large part to the Telluride Mountain Club, the group that has been fighting to keep access to Bear Creek open for more than twenty years now.

As part of their ongoing efforts, the Telluride Mountain Club has started the above-mentioned radio initiative. Their goal is to keep the Bear Creek area open for the foreseeable future by helping skiers and snowboarders stay as safe on the terrain as possible. The radio program is designed to increase the ease and effectiveness of communication among riders in the backcountry, even between separate groups.

Backcountry Access BC Link Radio

The Telluride radio program is the brainchild of Matt Steen. A former avalanche forecaster and current snow safety director of Telluride Helitrax, Steen says, The Telluride Mountain Club has initiated a radio channel for the backcountry adjacent to the Telluride Ski area, Bear Creek. Response to the program has been well received.

According to Steen the program has enabled professional and self-rescue efforts for injured riders by minimizing outside resources when not necessary. It has been a successful start, even though Tellurides ski patrol took some convincing.

Earlier this winter we had a scenario that was dealt with within 5 minutes after a powder cloud came down the mountain, although it was triggered a miles away, we were able to identify the groups in the area, confirmed they were fine, stopped search & rescue within 5 minutes. Within 10 minutes, [ski] patrol was on the channel, too.

One of the most important features of the BC Link Radio, and why it's the Telluride Mountain Clubs top choice for radios, is the Smart Mic user interface. Located at your fingertips, it eliminates the need to ever dig through your backpack to change your radio settings again. The controls are all there within quick and easy reach whenever you need them.

The Smart mic is awesome, communication is good. They work great, in the category of a professional-grade radio, people are able to talk from town into Bear Creek, said Matt Steen.

The BC Link comes with the radio base unit as well as the Smart Mic. It is compatible with any backpack, although it is optimized for use with BCAs Stash and Float packs. The radios range is 2.5 miles line of sight and the battery comes with around 140 hours of life. The BC Link works with all standard talk about radios (FRS/GMRS radios) so you're easily able to communicate with other riders that are using other radio brands than the Link.

So how does the BC Link Radio actually work in the mountains? Pretty damn well. Compared with other radios designed for use by skiers and snowboarders, the BC Link comes out a clear winner. The biggest difference is the BC Links operating frequencies (FRS 0.5 watt) and GMRS (1 watt). This allows it to power through terrain and work clearly at an incredible distance. Nearly every radio works well in close proximity, but the BC Link provides a clear connection at great distances, even with trees, mountains, and other terrain coming between the two users.

Finally, the BC Link allows every rider in your party or in the case of Tellurideevery rider on the mountain to tune in. There is no limit to the number of people that can be talking/listening in on the same frequency.

Using the BC Link at Telluride

There have already been great results with the BC Link Radio at Telluride. Its fast becoming an essential backcountry safety tool alongside avalanche education, beacons, shovels, and probes. The radio initiative has increase safety by giving riders the ability to discuss possible hazards, report snowpack conditions, report avalanche event information, and relay other information that could affect other riders. If an emergency situation does arise, the use of radios allows you to provide clear information to professional rescue parties.

It will be interesting to see how quickly similar radio programs are adopted by other popular backcountry areas.

* The current Bear Creek access channel is 4-4 and the Ophir Channel is 4.


Mike Hardaker is editor & founder of the Mountain Weekly News. An avid snowboarder, surfer and runner he is always on the go. Mike can be found testing snowboard gearat Jackson Hole Mountain Resort and the surrounding backcountry.