Communication is key. Running a business, nurturing a relationship, deciding on what to eat for dinner no matter what you're doing, if you're working with other people, communication is key. In the world of the backcountry, your team has lots to consider, from avoiding avalanches to sniffing out untracked snow. Important stuff!
On the safety side, avalanche education has progressed past just identifying common human factors that lead to accidents. In fact, curricula like the American Institute for Avalanche Research and Educations (AIARE) now focus more on behaviors and teamwork designed to short-circuit human factors, rather than discussing the factors themselves. Paramount in those behaviors is, you guessed it, effective communication.
Finding quality turns requires keeping in touch, too. If we're going to all this trouble to avoid avalanches, you may as well maximize communication so you can enjoy the very best snow you can find. But how?
Can You Hear Me Now?
Its become a joke, the oft-uttered phrase, Can you hear me now? The problems posed by sketchy cell phone coverage is a nice metaphor for the communication issues you and your friends may run into while in the backcountry. First off, the obvious. Cell phones themselves are simply impractical away from town service is unreliable, one must dial every time to establish comms, and conversations are one-one-on, rather than within the whole group. Not an ideal situation.
Going old-school isn't a great option, either. Shouting on a windy day, hollering through trees, even trying to talk in the skin track or on the sled when it's crunchy and frozen you often left wondering what the guy three people ahead of you just said. Usually just a minor annoyance, but if he remarked, Whoa, that's the third whumpf I've gotten at this elevation, then you might just miss the information that will save your hide.
Now imagine the last guy in line falling into a tree well or somebody at the front starting down the wrong drainage or a team member cutting a couloir any delay in communication here can be a serious hassle or even life-threatening.
But there's an easy fix. It's relatively cheap, it's damn reliable, and it's easy to incorporate into your backcountry process. In fact, once you do it, you'll wonder how you ever lived without it.
Safer Backcountry, BetterBackcountry
Explore the backcountry with radios and you're not only safer, but you also get better turns, too. You can hear every word spoken by your partners, real-time, no shouting, no stress. Small mistakes get resolved before they're big ones. An embarrassing fall into a tree well is just that, an embarrassment rather than an after-hours stress fest. First-person down the slope can direct others to the Hero Line of the Century.
This last point is often overlooked radio help you find the best turns at slope-scale, meaning on micro features on a given run. Even if you skied just a tad too much to the right, key the mic, tell your sisters to slide left and you're Santa Claus in a soft-shell. Want safer, better riding its easy with radios.
The Evolution
A decade ago, your choices were between a fragile and cheap handheld or a programmable, expensive unit better suited for Jack Bauer from the TV show 24. The obsessive engineers over at Backcountry Access tired of shorted-out cheapo and misplacing thousand-dollar models so they developed a middle balance with the affordable, reliable, and effective BC Link radios.
Compatible with GMRS and FRS systems (so other members of your party can use cheap talk about radios if they have them), the BC Links are waterproof to IP56 standards, employ a 3.7-volt lithium-ion battery for longer life, and weigh a mere 12 ounces. The base unit stashes in your pack or on a belt while the smart mic affixes to your packs shoulder strap via an alligator clip. One trip with them and I was sold.
The BCA Links will save you hundreds of dollars when compared to a programmable, higher-powered VHF radio, the kind used by guides and patrollers, too. You still get serious power (2.5 miles line-of-sight range) and glove-friendly convenience, all for a steal.
Teamwork
Beacons have gotten so good and techniques like strategic shoveling have saved us so much time, the craft of self-rescue has improved our chances of survival dramatically but avoiding mistakes, accidents, and burials is the next-level solution. Human factors are where we make our mistakes and clear, effective communication is the foundation of proper teamwork. No other tool in our kit makes as much of a difference as a reliable radio. The BCA Link bridges the gap between throw-away handhelds and the units used by heli-guides and pro patrollers. One tour with them and I bet your team invests in one for everyone.
Incorporate radios into your backcountry game and you'll not only be far safer, but you'll also get more of the goods, too. Communication is the key, all you need to do is turn it on!
Rob Coppolillo is an IFMGA-certified mountain guide and just spent a week in Canada you guessed it, blabbering on the radio. He's based in Boulder, Colorado, and co-owns Vetta Mountain Guides.