Backcountry Touring Field Trip 1 - Mazama Ridge (Mount Rainier)

Field trip: Backcountry Touring Course

Backcountry Touring Field Trip 1 - Mazama Ridge (Mount Rainier)

Backcountry Touring Field Trip 1 - Edith Basin-Mazama Ridge (Paradise)

  • Moderate, M1 Intremediate Ski
  • Moderate
  • Mileage: 6.0 mi
  • Elevation Gain: 2,000 ft

Field trip #1 - Basic backcountry travel skills Students will demonstrate that they have all necessary gear and means to carry it Practice :

1. Touring movement skills

  • 1. Keep your skins cold and moisture free before you tour
  • 2. Drag ski, don’t pick it up
  • 3. Use risers when needed
  • 4. Loosen bootstraps when going up hill
  • 5. With loose snow, stomp\compact snow when laying skin track\steep track
  • 6. If you’ll need crampons, put them on before you need them

2. Kick turns

  • 1. Kick heel
  • 2. Shove downhill ski tail under the uphill ski to bring the center of gravity closer to you

3. Transitions

  • 1. If the skins are icing up, scrape them across the ski edge
  • 2. Stuff skins in jacket to help prevent icing
  • 3. Show two different standing transitions
Meeting place and time

TBD

Leader's notes

Travel skills and applied route planning, in more complex terrain and over longer distance

Location subject to change based on availability, weather and avalanche conditions.

Route/Place

Mazama Ridge (Mount Rainier)



  • USGS Mt Rainier East

    Green Trails Mt Rainier East No. 270

    Green Trails Paradise No. 270S

    Green Trails Mount Rainier Wonderland No. 269SX
  • See full route/place details.
Roster
Required Equipment

Required Equipment

Standard back country touring equipment. See course gear check list.

Trip Reports