The Danger of the vacation mindset in the Backcountry

We have all heard “The Mountains will be here tomorrow” but when on vacation people are thinking “But I won’t” and it seems people put added pressure on themselves to ride that one line they have been dreaming of since they had booked there tickets and that is the danger of the vacation mindset in the backcountry. In the past I have personally felt that pressure and I thought I would give a an example of when I went for it and had to pay for it and another time that I had to change my plans but found it really hard to do so because my time in an area was limits.

The time I went for a line and paid dearly

Back during the days that I had set up a seasonal project of doing the 10 highest Peaks in Washington I had just got sponsored and I really wanted to prove my worth. The plan was to spend the whole Spring touring out to these destinations when each line was in its prime but I got an opportunity to go down to South America and be included in a film by Sweetgrass Productions Called Solitaire. While it was an honor to be involved my opportunities to tour these lines got cut in half so I really needed to take advantage of every opportunity that I could.

One of the more isolated peaks was a mountain called Goode which would require about five days and was the most stressful peak within the project having both a steep face and a long approach. With the first good weather window we went for it and after a brutally long approach we camped at the base of the line and while I was nervous I knew this was my only chance for the season.

The Climb

The next morning we woke up and were climbing the lower slopes well before sunrise happy to find powder snow skinning up 3000 feet before making it to the base of a 2000 foot couloir 50 degree couloir. When we put on our crampons and started climbing it was firm but under a lot of personal pressure we started climbing it hoping the snow would soften the line.

For the next few hours we front pointed up the line and I was terrified to look down crawling up with two ice axes in hand. I remember being so thirsty but I was so nervous I couldn’t even imagine getting into my backpack and once I made it to the top I was exhausted. We had hoped that the sun would soften the line but it was still bulletproof snow and a fall would have been nasty if not fatal and help was days away so we chatted about what to do for 30 minutes as the sun was setting. We went over our options and finally decided it was too dangerous to go back down the way we came so we decided to drop down the opposite side of the mountain but there was a few problems.
1st All of our food and gear was back at camp
2nd now that we were on the south side we would have to skin xxxxx miles to get back to our gear

We rode down the opposite side of the mountain to some avalanche debris where there was some broken trees and that night we sat next to the fire shivering, hungry and generally miserable. With the first light of the day we started our long approach back to the camp, our food and our sleeping bags. With no food we just drank as much water as possible and kept moving forward skinning a total of 14 miles. Once we got back to camp we ate so much food that we got sick but at least we were in our sleeping bags.

It was brutal but it was a learning experience.

Now the time I decided not to go

Three years back my focus was on completing a few final ski traverse so I could link Mt. Baker to Mt. Rainier and I needed to do the Watson Traverse. The Watson is a climb up and over Mt. Baker than a traverse over to the Mt. Baker ski resort requiring riding a 6,000 foot line on Baker. At the time I was living in Finland so I had bought a month long ticket to Seattle and just waited for a weather window. As I sat there checking the forecast every day, finally a day of sunshine showed up but there was one problem, prominent winds and a bunch of new snow had made the slope wind loaded and I was asking for a massive slab avalanche in a place where mistakes are unacceptable. I debated it in my mind for a long time knowing that it was my only chance to do it that season and kept going back and forth on what to do but in the end I decided it really wasn’t worth taking such a huge risk but I have to admit It was really really hard to say no and I felt that I had failed during the time. Looking back I know that I made the right decision but I had beaten myself up when flying back on the airplane. Now that I look back I know it was an insane thought but it was really hard to say no and not feel like a failure. I had put myself under so much pressure thinking “Yeah the mountains will be here tomorrow but I won’t” and had almost got caught in the danger of the vacation mindset in the backcountry.

Another example but without the pressure

I had gone to New Zealand numerous seasons putting in the miles ski touring but the first question I would always hear is “When are you going to ride Mt. Cook”. While I really wanted to ride it I knew that it was a steep and technical line to climb let alone ski so I kept it as an option but that perfect moment never arrived. I had no personal pressure but a bit of pressure wanting to prove myself on the line that people kept asking me about (this is another topic all together). Now looking back I am happy with my decision and although I never got the conditions I would have felt comfortable with I am satisfied with what I did throughout the seasons.

Conclusion

Both inside and outside pressure can make ski touring a super dangerous sport with people dying all the time because they had to ride that one line. I’ve joked for years that my life was based off the weather and after my trip to Goode I’ve been more reluctant to just charge for a line. Be it a week or a month where your time is limited you must not be so focused on one line. For example sometimes when I am in Lyngen and it just had a heavy load of snow and there are numerous groups climbing The Godmother of all Couloirs as it is possibly the most famous line in Lyngen. We are all waiting for the day that a massive accident happens while groups are climbing it and it’s all because they are under pressure and have the danger of the vacation mindset in the backcountry. It’s so easy to say don’t get caught in that trap but the big thing is to come up with numerous options of things to do and don’t focus on one specific line. This is what I’ve done for the most part for the past few years and I’ve found it super rewarding and much less stressful.

Final Thoughts

I’m not saying to not have a “Dream Line” but don’t do it because of pressure wait until the time is right or be prepared to back down if you get there and the conditions aren’t favorable and think about the danger of the vacation mindset in the backcountry. Sure you may not be back to the area again but you really won’t be back if you die because you didn’t give a line enough time to stabilize. As for Goode a few years later I went back under a different mindset and found the same line in the best conditions you could ask for.