Monthly Archives: August 2009

Boulder County Sheriff Reports Case of Possible Shovel Abuse at BCA

The Boulder Police Department were called to the scene early in the a.m on August 19, 2009 as reports began rolling in from neighbors about a local man possibly abusing an avalanche shovel in front of his residence.

When police arrived at 2820 Wilderness Place Unit H,  the Tour Shovel and suspect were sitting on the curb chatting over a latte, apparently things had cooled off a bit. When asked about the incident, the Shovel replied, “We were just messing around, he does that to me all the time. Nothing can damage me, I’m totally bomber, dude!”

When it was the suspects time to answer a few questions, he replied,… Read more

The beach: the ultimate beacon training ground

It’s a lot easier practicing with your beacon than it used to be, thanks to over 50 BCA Beacon Training Parks that Backcountry Access has installed in various alpine countries. But if you really want to make beacon searching fun, try it on the beach. We do this every fall at BCA rep training at Boulder Reservoir. Last year, to train our European distributors, we rented an outdoor volleyball complex in downtown Munich. One of my favorite places to practice, however, is on the ocean–particularly in Ocean Park, Maine, where our family gets together every summer (Higgins Beach, 20 minutes north, has some of the greatest surf in underrated New… Read more

First Powder Day Catedral – by Miles Clark

I have been living in the ski town of Bariloche in Argentine Patagonia since this past April. I got here early so I could get everything dialed in and be more than ready for that first powder day. The first step was buying a season’s pass at the local ski hill, Cerro Catedral. It’s the biggest resort in South America with 38 lifts, 3,700 vertical feet, and 3,000 acres of terrain. The ski resort is no well oiled machine, but they do have an open boundary policy and even a puma lift that helps you access the “side-country” (backcountry accessed by using ski lifts). Of course, this lift has been… Read more