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Crystal Springs 12/11 - Learnings!

With avy danger High near and above treeline yesterday and a longstanding policy against resort skiing on a weekend I decided to take my new (to me) sled out for my second trip (ever). Was heading for a re-do at Gold Creek but encountered KCSAR that had the place shut down for a rescue operation so moved on along to Crystal Springs. Met the sheriff right away - fortunately had my tag and permit :face-icon-small-hap It was so damn exciting to have it on the ground, running and ready to take off I could barely stand to pause and take this pic
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It wasn't until after I had rolled it onto its side in the parking lot (in an effort to answer the pressing question of how to turn around sharply), driven down to the Kachees SP and was halfway up a trail (****ting my pants that I wouldn't be able to find a way to turn around) that it happened: Death grip on the bars loosened, started leaning into acceleration, moving side to side and riding the damn thing instead of being taken for a ride. Pretty cool feeling.

Confidence heading back out the main road was double what it was coming in so picked up the pace a little and started playing in the deep stuff on the side. I was less than 1/4 mile from the overpass when I got it stuck on its side :face-icon-small-dis So got my first lesson at digging out, which wasn't bad. What sucked was getting it started again. Thank god I had cell signal and was able to Google search my way out of that one. Made it back to the lot after a little over 13 miles of riding.

Appreciate everyone I met along the way that was friendly and helpful - seems like a great community of riders!

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After reading your post I do not recommend riding alone, especially with your inexperience. I am not trying to be mean but it is people like you that we read about in the paper or see on the news. If you had to Google how to start your sled after it was on its side that is not good. Very glad to see you had fun though. Happy sledding
 
After reading your post I do not recommend riding alone, especially with your inexperience. I am not trying to be mean but it is people like you that we read about in the paper or see on the news. If you had to Google how to start your sled after it was on its side that is not good. Very glad to see you had fun though. Happy sledding

That's a really good thing to call out and is a chance to share a valuable context of my decision to travel alone for any readers inexperienced in back country travel. Was there risk involved in traveling alone? Certainly. I mitigated that risk by choosing a well-traveled location on a busy day, going early enough in the day that I would not run out of daylight too soon in the event I had to walk out, carrying the 10 essentials, and not traveling farther than I was capable of walking out without having to stay the night (barring injury). I had a GPS with me that I was tracking my trail with in addition to a 2-way satellite messenger (Delorme InReach) that was tracking my position with my emergency contact with whom I have established protocols for cadence of communications and when to call for help if I don't check in. I did not travel on or underneath avalanche prone slopes and did not go off the trail where I could fall into a tree well. It's impossible to mitigate all risk so I'm sure there's more that could be done up to and including never traveling alone but my decision was made within my risk tolerance, which is different for everyone. This is great topic thank you for bringing it up!
 
Sounds like you were prepared, just hate to hear about people riding alone. This is a fun sport, I think once you get the hang of it you will have a blast.
 
That's a really good thing to call out and is a chance to share a valuable context of my decision to travel alone for any readers inexperienced in back country travel. Was there risk involved in traveling alone? Certainly. I mitigated that risk by choosing a well-traveled location on a busy day, going early enough in the day that I would not run out of daylight too soon in the event I had to walk out, carrying the 10 essentials, and not traveling farther than I was capable of walking out without having to stay the night (barring injury). I had a GPS with me that I was tracking my trail with in addition to a 2-way satellite messenger (Delorme InReach) that was tracking my position with my emergency contact with whom I have established protocols for cadence of communications and when to call for help if I don't check in. I did not travel on or underneath avalanche prone slopes and did not go off the trail where I could fall into a tree well. It's impossible to mitigate all risk so I'm sure there's more that could be done up to and including never traveling alone but my decision was made within my risk tolerance, which is different for everyone. This is great topic thank you for bringing it up!

Good job, be careful out there as your confidence increases stay smart.
 
I mitigated that risk by choosing a well-traveled location on a busy day, going early enough in the day that I would not run out of daylight too soon in the event I had to walk out, carrying the 10 essentials, and not traveling farther than I was capable of walking out without having to stay the night (barring injury). I had a GPS with me that I was tracking my trail with in addition to a 2-way satellite messenger (Delorme InReach) that was tracking my position with my emergency contact with whom I have established protocols for cadence of communications and when to call for help if I don't check in. I did not travel on or underneath avalanche prone slopes and did not go off the trail where I could fall into a tree well. It's impossible to mitigate all risk so I'm sure there's more that could be done up to and including never traveling alone but my decision was made within my risk tolerance, which is different for everyone. This is great topic thank you for bringing it up!

Perfectly planned out...That's probably one of the busiest places to ride and safest. That nice, wide open area under the powerlines is a great area to learn the basics of what your sled can and cannot do too.
 
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