Cure the Backcountry Blues - Kick Some Cornice

I was certain it would snow while I was gone. Seems to be the case most of the time - I leave town and it snows. Sorry folks.

Well okay, it did snow but it was just a skiff of snow (3-6" at most) and what snow there was got blown around, exposing the bullet proof crusts that abound in the backcountry of Utah. If we're splitting hairs, it did snow but for most intents and purposes, it didn't. If you're like me, you're conjuring up images of Monty Python's Holy Grail..."either you're dead or your not dead"...I digress.

So what's a guy to do on a weekend in the Wasatch? Go for long walks and kick cornices. This photo and text comes from one of our blog readers:

Here's something to supplement your bad conditions post. We skinned for 6 hours on Sunday. The best time we had was kicking cornices. This cornice started and avalanched about 200 feet down the ridge.

But before you just head out into the backcountry to kick some cornice be sure to check your skill and technique with this Cornice Kicking Technique tutorial from Bruce Tremper of the Utah Avalanche Center.

Do you have a good story or picture of kicking cornices? Send them to horde @ backcountry . com and we'll publish them here.

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