With a steady stream of record-setting performances, ultramarathoner Dean Karnazes continues to redefine the outer limits of human endurance. In the past year alone, he completed a mind-boggling 50 marathons in 50 days in The North Face’s Endurance 50. Karnazes, author of the best-selling book Ultramarathon Man: Confessions of an All-Night Runner, answers EPIC’s questions about running, his life, and his worldview.

Q: What do you do to recover?
A: Drink copious amounts of tequila (laughter). Just kidding. To recover, sometimes after really long runs I take ice baths. I make sure to drink ample fluids after running, and eat salmon four or five days a week. The Omega-3s in salmon really seem to help with recovery.

Q: What's your favorite inspirational quote?
A: "It's not how many times you fall down that matters, it's how many times you get back up." My dad once said that to me.

Q: How many pairs of runners do you own or go through in a year?
A: Right now, I own about 50 pairs of running shoes. I do footwear testing and development for The North Face, so I'm constantly trying new designs. I typically burn through about 25 to 30 pairs a year, just in running alone.

Q: As you wrote in your book, many people come to a point where they are not happy with their lives, but not many come to the conclusion that running for 24 hours straight will solve the problem. What would our world be like if there were more people doing endurance sports?
A: I guess the environment would be in better shape. We'd also save a lot in healthcare costs. Kidding aside, I think many people find self-fulfillment through endurance sports. From personal experience, I know that I’m a better person, a happier person, because of my participation in endurance sports. Perhaps if everyone started running, this world might be a better place.

Q: When you started running again on your 30th birthday, it was like a therapy. Is it still like that for you?
A: Very much so. To me, running is tremendously liberating. Running rejuvenates my spirit. I know a lot of other runners who feel this same way.

Q: You've found out a lot about your body and your mind through running. These lessons could be beneficial for the rest of your life, while running less. What keeps you running so much?
A: It's the idea of "Never Stop Exploring," the concept of always trying to go farther, of trying to expand the perceived limitations of your capability. Ultimately, it's about personal growth and expansion.

Q: In life, many people try to avoid pain, but you invite pain. Talk about this.
A: In Western culture, I think we've created an ideal that doesn’t serve us well. We thought that if we had every imaginable convenience, if we removed all pain and discomfort from our lives, we'd be happy. What we've found instead is that because we're so comfortable, we're miserable. There is no struggle in our lives, no pain. What I've found is that I never feel so alive as when I'm in pain and struggling.

Q: You've developed a special technique to manage pain during running. How do you apply this?
A: I use a method I simply call "baby steps." Instead of thinking about the distances still left to cover, which can be daunting and overwhelming, I just focus on taking one step at a time. Even if there are hundreds of kilometers still left in front of me, I don't think about that. I stay in the moment and just put one foot in front of the other, taking baby steps. You either keep going, or pass out. Either way, it's pretty adventurous.

Q: Men's Fitness magazine said you might just be the fittest man on the planet. Don't you have any weaknesses?
A: Oh, I have plenty, just ask my wife. Though my body is in pretty good shape, I still have lots of learning and personal growth ahead.

Q: Let's talk about the Endurance 50. Did you gain any new insights during these 50 marathons regarding running, or life in general?
A: What I saw during The North Face Endurance 50 was the very best in human nature. Thousands of other runners joined me at points along the way and ran with me. I received hundreds of messages and letters from across the globe. The positive energy and goodwill of people gave me tremendous hope that as a planet, we can live harmoniously and enjoy together this brief part of history when we all inhabit the universe.

Q: Running 50 marathons in 50 days sounds like a contradiction to all theories of training science, especially regarding recovery. Are you an anomaly of the human species?
A: What we saw during the 50 marathons was my body actually getting stronger, rather than breaking down, over the course of 50 days. The 50th marathon, the very last one, was my fastest time, 3:00:30. I don't think I'm unique or gifted in any way. I believe that if someone trained as hard as I did, and had the discipline to do all the things I did to prepare for the challenge, anybody could do it. The human body is remarkably resilient. I sometimes think we don't give ourselves enough credit for the things we can do.

Q: What do you think about the story of the fictional character of Forrest Gump who in one period of his life seems to run virtually nonstop?
A: I've never heard of that one (laughter).

Q: Are there any parallels to your life?
A: Funny, but I think there are. He seemed like a pretty simple person, and I would say I'm the same. Someone asked me the other day what I was going to do when I grew up. I answered, "I hope I never have to."

Q: What are you plans for the future? Running around the world? On the moon?
A: Funny you should say that—someone just submitted my name to NASA as a person who could run a marathon on the moon. For now, I'll keep my feet on the ground.

Want to learn more about Dean Karnazes?Click here.

Posted on April 24,2007

By Leslie Woit

In peak climbing season, the slopes of the Himalayas are peopled by a kind of United Nations. Yet scratch the surface of any successful high-alpine expedition, and you’ll find the same ethnic group again and again: the Sherpa.

Members of a Tibetan tribe who settled in Nepal a few centuries ago, the Sherpa are renowned for their physical strength, stamina and, most notably, their natural acclimatization to the region’s head-spinning altitude.

They’re often called the unsung heroes of the Himalayas—few climbers ever reach these mountains’ heights without the aid of local Sherpa teams carrying food, fuel, gear, and oxygen, and providing support on a summit push.

What could be better?

How about a safety-based curriculum that covers technical ice-climbing skills, medical training, rescue procedures, and English lessons? The Khumbu Climbing School provides an annual intensive two-week session attended by nearly 60 Sherpa altitude workers.

“Sherpas are amazing people, they’re so strong. They have the best attitude, and are so excited to learn and be at the school,” says Heidi Wirtz, a Boulder, Colorado–based mountain guide who has taught for three consecutive years at the first formal training operation for Sherpas, the Khumbu Climbing School.

“Year to year, the change is amazing,” observes Wirtz. “Some are leading ice by the end of the school. Plus they have a lot of fun—and they don’t really have a lot of fun in their lives.”

Created under the auspices of the Alex Lowe Charitable Foundation, the school is the brainchild of Jenni Lowe-Anker and Conrad Anker, two Americans with strong links to Nepalese mountain life. The couple—she the widow and he the former climbing partner of Alex Lowe, who was killed in an avalanche in Tibet in 1999—started the trailblazing school four years ago. Its stated aim is to provide the basic training and fundamental skills needed to make high-altitude work as safe as possible for the Sherpas. The implied advantage is to give something back to the community that has given them—and gave their loved one, Alex—so much.

Training is conducted on frozen waterfalls on the northern flank of Khumbila Peak, with groups divided according to their varying degrees of know-how.

“Our group was comprised of a remarkable team of individuals,” explains Khumba Climbing School teacher Pete Athans, a fluent Nepali speaker who has climbed Everest seven times. “There was Jamling Bhotia, who had climbed both Everest and Cho Oyu within the previous year. On the other end of the spectrum was Kiran Rai, a slender, athletic person who had been involved in the trekking business, though he had never climbed per se.”

Any differences in experience levels, according to Athans, are compensated for by the students’ “remarkable enthusiasm and almost boundless, unbridled energy.”

All guides volunteer their time for free, and cover their own expenses. The project is frugally run, and also serves to inject money into the local economy by renting its accommodation.

Like the other 14 Western guides at Khumbu Climbing School, Wirtz recognises the value in world-class climbers providing consistent training to their field colleagues. Convening in the off-season, within sight of Cho Oyu and only miles from mighty Mount Everest, she sees her contribution as part of a greater whole, she says: “I’m putting my climbing towards something bigger.”

For more information on the Khumbu Climbing School in Phortse, Nepal, see www.alexlowe.org

Leslie Woit travels have taken her around the globe, including recent trips to Tibet and Norway.

Posted on April 4,2007

Pete Athans knows well the power of books—his lifelong quest to climb Mount Everest was inspired by one. Now, he wants to return the favor.

By Pete Athans

My earliest memories and some of my earliest motivations were inspired magically from the pages of books. Dogeared, folded pages, and smudged photographs characterized my early library, and there were many books to love, given that both of my parents were professional educators. But one title stands out as the best, though you wouldn’t have known it from looking at the cover. Rather, there were simply two crossed ice axes and a whimsical coil of climbing rope on the outside of this picture book about the Swiss who very nearly were the first climbers to summit Mount Everest in 1953, a year before the British. Tenzing Norgay Sherpa and Raymond Lambert were denied the summit then, but the photos of that remarkable book—as primitive and raw as they are—succeeded in engendering the dream of climbing Everest in the imagination of a 4-year-old. I was that boy, and though it required some time, I managed to reach the rooftop of the world seven times, mostly sparked by a commitment I silently made years before behind the pages of that remarkable book.

Now the dream is to put books into the hands of kids who live in the valley at the foot of Mount Everest—not only to inspire them to dream, but to encourage them to read. Those of us who have had the privilege of traveling to Khumbu first learned about the Sherpa’s homeland through books, magazines, and documentary films. We bring books when we travel to the high Himalaya, even exchange them with fellow climbers and trekkers in lodges, while kids look on. They covet the pictures they see in our magazines, often asking eager questions. Many never learn to read, destined to continue their cultural tradition of being trekking guides and climbing Sherpas. Many families are now sending their children to school in Kathmandu, a Twin Otter flight away from home, to get what they believe is a better education and increased chances of working outside the usual Sherpa jobs. The kids that remain will go to the local school and learn to read in Nepali and English, but at a basic level at best. The books they have access to in Khumbu are mostly government-issue textbooks. No books are whimsically illustrated, few are for pleasure, and none of the current titles contain words or images to spark their inquisitive minds.

What if we were to set up a small children’s library with books in English and Nepali for families to share?

The Magic Yeti Children’s Library will be the first of its kind in Khumbu, an attempt to increase literacy amongst the people of Khumbu and introduce children to books through art, adventure, family support, and community commitment. The library space will be a meeting place for children and families, a place where kids can work through puzzles, take part in art projects, and explore the world through books donated by families and kids from around the world.

My wife, Liesl Clark, first conceived the idea of The Magic Yeti Library. As a filmmaker and writer of six years for WGBH of Boston, she has produced episodes of the award-winning science series Nova, including “Into the Death Zone” and “Lost on Everest,” plus National Geographic’s film Surviving Everest, celebrating 50 years of Everest exploration. With all these films to her credit, she is no stranger to the Himalaya region, and she confesses that she is an accidental climber because her filmmaking has frequently taken her above 7,000 meters (22,966 feet).

Finn and Cleo, ages 3 and 1, round out our little nuclear team, but our family is not alone in our efforts to establish a library in the Himalayas. Our family has found many friends in the journey, including Phoebe Coburn of Jackson, Wyoming, and Jenni Lowe-Anker and Conrad Anker of Bozeman, Montana. Phoebe has been organizing book drives and donation parties, and has been extremely successful in raising funds in her hometown. Jenni and Conrad have been instrumental in assisting the library by bringing our project into the group of initiatives sponsored by the Alex Lowe Charitable Foundation. It is through this organization that we post our dispatches and updates, and it is where interested, inspired parties can join us and donate funds and books. Have a look at www.alexlowe.org for more information.

In addition to climbing Mount Everest seven times, Pete Athans "accidentally" completed the Seven Summits not too long ago.

Posted on April 4,2007

By Peter Kray

Lost in the dark on a snow-covered mountain, I had three thoughts sprinting through my mind: “I don’t want to die,” “I want to see my wife and dogs again,” and “If I live through this, I’m going to have some great material for my story about layering.”

For two weeks I’d interviewed technical clothing designers and outdoor retail experts about that very subject. I took copious notes on the apparently limitless possibilities of using base layers, insulating layers, and outerwear to build barriers of warmth between your skin, the cold, and the wind. And I was all set to write a story about how essential the right clothing is—“softgear,” as critical a piece of equipment as the right ice axe or avalanche transceiver. Then I set out for a short backcountry ski tour and got lost. In the blink of an eye, all my hours of theory were put into practice, and I was planning a strategy for survival in a potentially lethal situation.

I had already sweated through my base layer on the climb. And as I looked at the ominous ice-covered cliffs and long steep ridges back to where I thought I should be, I started sweating again.

At least I was well prepared—even for a supposedly short journey—with a backpack full of water, a space blanket, fire-starter, and extra layers of clothing. One of the few immediate positives was the VaporWick fabric in my base layer, actively wicking away the sweat and keeping the core of my body warm. As soft and pliable as an old T-shirt, the synthetic fabric was actively drying as I perspired, reducing evaporative heat loss as it pulled moisture away from my skin.

Whether it’s a synthetic, silk, or wool, a lightweight, midweight, or heavyweight layer, when you go into the mountains your base layer needs to be warm, comfortable, and, most importantly, able to quickly wick perspiration away from your skin. This is the essential step to prevent you from becoming hypothermic, and one which most modern base layers—unlike cotton—provide.

“The problem with cotton is that it doesn’t wick,” Linda Mogetz of The Boot Doctors in Taos, New Mexico, told me when I asked why “cotton kills,” has become a truism in mountaineering. “Whether it’s a synthetic, silk, or wool, you need something that will wick the sweat away from your body to keep you warm.”

A Ski Magazine Gold Medal ski shop for five years running, The Boot Doctors make their reputation by focusing on the essential needs of people who are active in the mountains. According to Mogetz, base layers are the starting point for almost every conversation.

For me, disoriented and more than a little distressed, it meant I could concentrate on more immediate methods of self-rescue. I first tried to skin up a steep ridge, but I got hopelessly bogged down in heavy powder that kept sloughing. Then I attempted to bootpack up a more direct ascent, where I sank through rotten snow clear to the ground.

I tried two more ascents, and added or removed a layer of clothing four separate times. When I tried to hike, I stripped down to my base layer. But every time I started to ski, I got cold almost instantaneously and had to put an insulating layer on.

“The idea of layering is that you can create a micro-environment around your body that you can control as you’re exercising,” David Schaeffer, product manager of Outerwear at The North Face had told me when I called to discuss the tenets of layering with him.

Schaeffer told me that versatility is the key, because, like your luck, the weather can change in a second in the mountains. “I think people are really starting to understand how they can use layers in the mountains and dial in what they need to bring,” he said.

After the fourth failed ascent, I needed a dramatic change of approach. I decided to ski for the valley and the highway far below, dumping vertical as quickly as possible while I still had light from the rapidly setting sun. I put on a vest, and then a softshell jacket over that, well-insulated against everything but my growing anxiety about what was to come.

Whether it’s fleece, down, or a synthetic fill jacket that wraps around your core like a big bear hug, Schaeffer said, “The insulating layer creates a halo of non-moving air around your body to keep you warm.”

Down provides the pinnacle of insulation in high-altitude environments, he added, and compresses easily. But when it’s wet, it doesn’t do anything.

“It becomes completely useless and can actually make you colder,” Schaeffer said. “Synthetic insulation is heavier and less compressible, but it retains its shape when it’s wet, which means it continues to trap warm air for insulation.”

As the stars came out, followed by the most beautiful light-throwing moon I have ever seen (thank you, moon), I realized I wasn’t going to get wet anytime soon. Not unless I fell into the snow-covered creek I had to keep crossing as the drainage led me into a box canyon.

Alternating skiing and hiking where the snow had melted off the trail, I dropped some 6,000 vertical feet in about 10 miles between 6 and 9 p.m. When I found a picnic table I almost cried, then a rutted road, a dumpster (a dumpster!), and finally a graded dirt road where I was out in the open in a cold, gusting wind.

Hiking in my ski boots, wondering why there weren’t any lights around the lake below, I stopped one last time to put on my outerwear. Waterproof, windproof, and breathable, this was my last hard-shelled defense against the cold. Snuggled up inside with my pit zips open to expel the excess heat, I felt I could walk all night if that became the plan.

“The outer layer or weather barrier’s first job is to protect the integrity of the warm air trapped by insulators,” Schaeffer had explained about the last critical layer. “But it also keeps the wind from penetrating and letting cold air replace the warm air around your core. It protects you from direct contact with cold water and snow, which is the fastest way to lose heat in the mountains.”

Having all three layers was critical to my staying warm. The base layer, the insulation, and the outerwear all contributed to my being able to dial in my protection while I searched for shelter and a speedy return to civilization.

It’s the reason I was smiling, bundled up in all my gear, as the headlights finally came up the road behind me. I didn’t even have to wave—so odd was the sight of a benighted skier in this summer recreation area. The window came down and a voice from inside the warm, heated car asked, “Where did you come from, man?”

Layer by Layer

Base layers: When choosing your base layer, decide how much exercise you really want to do. If you plan on lots of aerobic activity, a lightweight layer is best. Mid- or heavyweight layers are for colder situations or less strenuous activity. Having a heavier base layer in your pack is always a good idea.

Insulation: Probably the most versatile layer, the insulation layer can also double as outerwear in moderate conditions. Fleece is the most versatile layer, because of its ability to dry quickly and keep insulating even when it’s wet. Vests or down jackets are easy to store and also great to keep in your pack.

Outerwear: As simple as a rain jacket or as beefy and durable as a full-on GORE-TEX XCR shell, your outerwear needs to provide an effective barrier between you and the wind, rain, and snow.

Pete Kray writes about epic outdoor adventures from Santa Fe, New Mexico

Posted March 21, 2007

Human factors—you know, the emotional and psychological baggage that influence daily judgement—serve us well most of the time. But—and it’s a big but—they can lead you down an avalanche chute of bad decisions in the backcountry. To avoid being a victim, you need to be keenly aware of human factors in backcountry terrain selection.

In an analysis of all of the fatal avalanche articles in the 1990s, researchers determined that terrain, weather, and snowpack conditions all contributed—but that the primary culprits were human factors.(1)

Learning to recognize when your own human factors are affecting a decision is the only way to stop yourself before you do something that leads to a serious accident.

Some recent research(2) offers much-needed tools in that task.

When you’re spending a day in the backcountry with friends, it’s essential—but not easy—to admit that you’re heading into avalanche terrain. Before you hit that high-risk environment—and while you’re there—here are some ways to head off those dangerous human-factor problems:

• Choose partners whose risk-acceptance levels are similar to yours, and who you communicate with easily. You and your partners should have agreed-upon goals and objectives as well as comparable travel skills.

• Become a team. In a team, everyone is responsible for the outcome. Encourage team members to communicate observations and to challenge group decisions when uncomfortable.

• When there is no assigned group leader, it’s imperative that the group self-manage. To achieve this goal, a group must use a “team mentality.” If there is a group leader, he or she will achieve better buy-in from group members by including all in the decision-making process.

• Group members must communicate. Start the day by asking what everyone in the group feels the avalanche danger is and what their recommendations are for avoiding trouble. Revisit this discussion often during the day.

The objective of a trip may be to ski “Big Bowl” or climb “Mellow Mountain,” but the goal is always to return safely. Make a clear distinction between the goal and the objective at the start of the trip. After that, use the communication methods mentioned above, and the stage is set for proactively taming human-factor problems.

You can avoid many of these “perception traps,” which pose great risk in the backcountry. Begin by doing accurate planning and preparation. Before getting in the field, ask yourself, “Who am I going with? Can I communicate well with these team members? Is their risk-acceptance level similar to mine?” Make sure you use team concepts, and avoid becoming just another random group with no plan or options in place. In a team, everyone is responsible for the outcome.

In some instances, you may find yourself in a group where you can sense that they may be oblivious to the fact that they are recreating in a high-risk environment. They may also be unaware of the many potentially dangerous human factors. It will be up to you to set up the platform for communication within this group. One simple icebreaker in such a group is to ask what they think the avalanche danger is that day. This approach can get the communication ball rolling; from there, attempt to develop a strategy to deal with the tour. If you can see your efforts are falling on deaf ears, reconsider being part of such a group.

You should take an avalanche course (www.avtraining.org) to learn what avalanche terrain looks like, so when you travel through it, you can utilize appropriate terrain selection for the conditions and your group’s abilities—along with using proper travel techniques to further minimize risk.

During this formative stage of your backcountry experience, err on the side of caution. Take little bites, and you’ll live to eat the whole pie!

Tom Murphy is the executive director of the American Institute for Avalanche Research and Education. Howie Schwartz is a UIAGM mountain guide.

(1) D. Atkins 2000. Human Factors in Avalanche Accidents. 2000 International Snow and Science Workshop. Proceedings 46-51.
(2) World Avalanche Fatalities, 1999-2003. Utah Avalanche Center.

By J. D. Dooley

IIn 218 B.C. the brilliant Carthaginian general and military strategist Hannibal lost about half of his troops crossing the Alps, and they didn’t fall off their elephants. His troops succumbed to hypothermia.

Although the term is often thrown around, hypothermia is a serious medical condition that occurs when the body’s core temperature drops below 95 F.

Even now, two millennia hence, hypothermia is still the greatest outdoor danger. While the lack of oxygen can lead to exhaustion and bad decision-making in the death zone of Mount Everest, it’s hypothermia that will get you in the end.

Everest is pretty extreme, so let’s look a little closer to home––and sea level. In the White Mountains of New Hampshire, since 1849, there have been at least 30 deaths directly linked to hypothermia, including an Appalachian Trail thru-hiker in September 2004.

(check out more on the awesome White Mountains)

Know the Enemy
There are three distinct and progressive stages of hypothermia:

Mild hypothermia occurs when the body temperature drops y 1.8–3.6 F, or to between 96.8–95 F. This is when mild to moderate uncontrolled shivering begins. Your hands become numb as your blood vessels begin contracting, and you lose the ability to perform complex tasks. Speech sometimes becomes slurred.

Moderate hypothermia occurs when the body temperature drops by 3.6–7.2 F, or to between 95–91.4 F. At this point shivering worsens and coordination becomes greatly impaired. Stumbling may occur, and the afflicted will grow increasing pale, while cyanosis (the blue tint caused by a lack of oxygenated blood) appears on the fingers and lips. Blood vessels continue to contract as the body does all it can to keep the vital organs warm. This stage of hypothermia can impair reasoning, and individuals often feel very tired.

Profound hypothermia occurs when the body temperature drops below 90 F. At that point, shivering stops and almost all coordination is lost. Many suffering at this level will make completely irrational decisions and may even cease to feel cold. Victims often collapse and slip into unconsciousness. Eventually major organs fail and death occurs.

That’s the bad news. The good news is that nearly all cases are preventable. The easiest way to prevent hypothermia is to never go where it’s cold. If that’s your intention, you can stop reading now. If not, we turn to backpacking instructor Mike Boone, who teaches a course at Appalachian State University in Boone, N.C.

Appalachian State is in the heart of the Blue Ridge Mountains, not only near the Appalachian Trail but adjacent to scores of wilderness areas and national parklands. The area is truly rife with recreational opportunities and populated by a corps of outdoor enthusiasts. And like many universities in outstanding settings, Appalachian State runs an aggressive outdoor program of instruction.

“I was thinking about hypothermia on the most recent class backpacking trip,” Boone says. “The conditions were prime—it was cold, overcast, with something between sleet and freezing rain falling. It occurred to me that, in large part, surviving in the wilderness is essentially avoiding hypothermia.

“The keys to survival involve shelter, water, and food. I’ve been hypothermic at least three times, and as I think back on the situations, at least one of these important factors––shelter, water, or food––had been compromised.”

The key to avoiding hypothermia, Boone points out, is to be prepared for changing weather conditions that frequently occur in remote wilderness locations. Anytime you go into the wilderness, even for a day hike or fast climb, you should have clothing and gear enough to keep you fed, dry, and warm overnight.

Even if you avoid hypothermia yourself, you may encounter someone else less fortunate. If so, there are a few basic steps you can take to administer first aid. First, seek professional medical help. Call for a rescue and get the evacuation ball rolling, then stay with the person until help arrives. Second, provide the victim with dry warmth in the form of shelter, clothing, sleeping bag (or blankets), and a sleeping pad to insulate them from the cold ground. If they are able to eat and drink, offer them hot food and drink, unless they are suffering from profound hypothermia. In these cases, it is very important to be gentle with the victims, as rough movements, such as forcing them to walk, can draw cold blood into the warmer core, resulting in shock. With profound hypothermia, focus on maintaining, not raising, the body temperature until professional medical help arrives.

J.D. Dooley is a writer and photographer who lives in the North Carolina High Country.

Posted on March 19, 2007

As athletes and outdoor enthusiasts, we are all interested in preventing injuries. Whether you are hiking, biking, skiing, boarding, climbing, or running, the most feared of all injuries is one that affects the knee. Knees are the gatekeepers to the higher ground for people who crave movement and adventure.

If you wanted to quibble with the Creator, you could actually say the knee is a poorly designed joint. Lacking the bony blocks of the ankle and elbow that prevent excessive movement, the knee is mostly soft tissue stabilized by ligaments, tendons, and muscles way above and below the actual joint. Which leads to the question, how do you strengthen something like that?

By understanding the knee’s structures, you’re able to implement strategies to strengthen the muscles intelligently, help the body move more efficiently, and train and facilitate good elasticity and flexibility. Training with multi-planar and multi-joint movements addresses these major issues. If you want to play dynamically, you have to train dynamically.

Here is my beginner-to-intermediate-level workout designed specifically for strength, injury prevention, and joint integrity.

Lunge Warm up: Distance of 20 ft down and back or 15 each side.

Squat Workout:VMO or Vastrus Medialis Oblique is your main internal stabilizer of your Quadriceps. Strengthening this muscle aids in better tracking and will ease and encourage pain free movement for previously injured knees or recovering knee’s.

Click here for Squat exercises.
Print this Warm Up

If you train only your strengths, you strengthen your weaknesses. Multi-planar movements strengthen the major muscles, but more importantly, they strengthen the smaller stabilizers, tendons, and ligaments. This approach eliminates weak points in the surrounding tissues and movement patterns.

Multi-joint movements are the best way to gain lower body strength and train the backup systems of the knee joint. These movements maximize as many muscles as possible at the same time or, more simply put, they create strength in numbers and good communication between muscle groups. By combining these two universal philosophies, multi-joint movements train the nervous system and muscles to react and act more efficiently together.

Knee Survival Tips:

• The body loves 90 degrees. Don’t let your knees go over your toes or behind your ankle.

• Tight muscles pull on joints. Counteract joint discomfort and stress by stretching and myofascial release (Foam Roll)

• Quad to Hamstring Ratio: if you Quads are a lot stronger then your hamstrings, you are at risk. Prevent this by training smarter. Squatting super heavy taxes the body. Single leg squats double the load on the leg and hip muscles without compacting your spine. This prevents excessive wear and tear, keeping you healthier and out playing longer.

• Your reflexive system (involuntary movement) works 5 x faster then when you think about how you want to move (voluntary movements). The more familiar and efficient the nervous system is with all the possible movements, the better and more efficient choices it makes when reacting, thus preventing injuries.


Adam Cox, CSCS is a Certified Strength and Conditioning Specialist through the National Strength and Conditioning Association. He is the Fitness Training Director at the Club at the Claremont Resort and Spa in Berkeley, California.

Posted on Mar. 13, 2007.

By Tom Murphy and Howie Schwartz

What process do you use to make decisions about traveling in avalanche country? Do you have a process? If you don’t, you need one.

Avalanche accident investigation has revealed that parties involved in fatal accidents and close calls had simply not looked at the “big picture”(1). They had fallen into the trap of believing that a sunshiny day in the backcountry is all about fun, friends, powder; what could go possibly go wrong with such a combination?

Usually, nothing does go wrong. The fact is that avalanche fatalities are fairly rare events. Approximately 30 people a year die in avalanche accidents in the United States in a year(2).

When an accident doesn’t involve a close friend or a loved one, it’s easy to forget about it, assume an accident won’t happen to us, and become complacent. That’s when you’re playing Russian roulette, spinning the chamber and pulling the trigger every time you travel in the backcountry without a plan.

Over the next few months, and starting again next fall, EPIC will feature the all-important decision-making process that should guide your backcountry snow travel. We’ll supply you with some basic decision-making tools to reduce your uncertainty in avalanche terrain. Let’s start with that critical decision-making framework.

Backcountry decision-making is much more than whether or not to ski or ride a slope. It is a continuous cascade of questions and thought processes that starts before the trip begins and constantly affects your actions until the trip ends. Your most critical decisions in the backcountry fall into two categories: terrain selection and travel techniques.

Terrain selections are the actions that determine where we go. These selections are our primary decision-making tool, and are made on macro-, meso-, and

Micro-Scales. An example of macro-scale terrain selection is when we choose to ski White Mountain instead of Black Mountain. A meso-scale example would be to ski the North Ridge of White Mountain instead of the Northeast Bowl. Micro-scale terrain selection might be a decision to avoid steep convex rollovers.

Travel techniques determine how we go. Once you make terrain-selection decisions, you can further reduce your exposure to risk by using appropriate travel techniques. Travel techniques that you might be familiar with are spreading out, going one at time, or moving quickly through terrain. Techniques must be evaluated on a case-by-case basis. A technique that works well in one situation may only make matters worse in another. It is important never to use travel techniques to justify otherwise inappropriate terrain-selection decisions. How you travel is secondary to proper terrain selection.


Factors of Terrain Selection

Good terrain selection results from three decision-making components: trip planning and preparation, observations of avalanche danger evidence, and human factors:

• Trip planning and preparation: Set yourself up for good decision-making by choosing appropriate objectives and realistic safer alternatives before the trip begins. Much of the macro-, meso-, and even micro-scale terrain selection can be done in the trip-planning phase. Planning ensures that you know when you will arrive at a given destination and facilitates navigation in poor visibility. Preparation makes sure your group is prepared to manage a dangerous situation, if things go wrong and an accident occurs. Trip planning and preparation helps prevent accidents in the first place, and the process encompasses the first, and often most critical decision-making we do on a backcountry tour.

• Observations of avalanche danger factors: Before actual terrain selection can occur, even at the planning phase, you must make and analyze observations. We need to make these observations in three data-class categories—avalanche activity, snowpack, and weather. Learn to assess when your observations may indicate avalanche danger. The AIARE Observation Checklist can help with this process. Before the start of a trip, it is important to get a bulletin from an avalanche information center, www.avalanche.org, if possible. Avalanche bulletins contain information from all the data classes and also help interpret these observations. Once in the backcountry, actively and constantly observe and gather your own information from the three data classes. The reliability of decisions depends on the quality and quantity of observations. Your ability to compare your own information to an avalanche bulletin’s data can paint an accurate picture of current avalanche danger where you plan to travel.

• Human factors: Also, before terrain selection can occur, be sure to evaluate your group and yourself. Learn to recognize how good terrain selection is influenced by the following questions: Who is coming? What are their levels of experience, skill, fitness, and ability? How experienced are they with avalanche rescue training and practice? What other group or individual human factors may affect your ability to make good decisions? Why are we all going on the trip? The answers to these questions affect terrain selection on all scales in both the planning and preparation phase and constantly throughout a tour.

The decision-making described above is represented graphically below. Please note that solid double arrows show the interconnectedness of all of these components, and that all these components should be continuously monitored throughout a tour. A change in any area directly affects terrain-selection decisions. The dashed arrow to travel techniques is a reminder that these never override terrain-selection decisions—they only further reduce exposure to risk once a group makes a terrain selection.

Decision-Making Framework

This visual decision-making framework is a reminder of how to examine, choose, and carry out options in the backcountry. Let’s briefly review the material and amplify some specifics.

Planning and Preparation

• Route options : Have appropriate objectives and options in place, and discuss them prior to the trip. Have your ideal, safer, and safest trip options ready.

• Time plan: Evaluate time required to get to various points on your tour to complete your objective. Assess hazards that increase with time, and adjust your start time accordingly. Build in turnaround times, if necessary.

• Rescue plans: Discuss rescue among your group. Discuss who has training in rescue and who doesn’t.

• Emergency gear: Beacon, shovel, probe, cell phone, GPS, map and compass, radios, bivy sack, headlamp, and basic winter touring gear. Consider avalung and ABS. (Double-check gear at trailhead; be sure you have extra batteries.)

Observations

• Obtain an avalanche bulletin.

• Use the AIARE Observation Checklist. Are there signs of instability?

• Avalanche activity

• Snowpack

• Weather

• The quality and quantity of your observation is critical.

• The less confidence you have in your observations, the more confidence you need to have in your margin of safety, i.e., conservative terrain selection.

Human Factors

• Who’s going? What are their experience, skill, and fitness levels and previous rescue training? Are all those elements appropriate for the trip?

• What’s the group’s ability to communicate? Is this a leaderless group? Is there a dictator in charge? Groups need to become more like a team by sharing information, allowing everyone a voice, and showing concern.

• Why are you going on the trip? Can the goal of returning safely at all costs override the day’s objective? Every group needs to discuss and agree upon this simple but all-important ground rule.

Terrain Selection
• Is the terrain appropriate for the group and the conditions?