I’ve just found this interesting post on the Mammouth Mountain forum and figured I’d link it here for anyone who rides backcountry, especially without a guide, transceiver, probe etc
It’s certainly made me think twice about the areas I’ll be accessing in the coming month! Be careful out there people
Please do leave comments below if you fancy a bit of a debate on the subject
That’s the difference between North America and Europe. In Europe you can go anywhere you want, and as long as your insurance covers it they’ll come and rescue you. It’s one of the things that bothers me about people doing reckless things in the back country in Europe – do they realise they’re putting the emergency services at risk as well as themselves?
However the North American attitude does seem particularly harsh. Before we go to Canada I’ll have to make sure I know the difference between (legal) off piste, legal back country and illegal backcountry.
It does seem that they leave a lot of in bound stuff ungroomed so that people can do back country in a semi controlled environment, I’m sure you’ll find plenty of stuff to keep you entertained. Your right about people in Europe not thinking though, the number of people I speak to who ride really dodgy stuff with no transceiver or other precautions is scary