Story

Online Avalanche Safety Training

Posted by doug on Fri, 2010-06-18 15:54 in avalanche, backcountry, caa, easy, education, mountains, safety, sledlink, Snowmobiles, Story

Safety in the backcountry is paramount for a fun, enjoyable experience yet many  backcountry travellers are still not equipped with some basic,  practical skills to help them get home safely. The link below will take you the CAA's (Canadian Avalanche Associations) Online Avalanche First Responder Training Course.   If you lack specific avalanche training, this is where to start. You owe it to yourself, your family and those with whom you travel to know what the hazards are before venturing into the backcountry.  Be Mountain Smart, take the course today.

http://access.jibc.bc.ca/avalancheFirstResponse/index.htm

Environmental Resources & Reports

Posted by zomarc on Fri, 2010-01-15 16:23 in avalanche, environment, safety, Story, weather, webcam

Follow the links below for the latest local weather information:

Avalanche Reports : Canadian Avalanche Centre

Read more »

2012 Safe Trails Raffle - Winners

Posted by Erin H on Mon, 2012-06-25 21:27 in Story

The BC Snowmobile Federation is pleased to announce the 4 winners from this past Season's Safe Trails Raffle.
Congratulations to:

  • Bill Bueckert of Burns Lake
  • Cory Smith of Squamish
  • Mike Watson of Burns Lake
  • Terry Jack

The BCSF wishes to thank all the clubs that participated and the many volunteers that sold tickets. Read more »

Mountain Snowmobiling Survey wants your input

Posted by doug on Thu, 2012-04-12 11:41 in avalanche, sledlink, snowmobile bc, Story, training

In collaboration with Simon Fraser University, the Canadian Avalanche Centre is conducting a study on avalanche awareness and mountain snowmobiling during the winter of 2011/12. Read more »

For Immediate Release

Posted by doug on Thu, 2012-04-12 10:58 in Story

120The BCSF has most certainly turned a new page this year with a ton of new developments and a very bright future on the horizon.  To the list of accomplishments, the BCSF has transitioned it's primary website from a static interface to a completely new, interactive Content Managaement System that now allows for more direct, two way social intergration with our members and club organizers. Read more »

"Hello, I'm Arfi"

Posted by doug on Tue, 2012-02-21 14:59 in avalanche, mountains, planning, Sledding, sledlink, Story

Hello, I'm Arfi…..

Arfi stands for Avalanche Research Forecasting Interface and it was developed by the Applied Snow and Avalanche Research Group at the university of Calgary. It's a collection of avalanche forecasting resources, tools, webcams and more, all collected into one simple, interactive google map.   It's designed to help both professionals as well as recreationists.  At Sled:link, we strive to bring you a condensed web resource for all your sledding needs and Arfi brings to the table a great tool through which to help plan your travels and sledding destinations. Read more »

S.T.O.P. - A "Situational Awareness" tool for sledders, by sledders.

Posted by doug on Thu, 2012-01-05 17:09 in communication, handsignals, mountain riding, snowmobiling, Snowmobiling bc, stop, Story, training, WSBC standards

S.T.O.P. With over 25 years of technical snowmobile riding and mountain travel experience, industry training advisor Doug Washer created S.T.O.P. to help sledders improve on their situational awareness skills and to make safety conscious decisions while traveling in the backcountry. This simple, effective, habit forming tool encourages sledders to make observations about critical safety factors throughout the day.

Sledders travel great distances through ever changing, unique terrain features, inconsistent snowpack and micro climates, often without stopping to observe the changes that have taken place.  Read more »

West Coast Snowpack Confidence Eroded

Posted by doug on Wed, 2012-01-04 09:58 in alpine, avalanche, bulletins, danger, hazards, mountains, rescue, risk, safety, Sledding, Story, training, treeline, warnings, weather

I think it’s fair to suggest that for the most part, we’re pretty lucky on the coast when it comes to snowpack stability.  We typically experience a rapid increase in the hazard rating in avalanche terrain during intense storm cycles which may include rapid warming and severe rain events (e.g look out the window) but similarly, these weather patterns tend to help consolidate and bond those week layers and help stabilize the pack and while the hazard never goes away, it often decreases near as rapidly as it increases in this wet, coastal climate. 
Read more »

1st Annual Sled-Fest Success & Surprises

Posted by doug on Thu, 2011-12-29 15:21 in events, gear, mountains, sledfest, sledlink, snow safety, snowmobiling, Story, videos, whistler, you tube

It’s true, any organizer of an event hopes beyond hope that the weather on event day will be perfect blue bird, just the right temperature and in our case, with just the right amount of freshly fallen snow but truth be told, that was not the case during yesterdays 1st annual Brandywine Sled-Fest.  The rain barely let up long enough to get the fire going and the freezing levels were so high that most of the mountains were soaked in heavy, “mash-potato” snow, making the avalanche conditions high at most elevations and the visibility near zero.  Read more »

11 'Mountain Snowmobile' Hand Signals You Should Know

Posted by doug on Tue, 2011-12-20 23:21 in bc, courses, mountains, safety, Sledding, sledlink, snowmobiling, standards, Story, training

The following hand signals were developed by Doug Washer to address safety and communication challenges in the professional mountain snowmobile guiding and mountain film production industries.

Snowmobiling in mountainous terrain presents a series of challenges to communication that are well addressed by understanding and incorporating these simple, yet effective measures into your every day professional and recreational snowmobiling environment.  They help to address basic issues from talking over the engine to advising others of preferred routes or warnings of avalanche activity that a sledder Read more »