back country skiing in colorado

"Yea I figured chutes in mid winter is dangerous, what's funny is that you say unless your avy game is dialed. I have taken av 1 and 2 and in both cases they say chutes are terrain traps and they should be avoided. So in what case are they "safe"? Personally I would think that if it isn't extremely tight and rocky, and has a clean run out (and is somewhat short1000-2000 vert) then it that would justify somewhat safe even in the event of a slide(hopefully out running it would be a possibility)."

Jason, you need to have your avy game down no matter what time of year when you are on big terrain, corn or no corn. Chutes are terrain traps, but it is possible to get on this type of terrain if you use your head. I skied some stuff this last winter that I wouldn't have touched in the Spring and vice-versa. It's all about determining objective risk. Get out, dig pits, document trends, and watch the weather. 1k-2k vert is some what short? Not really. In 2005 a guy was buried and killed on the Grand Mesa on a 250' vertical pitch. It doesn't take that much. Just curious, where did you take your Level 2? How many classroom days were you out in the terrain? How much time have you had in the BC since your Level 2? I ask because this is important stuff. Take your time, get REALLY good with your beacon and make sure your partners are too, the mountains aren't going anywhere. If you want to become better rider, ski the resort or low risk BC areas, not the super crazy stuff, because lets face it, eventually, EVERYONE is involved in an accident. The is no room for error on big routes.

"1k-2k vert is some what short? Not really. In 2005 a guy was buried and killed on the Grand Mesa on a 250' vertical pitch. It doesn't take that much. Just curious, where did you take your Level 2?"

Yea I guess 1-2K isn't really short. I took av2 at loveland through the NSP I have been riding for about 2 years since then pretty strictly back country, last year I took av 1 as a refresher. I have had about 3 days in the field with an instructor. My group also practices with our beacons regularly.

Sorry but like mentioned before ski areas (at least anything close) and mild back country terrain bore me to tears, I have been riding loveland pass for like 6-8 years, and ever since I figured berthoud out I haven't looked back.

I don't have a lot of experience with chutes because I grew up riding loveland and there is hardly jack there(besides the dog legs which weren't ever open when I rode there). But I have ridden some short ones at berthoud in the past like < 300 vert and some ever shorter but tighter ones at jackson last year. I have also ridden down mt. russel 2-3 times from the top main chute that has like a 5 foot choke and probably near or over 1000 vert run out, one time I rode a slough for like 20-50 feet down this chute during a white out storm.

I know I have done some things in the past that weren't the smartest(I have set off a hand full of slides), mostly before I knew any better. But I want to get better, what would help me get better for the terrain I like to ride? steep deep powder with cliffs or chutes.

more importantly how do you go about assessing a chute? besides the obvious like digging a pit and checking for bonding to the rocks in and on the sides of the chute

Oh also BTW I went back to berthoud yesterday and it was very epic!
We managed to find some deep drifts in some chutes 3-5 feet in spots;I rode one short one < 50 feet ,off the aqueduct trail, then we proceeded down the trail till it started to lose elevation then we started climbing and traversing. There were 3-5 chutes filled in just enough to ride probably 500-1000 vert (although thin near the bottom). we hiked up the most obvious main chute with a choke in the middle, near the top I was climbing this drift and it fractured 5-10 feet above me about 3-6 inches deep, luckily I stayed solid as a really small soft slab rushed by me but stopped no more then 100 feet lower.

My brother and my friend hit a less committing (more open and maybe less deep and steep)chute, no fractures or anything. I decide to take the one we ascended, it was unbelievable for October, I didn't hit a rock until I was through the choke and maybe 100 feet below it. Blower pow, face shots..... however I noticed the chute fracture 30 feet or so above the choke so I decided to get out of there and out of the way but it never slid. we went back up and my brother did the chute I had just done, and I did a different chute with a 5-10 foot rock wall on the right. the middle looked kinda thin but the left side looked heavily drifted in. the chute was only like 5-10 feet wide for about 100 feet and then opened into a bigger but also rocky chute for 4-600 feet. I dropped in and stayed high on the left expecting it to crack, it did and I rode the slough for a short period and next thing I knew I was out of the skinny and out of the slough. I continued down and noticed that the slough had either traveled about 2-300 feet or I had caused some more slough to build while turning. it was nice though cause it added some more snow where it was thin lower down.

all in all it was the best snow I have ever experienced in October, at times I felt like it was mid winter.

where were you? it sounds liek you were in the 80' or 90's?

nope don't think so, if you looked up from the road you would see 80's and 90's is barley filled in if at all. I always liked the part right above the road that's really cliffed out, some great short hairy lines.

Anyway we hiked till just before the aquaduct trail goes downhill then up and right through some really rocky terrain untill we were at a sub peak type head wall with 3-5 main chutes in between cliffs. there was no other trace of people. From the looks of the old map we hiked up right of skull bite. Also my brother and I skied seperate chutes in 100's(hiked from the aquaduct trail up and skied back to the trail), they were way more thin then the other area and alot shorter.