- Date
- Tuesday, January 5, 2021
Your secret is safe with us.
You have heard Avalanche Canada’s plea for Mountain Information Network (MIN) reports, and you are sympathetic to the cause, BUT….there is no *#%&(@ way you are giving up the coordinates of your secret stash!!!!
Nope.
We feel you! You have pored over maps, done off-season recon, and busted your butt breaking trail into the Promised Land and are feeling a little protective.
"Sure, I can give you directions to Nunya Business Notch... you take your first left... then keep going left."
What if I told you there was a way you could keep the location of Zippermouth Creek a secret, and still help crowdsource potentially life saving information around changes in conditions, avalanche observations and near misses?
It is true that accurately geotagged MIN posts give us slope and drainage specific data that help to refine the regional picture provided by the avalanche bulletin. We encourage you to keep accurately geotagging things when you can 🙏. Your fellow riders and forecasters really appreciate it.
We're so stoked and thankful for all your contributions so far this season.
But if you just CAN’T bring yourself to tag that white gold, yet you still care about your backcountry community and want to assist in providing more data points in a data sparse year for Avalanche Canada, here is a solution...
Put your geotag in the parking/staging area. Or if that is too telling, put it on the highway or even the nearest town! The point is, in our VAST forecast regions, it will still be close enough to provide timely, relevant information to others and to avalanche forecasters. You can still include details on elevation and aspect in your actual report, we don’t need to pull them from the geotag.
We have all heard that there may be more people in the backcountry this winter. We need to remember we were all new once! When safe to do so, why not take the time to educate people about how to get the gear, get the training, and get the forecast from avalanche.ca. Help them to understand what it means to be part of a backcountry culture that looks after one another and the land where we recreate. And if you are feeling generous show them a special spot that at least FEELS secret 😉. #sharingiscaring
It only SEEMS like hoards of people are after your secret stash!
Happy riding,
Jennifer Coulter