Everything in this series so far has been a piece: the danger scale, the avalanche problems, the gear. This is where they connect.
Trip planning is a chain, and every link is done before you leave the house.
1 · Read the forecast — the problem, not just the number
Start with the danger level to set the tone of the day. Then go straight to the avalanche problem, its aspects and its elevation band. That’s the sentence that shapes everything else: this kind of hazard, on these aspects, above this height.
A route that avoids that combination is a route you can defend. A route that crosses it needs a much better reason than “it’s the one I wanted to do”.
2 · Get the map out
Now bring in terrain. You are looking for three things:
- Slope angle across your route — including the sections you’ll traverse, not just the ones you’ll ride.
- What’s above you. You can be on gentle ground and still be under something steep.
- What’s below you. Terrain traps — gullies, creek beds, flat run-outs, trees — turn a small avalanche into a burial.
Slope angle mapping gets its own article in this series.
3 · Build the route as a set of decisions
Write the route as a series of points where you’ll decide something, not as a line:
- Where does the terrain steepen?
- Where do you commit to the aspect the forecast warned about?
- Where can you turn around cheaply, and where does turning around become expensive?
A route planned this way has natural exits. A route planned as a line has one.
4 · Set a turnaround time before you leave
Pick a time. Write it down. Tell the group.
The reason for doing this at the kitchen table is that at 13:00 on the ridge, with the summit visible and the weather holding, you will be the worst possible person to make this decision. Your kitchen-table self is the one you should listen to.
5 · Field observations: does reality match the plan?
The plan is a hypothesis. In the field you’re testing it: signs of recent avalanche activity, whumpfing, shooting cracks, wind transport, how the snow feels underfoot, whether the temperature is doing what you expected.
If the observations contradict the forecast, believe the observations — and choose the more conservative reading of the two.
6 · Tell someone
Where you’re going, who with, when you expect to be back. Send the route.
Practise it on a day you’re not going
The best way to get good at this is to plan tours you don’t take. Ten minutes with tomorrow’s forecast and a map, three times a week, through the autumn. By December the chain is automatic — and you’ll know your local terrain far better than the people who only look at it on the day.
This article does not replace training. Take an avalanche course with a certified provider, and before every tour read the bulletin from your regional avalanche service — in Europe via avalanches.org, in the US via avalanche.org.
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