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What happens at the Trailhead?
What happens at the Trailhead?
Every trip into the backcountry begins with a Departure Check. This crucial check should occur at the trailhead, just outside the hut, or at the backcountry gate. This process is most efficient if one person leads the check; however, it is critical that everyone in the group participates.
The Departure Check is more than an equipment checklist. Although it begins with checking personal, group, and avalanche rescue gear, the Departure Check also ensures that the team is well-equipped with emergency plans, established re-group locations, communication strategies, and situational awareness.
Confirm Gear
Confirm Gear
The equipment check encompasses personal items, group gear, and avalanche rescue gear. The leader ensures that everyone has the personal items they need to sustain themselves in the backcountry. This includes food, water, hot drinks, and layers. The leader also confirms who is carrying what group gear, such as first aid kits, repair kits, shelter or bivy sacks, rescue sleds, SOS devices, and navigation tools.
The leader makes sure that every team member has functioning avalanche rescue gear. Each person needs to have a transceiver, shovel, probe, and a communication device. Many groups find that pulling out shovels and probes and assembling them is the best way to make sure those items made it into the backpack that morning and are not damaged. If the group plans to use radios, this is the time to decide on a radio frequency and double-check that all radios work. This equipment check will reveal if anyone has forgotten a critical item or if any equipment is damaged. In the event that a probe is broken or a radio was forgotten, the team is better situated to face the logistical dilemma at the trailhead than in the backcountry.
Confirm Time Plan and Communication Plan
Confirm Time Plan and Communication Plan
In addition to checking gear, the Departure Check includes pausing for a reality check. The Departure Check is the time to revisit the initial PLAN and to note re-group locations, review relevant observations that the group may want to gather, and discuss where or when the group may make critical decisions about the day. Groups should also reinforce the TEAMWORK agreements that the group will travel together, decide together, and respect any veto. Wrapping up the Departure Check is the time to ask if any member of the group has seen anything unexpected and to consider if there is any reason to change plans. The Departure Check establishes the preparedness, awareness, and adaptability necessary for the subsequent steps of the RIDE SAFELY checklist.
Conduct a Function Check
Conduct a Function Check
The leader should ensure that everyone’s transceiver, including their own, has sufficient battery, has a working display, is stowed at least 10 inches away from electronics, and can both send and receive a signal. To do this, leaders should facilitate a transceiver check, comprised of the following 6 steps:
Find a place away from conflicting transmitting signals. Stand a half circle to an arm’s length or more apart with the transceiver check leader a few meters (~6-10 feet) away in the middle of the group.
Turn transceivers on. As they power on, each individual checks that the transceiver runs a self-check and the display is OK. They also note the battery strength and report it aloud to the group.
Switch all transceivers to Search mode. Silence indicates that everyone is ready and ensures that no transmitting units are on dogs, sleds, or in packs.
The leader then switches to Transmit/Send and checks that each group member can receive a signal by walking towards each individual, while the individual reads their display out loud.
Turn all units to Transmit/Send. The check-leader witnesses that each group members stows their unit for the day, secured under an outside layer and 30 cm (~12”) from a cell phone or radio.
The leader returns to Search mode and confirms all group members are transmitting. The leader then switches to Transmit/Send mode. One group member then verifies that the leader’s device is stored under an outside layer and 30 cm (~12”) from a cell phone or radio for the day.
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