This year, skinning to the top of a snowy mountain will earn more than fresh tracks in a backcountry wilderness. Every human-powered step uphill counts toward a significant donation to the Sierra Avalanche Center, an invaluable avalanche forecasting resource for all backcountry users in the Tahoe region.
The second annual Tahoe Vertical Challenge, hosted by Alpenglow Sports in Tahoe City, is an online community that connects local backcountry users and offers a platform where participants can keep track of their ski tracks throughout the season. This year, Alpenglow upped the ante and turned the challenge into a fundraiser. If — or should I say, once — the Tahoe backcountry community logs a cumulative 15 million vertical feet, Alpenglow will donate $3,000 to the Sierra Avalanche Center.
‘We’re trying to procure operating dollars for a vital mountain town resource that’s used by backcountry skiers, ski resorts, and guides,’ said Brendan Madigan, manager at Alpenglow. ‘And also awareness. Sometimes that awareness goes further than the actual hard dollars.’
In 2003, the Forest Service partnered with then newly formed nonprofit Sierra Avalanche Center and hired one full-time forecaster, Brandon Schwartz. A couple years later, another forecaster, Andy Anderson, was added to the team, allowing the center to put out a highly detailed, comprehensive forecast every single morning.
‘We want you to know what the avalanche conditions are and we want you to use that information to keep yourself safe,’ said Anderson.
Today, the Sierra Avalanche Center publishes a detailed, daily report analyzing the snowpack, storm totals, wind loading, and other avalanche hazards. The center also compiles a weather report for higher elevations. One of the center’s two forecasters is out in the backcountry every single day throughout the winter, putting on their skins and hiking into the woods as soon as they upload their 7 a.m. report. The center’s forecasts are comprehensive and offer a picture of the entire region based off of information gathered by the forecasters and beta given to the organization by other backcountry users. Wherever the snowpack weakness is that day, that’s where you’ll find the forecasters headed to observe and document.
‘We are very blessed to have the two avalanche forecasters that we have,’ said Justin Broglio, president of SAC’s board of directors. ‘They are two of the best snow scientists, avalanche experts, backcountry skiing extraordinaires in the country… They know every couloir, every crevace, every rock, and backcountry line.’
For full-time backcountry skiers like Holly Yocum, who logged some 192,000 vertical feet in last year’s challenge over her 80-plus days of skiing, the information provided by the Sierra Avalanche Center is another tool she uses to stay safe in out-of-bounds terrain. Ask any backcountry enthusiast and they’ll tell you that interest in the backcountry has exploded in recent years. And with more people accessing the woods beyond ski resort boundaries, the need for up-to-date avalanche information becomes even more crucial.
‘If it wasn’t for the guys [in SAC] out there, we wouldn’t have as much information to use when we go into the backcountry,’ Yocum said, noting that the two forecasters also set one of the nicest skin tracks to follow. ‘It’s a great resource. The guys are extremely nice. If there is an avalanche, they are out there documenting it.’
Yocum was on her way out the door to ski the backcountry when I caught her on her cell phone. She calls herself a ‘slacker in the wintertime’ who devotes a lot of time to skiing, but she repeated how the Tahoe Vertical Challenge is not competitive and anyone can be involved, whether you ski full time in the backcountry like Yocum or only a few days a year.
‘It’s fun to see what everyone else is doing, where they were, how many feet they did,’ Yocum said. ‘It’s a good cause.’
Madigan reiterated Yocum’s observation.
‘It doesn’t matter how little or how much you ski, it all adds up to the end goal,’ he said.
The Tahoe Vertical Challenge, designed to bond, motivate, and inspire the backcountry community, is unique in the nation. Last year, 84 users yielded a total of 5.8 million vertical feet. Madigan said there were some heavy hitters that weighted that number, but this year he hopes to see something between 300 and 500 people involved to attain the lofty 15 million vertical feet.
‘It is a challenge,’ Madigan said. ‘It wasn’t meant to be an easily attainable goal.’
Users can set up a profile on TahoeVertical.com where they will enter their backcountry progress. The challenge is based on the honor system and trusts its users to enter honest numbers. Furthermore, to entice participation, Alpenglow is going to pay participants in gift certificates for their vertical feet. Alpenglow will also be giving away prizes in a bimonthly raffle for participants. A huge donation to an important community nonprofit, free gear and prizes, a friendly community just a click away… Alpenglow is not giving you any excuses to not get into the backcountry this year.
‘That’s huge if the community would be able to raise that much money,’ Broglio said. ‘It’d be absolutely fantastic to receive that support from the community.’
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