It looks amazing, steep, deep and long, the perfect couloir. Not a track in sight and freshies up to our eyeballs. I’ve ridden this chute before and I know it’s the don, it’s the business a real nice long ride, starting out super steep, quite narrow but with exits out into sheltered spots at the sides so that you can let the sloughs pass by. It then starts to widen out and you can open the doors, let it rip and get into some real speedy powder riding. I’m looking in and it looks as good as I have ever seen it, really full of snow and the crew I’m with are all getting pretty psyched and excited.

We’re pretty much in the middle of knowhere and have been scoring freshies all week. Last night we slept in the Trient Refuge, it was dumping when we turned in and this morning all evidence of our arrival, yesterday, has been covered over with some 40 cm of fresh new snow. We’ve hiked for a bout forty minutes to get to where we are now standing and I’ve been watching the signs all the while. The chute, like I say has all the trimmings but I’ve been watching and I know that today it’s just not quite right. The wind has been behind us all the way up, the narrow summit ridge has been scoured to ice by the wind in the night and a sizable cornice has grown overlooking the steep slopes and chutes over on the sheltered, (riding) side of the mountain.
The signs in the snow indicate that it has been blowing up here quite strongly in the night and there’s no question about where its all been blown to. Even now as we watch, more snow streams over the ridge above and is packed onto the slope below. The mountain is talking to us, the signs are screaming down on us and everything is saying the wrong thing. I’m looking down into the chute and I really want to just drop straight in there and get stuck in but everything I’ve learnt is telling me not to. I know that in the past, I might just have dropped in there and had the ride of my life. The signs today however, are telling me that it might easily, also be the last ride of my life.

The mountains are screaming No! The avalanche potential is off the scale and to ignore these warnings would just be suicide.

I way up the risks, turn to the crew and make possibly the ‘bravest’ decision I have made all winter, “Not today guys, today we’re just going to have to miss this one out!”

We all watch as more wind blown snow cascades down from the corniced ridge above and settles onto the amazing slope below and then we slowly turn to leave, after all there is safer and still amazing riding just around the corner.

The winter is starting and once again we’re getting excited about the events and lines to come. We’re watching the videos and remembering the highs of days gone by. We’re thinking of those big descents, those massive airs and those deep powerful powder turns.

We’re remembering all the amazing moments and dreaming of many more to come. We dream and we remember but we sometimes forget that snowboarding just happens to be a very physical sport!

We dream and we remember but we sometimes forget that snowboarding just happens to take place in a very dangerous untamed environment!

We dream and we forget that snowboarding has already taken the lives of even some of the most experienced riders in the business and that the potential for this to be repeated is always constant!

The new season is upon us, so lets dream and remember those good times we’ve had, but lets not also forget the lessons we’ve learned.

Lets make this season a great one, so prepare yourself well and when you go ride, remember your place. Remember, who you are and what you do, remember where you are and what you know. Listen to yourself and learn from the signs both within and around you.

Respect your feelings and don’t ever be afraid to heed the warnings and turn around to ride another day. Sometimes this is the bravest move of all!

Who knows? It might have been fine, it might have been the dream run of the season, but it might have easily just have been the last run of the season. The signs are there for us to learn from and this time I headed their warning. I made the call and lived to ride another run and another day!

The alternative descent was still amazing and we all lived to ride another day!