1. Alway’s carry and wear the correct safety equipment and know how to use it proficiently. Your life and the lives of those you ride with may depend on it. Test everything before you leave the valley.

2. Never ride alone! Safe Backcountry freeriding is all about team work, you share the experiences of the riding within some of natures finest terrain and you work together to make safe decisions and watch each others progress.

3. Notify someone of your intensions and your destination and have a reliable way of contacting (radio or mobile phone) the emergency services if the need should arise.

4. Look for safety tips and clues from the mountain. The mountains give us many clues to help us with our decision making in the backcountry. Look for wind sign to help you assess where dangerous snow slab might have collected and look for obvious sign of previous and current avalanche activity.

5. Constantly assess the stability of the snowpack on the terrain that you intend to ride. Look at the shape of the terrain and try to imagine the tensions and forces exerted upon the snow pack, where is it under most tension and where is it best supported. Use this to help you plan your route.

6. If in doubt turn leave it until another day! It will still be there, better leave it and ride another day than ride it and take the risk!

7. If you must ride a slope that poses a potential risk, go 1 at a time whilst another member of the group stands look out, able to view the descent from a safe place.

8. Don’t expose the snow pack to too much weight, you can apply up to 6 times your own body weight onto the snow pack through a powerful turn, spread out and keep your distance both on the way up and the way down! Ride and climb steep pitches one at a time!

9. Stop in safe places! Always look at the shape of the terrain, imagine where the snow would go if it where to slide. Look for safe havens, high ground free from danger and use these as places to stop and re group.

10. ‘Keep hydrated’!. Your performance levels will drop dramatically if you become dehydrated. Keep yourself running efficiently with food and water.

11. Check weather and snow pack forecasts daily. Take notice of the avalanche risk level (graded 1 – 5). Note that most people get caught in avalanches on days where ‘they’ consider the risk factor to be relatively low (risk level is 3/4). Watch the weather through out the day and notice how it might affect the snowpack. Strong wind, large temperature increases and strong sunlight can have dramatic effects.

12. ‘Look up, Look down, look all around’. Constantly assess the terrain above, below and all around you for obvious and hidden danger. Use this mantra to help with your decision making process. Think, what is supporting it, where will it go and what is the danger from above.

13. ‘Ride with the mountain’! - Flow with the mountain, don’t fight against it. Try to match you movements and your line to the natural terrain features of the mountain.

14. Be responsible and accountable for your own actions. Respect your fellow mountain users and don’t put them in danger through your actions.

15. ‘Respect the mountain’! The backcountry of the high mountains is one of the few remaining true wilderness’s where the elements still rule the day and safe riding within this environment is all about you making the right decisions at the right time. Respect the mountain, tread carefully and enjoy the journey!