Keeping Secrets

[powdork]

You could give very general location information--"North of Lake Tahoe, east of the Sierra Crest"-- elevation, aspect, terrain description, snowpack profile and any other information you want to alert people of the hazard without giving the stash away. Assuming you survived the avalanche.

Was at a grocery store south of the lake. From time to time their discount cart has good wines at ridiculous prices. Orin Swift Zin for $15. Tonight I picked up some nice Santa Lucia Highland Pinot for $6/bottle.

[splat]

Do you know where secret chute is?

Where?

/lulz

[snorkelinthepow1]

Update snowcat-operator-drops-lawsuit

Thanks for the update. I missed that one.
Now how many of you are going to go out and buy this guides book to find some more stashes?

[Zeedashbo]

Short story relevant to this subject.

My buddy and I found a zone about 5 years ago. Not far off the beaten path but not a place that saw traffic because it didn't present itself from any obvious viewpoint that it was good to go. We found phenomenal old growth skiing and some bigger alpine-esque skiing at higher elevations. We kept it to ourselves for a season then slowly started bringing friends out. We would make dummy skin tracks all around the area at the break off point about a half mile from the zone along with a stealth track in the woods from the cutoff point. We asked the chosen few to not tell anyone else. Since a few of my besties like mofro aren't hwy2 skiers it wasn't that hard to keep secret. Probably 3 seasons ago we brought in a handful of our local friends as they knew we were up to something since we were being vague about our plans on certain days and we figured it wouldn't be bad to bring in some more of our friends. That's where we fucked up. Once we gave up the spot to a few locals they started bringing other locals. The dummy tracks stopped being used and straight line skin tracks from the cutoff became the norm. The larger group with the knowledge is still keeping the zone "secret" but it's only a matter of time before it makes the rounds to the TAY crowd since one of them will eventually follow the straight line skin track out there and find our Shangri-la. The only saving grace is that it requires a bit of travel just to get to the base of the ski lines but I don't think that will deter people in the future as usage goes up. In conclusion don't fucking tell anybody unless they abide by the rules of your spot! We trusted friends to keep it quiet but someone else's version of keeping it quiet might be much different than yours. Out of towers and non local shredders are great but be very careful of telling other locals.

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[chicken feathers]

^21 is the year of the dummy track for sure. We already blew it on one of our stashes this season, at least one other person followed us in that day. Next time we were back there were even more tracks wandering around in the area. Though no one found/skied the shot it was alarming to see the amount of traffic that far into a drainage that is typically pretty empty.

[GoldMember]

Local to Z-Bo - "You fucked up, you trusted us."

[Zeedashbo]

Local to Z-Bo - "You fucked up, you trusted us."

Pretty much. As with all things there's room for everybody. Most people don't ski the best lines anyways, but I've learned my lesson. The only real worry is that it becomes public knowledge

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[L82thegate]

Those "secret" stashes have a way of showing up on social media because once a guide book reveals them, hard to consider them secrets. Crystal backcountry has become a victim but what can you do, leave the lot at pre-dawn with a good headlamp? I'm asking myself why these books are published but all I can come up with is, someone makes money, garners some cred, ego boost. It doesn't make touring safer when I have to be aware of people doing stupid things above me to keep from getting buried. The changes over just the last 5 years are substantial. If you couldn't figure stuff out with a Topo map and exploration, it didn't exist when I started prowling them locales.

[SKIP IN7RO]

Are you guys going full-on Danny Torrance and setting dummy tracks that just disappear?

[I've seen black diamonds!]

Are you guys going full-on Danny Torrance and setting dummy tracks that just disappear?

No but I go through some scrub brush, over a rock pile or do some stupid kick turns between tight, steep trees when I could take a far simpler route- just enough to make someone think, "I'm not following this idiot" or "he must have just been going over here to pee."

That said, my "secrets" tend to be trees that are tighter than most people want to ski with a long enough approach to deter others. Not that hard to protect, even from popular trailheads/zones. But I still ain't sprayin'.

[Dhelihiker]

I thought this was going to be an Uncle fingering story. LAME

[telefreewasatch]

Are you guys going full-on Danny Torrance and setting dummy tracks that just disappear?

Dannys not here Mrs Torrance...

[powdork]

Two things to remember
1. People aren't getting any less talented, resourceful, or ambitious
2. There are way more people out here/there than when you found your stash

[SpeLunker]

Absolute best post I've read on here. Taking this all to heart.

[MakersTeleMark]

One of my favorite stashes is called "Joey Buttafuoco's Sister". It is only known by 5 people, and one passed.

Named after a basque tree carving that signals the entrance.

I also have a 1st decent on a 13er that has only been repeated once; by my ex after we broke up because she was pissed that I said fuck it and solo'd it. Nice coulie, took me 5 years. Have at "The Gash". It's not on the internet. Well it is now. Fantastic line. One of my best. Better have your logistics and timing just right or it might fuck you. It's between 3 and 4k.

[zion zig zag]

I had a 'secret' stash at my local area for years. The truth was, it was just further than anyone wanted to go and there weren't very many bc skiers in Ogden until a few years ago. I would set the skin track up awful, scrub oak choked gullys, over rocky ridgelines, etc., but in reality I think it was just distance keeping people out. 10 years ago it was pretty uncommon for anyone to be in that drainage more than 2-3 times a season, now I'd venture that there are that many people a week in there.

[telefreewasatch]

One of my favorite stashes is called "Joey Buttafuoco's Sister". It is only known by 5 people, and one passed.

Named after a basque tree carving that signals the entrance.

I also have a 1st decent on a 13er that has only been repeated once; by my ex after we broke up because she was pissed that I said fuck it and solo'd it. Nice coulie, took me 5 years. Have at "The Gash". It's not on the internet. Well it is now. Fantastic line. One of my best. Better have your logistics and timing just right or it might fuck you. It's between 3 and 4k.

Beautiful line, but 5 years?
At 3500' vert. that's 2 feet a day.
How did that work?
Jump turn, bivy, jump turn?

[powdork]

I also have a 1st decent on a 13er that has only been repeated once; by my ex after we broke up because she was pissed that I said fuck it and solo'd it. Nice coulie, took me 5 years. Have at "The Gash". It's not on the internet. Well it is now. Fantastic line. One of my best. Better have your logistics and timing just right or it might fuck you. It's between 3 and 4k.

How sweet, you named it after your ex.