The book comes with a clear plastic photo pocket you can stick anywhere. I stuck it on the cover with some family photos, to remind me why I'm being careful.
Longtime avalanche educator Halsted “Hacksaw” Morris came up with a nice solution years ago when he first published his “Backcountry Skier’s Field Book.” The idea was to provide something with waterproof paper along with content such as forms and crib notes.
Hacksaw’s original book is out of print. Snow pros such as guides and snow safety folks wanted a field book with more content, so Hacksaw went back to the drawing board and came up with his new “Professional Snow Data Field Book.”
I really like right hand page, with the -5 Lemons- method of evaluating how weak the snowpack is. Another page has an “Obvious Clues Method” for figuring out your travel style.
This is a structured notebook, every page has a professional style chart/form you fill out with your observations. Depending on how your brain works you'll like this more or less. If you want an “emptybook” style field book, other options are available from different companies.
Features:
* Pocket size, 5×7 inches
* “Rite in the Rain” – all weather pages.
* Sturdy waterproof plastic covers
* Small group rescue checklist
* Phone number page
* International 5-level danger scale
* Snow Stability Rating System – SWAG compliant
* Avalanche Classifications – SWAG compliant
* Stability Tests – Rutschblock, Boardblock, Shovel Shear, Compression, Stuffblock, Shovel Tilt, Extended Column, & Slope Cutting
* Shear Quality – SWAG compliant
* Fracture Characteristics
* 5 Lemons – Ian McCammon’s danger rating system
Shop for this book at Hacksaw’s website.
WildSnow.com publisher emeritus and founder Lou (Louis Dawson) has a 50+ years career in climbing, backcountry skiing and ski mountaineering. He was the first person in history to ski down all 54 Colorado 14,000-foot peaks, has authored numerous books about about backcountry skiing, and has skied from the summit of Denali in Alaska, North America’s highest mountain.
