Tequila Mockingbird? Choice Summer Reading for Sledders
With winter’s rapid departure, spring derailed, and summer barrelling down the tracks full steam ahead, chances are you’ve got your sled gear securely stowed away for the season. While you may be all aboard that cabin-country life, don’t let your train of thought get stalled at the station this summer. Here is some iron-clad summer reading, just the ticket to improve your braapcountry skills before the snow flies.
Improve Your Backcountry Skills with Choice Summer Reading
In the Path of an Avalanche
by Vivien Bowers
The true story about a 1998 avalanche that buried six experienced backcountry skiers near Nelson, BC. Bowers weaves the tangled storylines of the skiers, rescuers, media, and nearby communities in an eye-opening narrative, while acquainting readers with the technical aspects of avalanche science. Her book raises “unsettling questions about the affects our decision making has on others, acceptable risk, human fallibility, living fully and dying young”.
Your transceiver, SPOT/inReach and Avalanche Skills Training course manual
A veritable potpourri of perfect snack-sized reads to refresh your next bathroom break. Leave these little guys beside the big, white conductor’s seat; there will never be a more captive audience poised to brush up on all the bells and whistles of your essential equipment and training.
Alive: The Story of the Andes Survivors
by Piers Paul Read
A flight carrying 29 members of an alumni rugby team crashes in the Andes Mountains; 16 passengers survive 70 days before being rescued. How would your riding crew react if they found themselves suddenly stranded in the backcountry? Dive deep into the psychology of survival, hope, teamwork and managing conflicting group needs. Plus, it’s never too early to consider which of your sled buddies you would cannibalize first.
Endurance: Shackleton’s Incredible Voyage
by Alfred Lansing
Undoubtedly one of the greatest true-life adventure stories of all time, Sir Ernest Shackleton set out in 1914 to become the first man to traverse Antarctica. When his ship, Endurance, became crushed by ice floe, Shakleton was forced to abandon his personal goals to lead his 27 men across the pack ice and bring them home safely against insurmountable hardships. The result is a compelling cold-weather survival story with inspiring lessons in group leadership.
Thinking, Fast and Slow
by Daniel Kahneman
The concept is simple; we have two operating systems inside our brains, one intuitive and one rational. These constantly battle for over control of our behaviors and actions. Nobel prize-winning research highlights how these two systems bias our choices, can lead to errors in judgement and finally, how we can guard against these mental ‘glitches’. This is essential reading for anyone responsible for decision-making in the backcountry.
– Nicole
#watchyourcaboose
