This video frames, what I will call, Snow Perspective very well. The very substance that inspires everything from floater-dreams in July to white-room-face-shots in February, can be the same substance that will snuff the life out of you in mere minutes.

Many will head out this weekend for those coveted first turns of the season. Before you go out, catalog the reasons why you need to educate yourself and make quality decisions. Just seven weeks ago I was blessed with the greatest gift I could ever have been given... A healthy baby boy named Jamison. My boy, my wife, my parents, my sisters, my brother and many others are reasons that I made the choice to educate and prepare myself for backcountry winter shredding. What are your reasons? Don't have a baby? What about a spouse... Don't have a spouse? What about parents/siblings... That either? How about other family... How about a significant other... How about letting all the time/money/resources of avalanche forecasters go to waste... How aboutplacing search and rescue crews inunnecessarydanger because of your ignorance......

Wow, that got kinda heavy for a second; but then, it is a heavy topic. My point is, that you need to be careful out there no matter what. I don't care if you "have no one" that will miss you if you get carried through a bunch of pines then over an eighty foot cliff to your death.

Your decisions in the backcountry affect people.

All that being said. get after it this season! Go snowboarding and have fun. Build a gnarly kicker, hit that trophy line or simply go meadow skipping. Just do a little research first. Go to an avalanche clinic, read a book...AT LEAST make a visit toutahavalanchecenter.orgpart of your winter morning routine.