Tag Archives: opinion

BC Changing laws regarding “Natural Resource Roads”

Posted on 07/11/2011 by Michael Coyle

The Government of BC is planning on changing some of the laws governing “Natural Resource Roads” (logging, mining etc), and to bring them all under one act: the Natural Resource Road Act. They’ve posted a discussion paper and other resources, … Continue reading →

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The ACC requires digital avalanche beacons

Posted on 17/10/2011 by Michael Coyle

I’m a member of the Alpine Club of Canada (ACC), Vancouver Section, so I get their monthly “Alpine-E-r” newsletter. For the past several months I’ve noticed the following message in the newsletter: NEW BEACON POLICY The ACC has a new … Continue reading →

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Why SAR members are tough on gear

Posted on 26/01/2011 by Michael Coyle

What, do you think, is the primary difference between a SAR member on a task, and a person undertaking a hiking, backcountry skiing or mountaineering trip? On the surface they look to be the same thing. We use the same … Continue reading →

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On Outdoor Responsibility

Posted on 23/01/2011 by Michael Coyle

I found an interesting site the other day: Leave No Trace (there is a Canadian offshoot as well). It’s a site that promotes outdoor ethics and offers guidance on the best practises to preserve wilderness values, and reduce the impact … Continue reading →

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VOC Group size: a response

Posted on 12/01/2011 by Michael Coyle

Phil Tomlinson, the current president of the VOC, composed a detailed and thoughtful response to my previous post. He had some trouble getting it into the comments, so I thought I would reproduce it here. Hi Michael,As the current President … Continue reading →

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The UBC VOC and Group Sizes

Posted on 11/01/2011 by Michael Coyle

This post is a bit of a rant, so please skip it if you’re not in the mood. A few years ago a friend and I travelled into the Cerise Creek area for some mountaineering. We were surprised to see … Continue reading →

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On ski widths

Posted on 05/01/2011 by Michael Coyle

I was out ski touring yesterday in a very popular area, one that I pretty much learned to ski in. I was musing about changes in skiing in the last 20 years. When I first visited this area, we would … Continue reading →

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Safe places to Snowshoe

Posted on 04/01/2011 by Michael Coyle

I see by my server logs that some people visiting the blog are searching for a safe place to snowshoe. With all the injury, death and general mayhem that I usually blog about I thought I’d give a few suggestions. … Continue reading →

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Death in the Backcountry

Posted on 24/10/2010 by Michael Coyle

Incident outcomes in the South Coast of BC(Copyright Michael Coyle, reuse with permission) Continued from Part 1 So I’ve been trained to dangle under a helicopter, and it’s fun. However, like a lot of things in SAR, it’s all fun … Continue reading →

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To the readers of ClubTread

Posted on 05/09/2010 by Michael Coyle

I don’t usually weigh in on things, but I will on this one. The task of SAR is to differentiate from the Rest of the World (ROW) and the Search Area. We know we cannot search the ROW, so we … Continue reading →

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