Mountaineering Man?

Usually, shopping for Hottie Husband's birthday is difficult.
He doesn't really ever want anything that I can actually buy for him.
This year I was very happy when I knew that there
were some gifts he would be excited to receive.

You see, he has a new sport.
It involves putting on snow skis with skins things you put on the bottom of the skis to create traction and instead of going up a chairlift,
one hikes up the mountain with skis on.
Personally, it sounds like torture.
However, when you are HH, anything that is challenging, grueling,  and make you almost puke in its intensity-
it sounds like fun!

He mentioned that he needed a backpack and something called a beacon for his new sport.
Geared with this knowledge, I went to to local sporting goods store and told the clerk what I needed.

We found this backpack, which now hangs on a hood in our home.
Skis can be attached to the backpack.

Then, I told the clerk he needed a beacon and he proceeded to show me that he also probably needed a few more things that neatly fit in the backpack.

like a shovel

Ummm,,, sir, why does he need a shovel?

Because if his buddy is buried, he needs to be able to dig him out.


Buried?


Yes, and he will also need a probe. 
See you take it like this and probe down into the snow until you hit something. 
Then you know you have found him and you start digging.

I am now in shock.
I had no idea what I was going out to purchase.
If he needs a shovel and a probe, then his buddy needs a shovel and a probe in case
he ends up like this little stick figure shown buried below.

Dig the stick figure man out quickly- he has four children.


Then I found out that this is a beacon.
It is a device that when activated, will lead you to your buddy trapped under the snow from an avalanche.

The thing is that you never go backcountry skiing I have now discovered that this is the name of the new sport that HH vaguely explained to me alone.
You always go with a buddy or buddies.
Not because you want company, but because you may need to have someone dig you out.

He wants to go not on these nicely groomed runs with the chairlifts

but rather up that peak to the left or even further
into the backcountry.

He is an explorer.
He always has been.
It is part of the reason I love him.

So I'll just pray that these skis of his take him where he wants to go
but always bring him safely back to me.