The backcountry

Teamwork Toolkit

A collaborative set of practical ideas for better backcountry teamwork. Read more
How to use the toolkit (and help others too)
1 Pick one skill to work on
2 Try it on your next tour or ride
3 Tell us how it went
We'll update the Toolkit to reflect your submission and you'll inform our 2024-25 research. Sharing your experience, no matter what it was, moves the community towards a common language and best practices.
Just click on your favorite ideas. Try them in the field and then come back to share your feedback and improve the toolkit for everyone!

Guides

Professional authors help you find the right team practice for common situations.
Going out with a new partner
How to have a smooth and enjoyable first outing with a new backcountry ski partner, at any experience level.
How to actually listen to all voices
We know we should do it. How do we stick to it when the group dynamic makes it hard.

Practices

Add IdeaShare Feedback
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No abstaining
Agree up front that everyone will speak up, and will encourage others on the team to speak up.
Building Teamwork
Do a body scan
You can sharpen your spidey sense with a quick look inwards.
No items found.
Observe your partners too
Observing your partner(s) can be more important than looking at the snow
Building Teamwork
Do it three times
Being a good partner is no different than learning a new language or playing the violin. It takes practice to get good.
Building Teamwork
Get buy in early
If you want to try a team building tactic with your team, let them know early in the planning process
Building Teamwork
Ask if your plan is still good
Repeatedly check in and confirm your plan is still good as you get new information
Making Observations
Use photos to align on terrain in the field
Pointing to a feature on a picture is more precise than "do you see the chute over there, with the medium-sized tree in it?"
Making Observations
Share it with a story
Tell real stories about times where other parties practiced a new communication tactic and how it paid off for them.
Building Teamwork
Devil’s advocate
A Devil's Advocate presents ideas that challenge, forcing the team to defend plans/decisions
Making Observations
Travel Style
New person recap
Have the most junior member of the team recap the plan, to see if everyone understands it.
Planning
A debrief for good days
Debriefs are not just for when things go wrong. If you have a good day and want to repeat it, debrief and figure out what made it so awesome.
Debrief
The "1 to 5 check"
Asking partners how they're feeling 1 to 5 is quick way to check in frequently without breaking the flow.
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Meet other partners who want to prioritize teamwork.

The SlabLab Partner Network helps you find your kind of partner.
Check it out
Great Choice
Investigate your intuition and and it's longer
Next, try it and tell us how it goes
Give it a go on your next tour or ride. Even if you don't use it or like it please come back and share that feedback. It improves the toolkit for everyone.
We can send you an email reminder
It really helps us count which practices for our research.
Your submission has been received!
We hope you have a great tour or ride.
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About the Teamwork Toolkit

The Teamwork Toolkit is both the result of our 2023-2024 season research and the continuation of it. It's a library of pragmatic ideas that any backcountry tourer or team can use on their next trip, as well as contribute towards for the benefit of others.

We realized in our work last year that small ideas can add a lot of benefit. Teams often know what to do. For example, listen to all voices. But they are less sure and much less practiced in how do to it. We assume hard skills take time to master but mistakenly assume when we hear a communication concept we can employ it straight away.  We know know human factors are critical to safety, and also fun. This toolkit seeks to bring more attention to concrete, actionable things indivudals can do to build those skills.

At the same time, this toolkit is the basis of our 2024-25 research. We want to move from the depth of exploring these practices with a few participants to the breadth of opening things up to the community. We hope that people will take the time to try one out, report back and add to our understanding of what improves teamwork.