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January 27, 2004
Avalanche 1
I didn't post much last week, mostly because I was at an Avalanche 1 course last Tues-Thurs. I had taken this exact same course last year, but knew I had a lot more to learn and retain.Avalanche science is more an art than a science. We've learned a lot about why they happen, but avalanche prediction is still mostly deep magic. There are 3 levels of Avalanche certification. Avalanche 1 is a decision based approach to avoiding avalanche terrain. It is more an avalanche avoidance course than anything. We spent half of the first two days in a classroom and the rest of the time in the field. We spent a LOT of time doing avalanche beacon rescue scenarios.
Six minutes without oxygen and your brain begins to die. After 30 minutes buried in an avalanche your chances of survival drop below 50%. Avalanche beacons mean the difference between a needing a rescue or a body recovery. Despite what people think, finding a buried victim is VERY difficult, even WITH top of the line avalanche beacons. Knowing how and practicing can easily mean the difference between 5 and 30 minutes, or finding them alive or dead. Group scenarios are even more complicated, where there are multiple burials and multiple searchers. Its amazing how small mistakes can cost a tremendous amount of time. To this end, we did LOTS of scenarios. On day 2 we went to the top of June mountain where the June Mountain Ski Patrol was about to conduct their own rescue scenario, instead they let us do it. They had four packs deeply buried on a huge ski slope. We had to work as a team to find them. It took 12 of us 15 minutes to find all 4. In comparison, in order to be on June Mountain's Ski Patrol you need to be able to find a victim on that same slope in under 3 minutes by yourself. I had the opportunity to act as leader in a big scenario where there were two victims one with and one without a beacon. I think I did pretty well, considering.
The rest of the time we spent on snow science and the decision process. We learned about the different types of snow and what causes avalanches, weak over strong. We dug snow pits and conducted different tests to identify layers in the snow and try and predict how stable or unstable the snow pack is.
On our last day, we toured out to Tele Bowl on the Sherwins. The day before I had asked our instructor whether we would be doing any steep downhill stuff, or just cross-country skiing out. He assured me there would only be small rolling hills. So I decided to borrow Skis and use my mountaineering boots, instead of using Snow Shoes. Big mistake. See, I'm not a skier. I'm learning how to ski, but haven't skied once this year. I can cross-country ski well, but steep downhill stuff is hard for me. It turns our, we went WAY up on the Sherwins and the only way back was to ski black diamond runs through trees. This put me in a position I can't stand to be in. Last place. I slowed the whole group down and apologized for it. Nobody minded, on the contrary, they were amazed at how gutsy it was to try and take skis out in the first place given my limited experience.
I've learned a tremendous amount and feel even more confident in my abilities to go board gnarly back-country mountains. There are inherent risks, but the learning I've endeavored to make habit, will help me avoid dangerous situations and maybe survive one someday, should I fall into one. The challenge now is to practice. There was so much information, only through practice will I make it a habit, and only when it IS a habit will it become useful. Luckily I have friends who are just as interested in practicing as I am. I will probably take avalanche 2 this year, which is more dedicated to snow science than rules.
Taking these courses makes me think more and more about starting on the path towards being a guide. I just wish I knew how to get there from here.
Posted by wonko at January 27, 2004 10:05 PM
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