This weekend, Andrew, Tim and I took an AIARE level 1 avalanche course that turned out to be very useful and a lot of fun! We planned to snow camp for free rather than pay for lodging, so we had to pack a lot of stuff! We had to pack food for three days, water, warm clothing, the tent, sleeping bags, sleeping mats, ski poles, snowboarding boots, hiking boots, goggles, helmets, sunglasses, sunscreen, our gps, and so much other stuff! I always have a terrible feeling that I am forgetting something important, but after a while I exhausted my brain and figured I had everything I needed most! We somehow got all of our stuff into the car, the dog to our friend's house, and headed off!
The first day of the course was spent mostly in the classroom. We discussed the type of terrain that was most safe or unsafe during avalanches. We discussed the avalanche forecast, and how to better understand it in order to utilize it as a safety tool. We discussed terrain traps, what to do and what not to do, and what exactly it is that causes avalanches. After a long day in the classroom, we learned how to use avalanche beacons. We went outside into the parking lot and did some drills to help us get used to how to search for a buried victim with our avalanche beacons. That night, we were pretty tired. We had woken up very early to drive to Bear Valley, arrived just in time for class, and been hard at work all day. When class was dismissed, the three of us drove to a nearby snow camp, trudged out into the woods, and found a nice place to set up the tent. We huddled around making camp and making dinner. I fell asleep right after we ate dinner!
The next morning, we packed up camp and trudged back to the car. We got to the car later than expected, so rather than making oatmeal for breakfast we just ate granola bars and went to class. The second day of class was much more exciting! We spent a few hours in the classroom discussing snowpits, rescue digging, and other such things. Then we headed out into the snow with snowshoes and trekked a little ways up to the top of a cornice. We had lunch at the top, and then we tried to cause an avalanche by making the cornice fall. We had something called a "backcountry bomb" and its just a long wire that you can try to cut a cornice with. We didn't have much luck because the snowpack was so stable that day. After a few failed attempts at dropping the cornice, our instructor had us dig snowpits! We dug the snowpits as if it was a rescue from a burial, so there was a group of two people, and another group of Andrew, Tim, and I. We had to have two people digging at a time, and you rotate every minute. So you are digging furiously for two minutes, and then you get a one minute rest. It is very tiring! I hope I never have to dig anyone out from an avalanche. Our instructor helped us with our digging technique. After we had dug out the snowpit, we used it to evaluate the snowpack. There are all sorts of compression tests where you isolate a snow column and then see what happens when you put pressure on the top! It was very interesting. After learning about a few different tests, we climbed back to the top of the ridge only to discover that our instructor had a surprise for us! We had to "rescue" someone! He had thrown an avalanche beacon off the top of the mountain earlier, and now it was up to us to find it! We all assessed the situation together, and worked together to find the avalanche beacon. We found it quickly, and learned a lot of valuable lessons along the way. After this, we all headed back to our cars, and class was over for the day. We headed back to the snowpark, and asked the instructor if we could borrow the snowshoes overnight. He didn't mind! We stopped at a grocery store to pick up food for lunch the next day, and we had dinner at a subway. Then we drove back to the snow park and snowshoed to our campsite. We played with the avalanche beacons while setting up the tent; one person would go out and hide two, and then someone else would have to find them! Each of us got to search for the "victims" in a multi burial, and it was a lot of fun! Practice makes perfect, and perfect is good because it might save one of us someday. After we set up the tent, I snuggled into my sleeping bag, only to discover that we were all awake! We laid in the tent and chatted for a while and eventually drifted off to sleep.
The third day, we had enough time to make oatmeal and hot chocolate for breakfast! Those are two delicious ways to start a day. For the last day of class, we went out on a snowshoeing tour around Poison Canyon. Our instructor brought us to several types of obstacles and taught us to think our way through and problem solve how to best get around the obstacles. It was very useful, and quite invaluable. After we got back to our cars, we were so tired. We packed up and drove all the way home. When we got home, we barely managed to hang everything up to dry before falling asleep!
The first day of the course was spent mostly in the classroom. We discussed the type of terrain that was most safe or unsafe during avalanches. We discussed the avalanche forecast, and how to better understand it in order to utilize it as a safety tool. We discussed terrain traps, what to do and what not to do, and what exactly it is that causes avalanches. After a long day in the classroom, we learned how to use avalanche beacons. We went outside into the parking lot and did some drills to help us get used to how to search for a buried victim with our avalanche beacons. That night, we were pretty tired. We had woken up very early to drive to Bear Valley, arrived just in time for class, and been hard at work all day. When class was dismissed, the three of us drove to a nearby snow camp, trudged out into the woods, and found a nice place to set up the tent. We huddled around making camp and making dinner. I fell asleep right after we ate dinner!
The next morning, we packed up camp and trudged back to the car. We got to the car later than expected, so rather than making oatmeal for breakfast we just ate granola bars and went to class. The second day of class was much more exciting! We spent a few hours in the classroom discussing snowpits, rescue digging, and other such things. Then we headed out into the snow with snowshoes and trekked a little ways up to the top of a cornice. We had lunch at the top, and then we tried to cause an avalanche by making the cornice fall. We had something called a "backcountry bomb" and its just a long wire that you can try to cut a cornice with. We didn't have much luck because the snowpack was so stable that day. After a few failed attempts at dropping the cornice, our instructor had us dig snowpits! We dug the snowpits as if it was a rescue from a burial, so there was a group of two people, and another group of Andrew, Tim, and I. We had to have two people digging at a time, and you rotate every minute. So you are digging furiously for two minutes, and then you get a one minute rest. It is very tiring! I hope I never have to dig anyone out from an avalanche. Our instructor helped us with our digging technique. After we had dug out the snowpit, we used it to evaluate the snowpack. There are all sorts of compression tests where you isolate a snow column and then see what happens when you put pressure on the top! It was very interesting. After learning about a few different tests, we climbed back to the top of the ridge only to discover that our instructor had a surprise for us! We had to "rescue" someone! He had thrown an avalanche beacon off the top of the mountain earlier, and now it was up to us to find it! We all assessed the situation together, and worked together to find the avalanche beacon. We found it quickly, and learned a lot of valuable lessons along the way. After this, we all headed back to our cars, and class was over for the day. We headed back to the snowpark, and asked the instructor if we could borrow the snowshoes overnight. He didn't mind! We stopped at a grocery store to pick up food for lunch the next day, and we had dinner at a subway. Then we drove back to the snow park and snowshoed to our campsite. We played with the avalanche beacons while setting up the tent; one person would go out and hide two, and then someone else would have to find them! Each of us got to search for the "victims" in a multi burial, and it was a lot of fun! Practice makes perfect, and perfect is good because it might save one of us someday. After we set up the tent, I snuggled into my sleeping bag, only to discover that we were all awake! We laid in the tent and chatted for a while and eventually drifted off to sleep.
The third day, we had enough time to make oatmeal and hot chocolate for breakfast! Those are two delicious ways to start a day. For the last day of class, we went out on a snowshoeing tour around Poison Canyon. Our instructor brought us to several types of obstacles and taught us to think our way through and problem solve how to best get around the obstacles. It was very useful, and quite invaluable. After we got back to our cars, we were so tired. We packed up and drove all the way home. When we got home, we barely managed to hang everything up to dry before falling asleep!
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