Avy Training course review

[marylou]

This is my review of the Pro Guiding Service Avy One course. Feel free to move to Freshiez if that seems like a better place for it.

 

Avalanche Safety - Beyond the Right Gear

Avalanche Safety Courses are essential for exploring winter and spring backcountry safely.

 

By Allison Woods, Washington Trails magazine gear editor

 

As snowshoeing and winter hiking continue to increase in popularity, so too shall the likelihood of increased avalanche-related incidents. This season’s fatal accidents led me to ask my friends and colleagues about their winter backcountry habits. What I discovered is that the majority of them, particularly the snowshoers and “in-bounds backcountry” skiers, have no formal training in assessing danger levels. Even less of them have avalanche- related safety equipment. This is a serious concern. Many, if not most, of our prime snowshoeing destinations pass through avalanche terrain. Rather than test some supercool piece of gear this month, I set out to test some “gear for your brain” in the form of a basic avalanche course. In February, I took the Avalanche 1 Course offered by Pro Guiding Service. Pro Guiding is owned by Martin Volken, renowned Swiss guide and local ski guidebook author. He runs two ski shops, one in Seattle, and one in North Bend, and offers a wide range of courses and trips in climbing, mountaineering, and ski touring through his guide service. The course I took is the American Institute for Avalanche Research and Education (AIARE) Level 1 certification, and as such, follows a prescribed curriculum.

 

The Course

 

We started Day One at Alpental Lodge for a few hours of classroom time. Our class consisted of seven students. The two instructor/guides ere Scott Schell and Ben Haskell. The pair complemented each other nicely, with Scott having a modern perspective, and Ben possessing an endearing old-school crustiness that belies his age. The first two lectures were devoted to the formation of snow pack and avalanche conditions. Afterward, we headed out into the Alpental backcountry. There we looked at different types of terrain and learned some essentials of snow travel. In the afternoon we talked about weather and trip planning, and did some field analysis of the snow pack in Edelweiss Bowl. Day One wrapped up with a short debriefing session in the lodge.

 

Day Two started early with a slide show at the North Bend shop. We looked at images of different avalanche situations. After the morning lecture, we drove back up to Alpental, arriving just as the sun was burning off the clouds. There we broke into teams to dig a couple of snow pits. Ben led us through the somewhat complicated aspects of baseline pit testing, and then Scott taught us to do a Rutschblock test. These tests may seem like an awful lot of gobbledygook to a snowshoer or backcountry skier, but there is a huge amount of information buried in the snow pack. We concluded the morning session with a single buried transceiver search.

 

After lunch, it was back out in the sunshine for more transceiver work. It’s simply not enough to own the equipment. Like ice axe arrest, beacon search takes quite a bit of practice to master, particularly in the case of multiple burials.

 

We wrapped up Day Two with a debriefing session in North Bend, where the entire two day session was reviewed and discussed. The course was concluded with an informal question-and-answer period on the materials covered.

 

Impressions

 

The AIARE curriculum is solid. Ben and Scott did a great job of taking us through it. They allowed for tangent discussions as questions came up. The course was fast-paced and interesting, and really opened my eyes to snow hazards. Much more time was spent on what they call “terrain management” than on crisis intervention, and rightfully so. Safe snow travel depends largely on research conducted prior to leaving the parking lot. Transceiver work is not part of the AIARE curriculum, but Pro Guiding includes it in their program. That additional training is both valuable and a lot of fun.

 

Something you might not think about when considering taking an avalanche class is student to teacher ratio. It hadn’t crossed my mind until I took this course. Pro Guiding’s ratio for Avalanche 1 is no more than five students to one teacher. This allows for open dialogue on every topic, and a fair amount of individual time with the instructors.

 

Course cost is currently $180, and includes roughly 17 hours of training. Participants can be outfitted with alpine, AT, telemark, or snowboard gear, and are expected to be at least “strong intermediate” skiers or boarders. I might amend that last bit to say “very strong” as the terrain covered is all expert level. Steep terrain is a necessary element in learning to assess slope stability. Safety equipment is required. It can be rented at either of the Pro Ski shops. A ski lift ticket is needed for Day One, and is not included in the cost of the course. As of publication deadline, there are no more Avalanche 1 courses scheduled for this ski season. If three or more students are interested, another session can be taught. Pro Guiding plans to expand the Avalanche 1 course to include an additional three-hour evening lecture prior to the first day at Alpental. This will allow for more time in the field. Course cost is expected to increase slightly to $199.

 

The Essentials:

 

Beacon, Shovel, Probe

 

Our instructors emphasized over and over how important it is to carry all three of these tools when traveling in avalanche terrain. The tools together comprise a safety system; without all three components, you might as well not carry any of them. For this course, I used:

 

Backcountry Access Tracker DTS, $300 The Tracker is the most popular transceiver on the market. Why? It’s incredibly easy to use. I found the beacon’s controls and functions simple and intuitive in both induction line and grid searches. The digital processing did hiccup slightly when performing multiple victim burial searches, but with practice, this beacon can be your best friend.

 

Voile XL Shovel, $40 This super-light shovel weighs just under a pound. The scoop is of standard size, but the handle is stubby and doesn’t extend. When digging snow pits, the short handle put me at a disadvantage compared to those with full-length shovels. This might not be the best shovel to use in the case of an avalanche burial situation. Add a telescoping handle, and well, that’s another story.

 

Black Diamond QuickDraw Tour Probe 190, $39 The Black Diamond Tour probe assembles in a jiffy, and is sturdy as can be. Colored pole sections allow for quick depth assessment. For another $9 and 2.5 ounces, upgrade to the BD QuickDraw Super Tour Probe. You’ll gain an additional 75 centimeters of probe length and a more comprehensive measuring system. Above: Avalanche safety essentials, left to right: collapsible avalanche probe, snow shovel, and avalanche beacon.

 

Avalanche Resources

 

Pro Guiding Service (425) 888-6397, info@ProGuiding.com, www.proguiding.com

 

Staying Alive in Avalanche Terrain By Bruce Tremper, 2001, The Mountaineers Books

 

American Avalanche Association, www.avalanche.org

 

Northwest Weather and Avalanche Center www.nwac.noaa.gov

 

Avalanche hotline 206-526-6677, (Local mountain weather and avalanche conditions).

 

This article originally appeared in the March 2004 issue of Washington Trails magazine.

[fern]

 

a course geared to "very strong" "expert level" skiers and boarders doesn't do much good for your clueless snowshoer friends. Did you research any options for the non-glisse crowd?

[marylou]

What I researched is in the article. A lot of our readers ski or slide.

 

Pro Guiding is pretty accomodating as well, and can customize to meet the needs of clients.

[fern]

 

nice to hear that company will customize . some people might think there were no options other than those specifically advertised or reported. I bring up the snowshoers only because you specifically pointed them out in your introduction as a crowd that may be under-educated about the hazards of the terrain they travel.

[marylou]

Well, it's already in print, and the feedback has been pretty positive.

 

Just wanted to share it in case anyone here is thinking about taking a basic Avy course.

[thelawgoddess]

thanks for the write-up. i've really only heard good stuff about pro ski.

 

i agree with fern, though, and i'm glad she brought it up. there were a couple of snowshoers in my avy level 1 course here. it made things more difficult logistically for them, but the ski patrol was pretty cool about getting them where they needed to be via snowmobile. i think people putting these courses on should definitely be expanding their target crowd to include those who aren't venturing into the bc necessarily to expert ski - like snowshoers ... and especially snowmobilers.