North Cascades - AIARE Level 1 Avalanche Course

In January I headed up to Mazama Washington for an Avalanche course, the AIARE Level 1 course.  I figured that if I was going to be spending more time in the backcountry I should get smarter about understanding the conditions for both my own safety as well as those that I travel with.  The class was also an excuse to go back to the Methow Valley, North Cascades – I special spot for me. 

The class was 2 ½ days for a total of 24 hours; half of that time was spent inside.  The last day was intended to be out in the field touring around.  The class was packed, 24 people cozily crammed into the Mazama community center.  Saturday we spent a good bit of the time in the classroom learning about snow conditions, decision-making and terrain.  My big take away was – 90% survival rate in an avalanche if found in 15 minutes; that is burial to excavation.  After 15 minutes the rate of survival goes down dramatically - travel with people that know how to respond quickly!  Slope angle; 38% slope angle is the most dangerous for failure.  Concerned about the conditions = lower slope angle

Loading the Cat 

The second ½ of the day was spent outside getting familiar and comfortable with our beacons, shovel and probe.  Sunday morning we met early to board the cat for our day out in the backcountry, I was super excited to explore.  The weather did not cooperate with us that day, woke up to a ¼ inch of ice on top of the snow, ick!  Weather always changes the plan – instead of exploring potential avalanche areas we focused more on snow conditions.  

We learned how to observe the snowpack by hand hardness tests to determine relative strength of each layer, compression test by preparing a column and loading it to failure, rutschblock test to test the snowpack.  We broke out into smaller groups and did a few avalanche scenarios – 15 minutes really isn’t that much time you want to be organized!  We never had the chance to take our skins off our skis.  It didn’t really matter that we didn’t get to tour – the purpose was to learn about avalanches and how to respond and be prepared and the North Cascades Mountain Guides; Larry and Jeff did a great job ensuring that we did that in a comprehensive manner and with humor.

Larry demonstrating slope stability

Larry demonstrating the snow stiffness test;
fist, four fingers, pencil or 1 finger

Class outline:

1. Intro to decision making
2. Avalanche fundamentals
3. Plan
4. Observe
5. Choose terrain and travel wisely
6. Emergency response
7. Where to go from here

Jeff demonstrating the
Rutschblock test

 


















The class was timely – there have been several tragic avalanche fatalities in the NW this winter.  I feel better prepared for being in the backcountry, I look at slopes much differently than I did before the class.  It is dangerous out there – but like everything else get good information about the conditions, travel with safe, knowledgeable people and have fun. 

http://www.ncmountainguides.com/

http://avtraining.org/Avalanche-Training-Courses/AIARE-Level-1.html

http://www.nwac.us/

http://www.mvsta.com/ski.html