For the last 2.5 days we have been undertaking avalanche training (AST Level 1). It started with some theory on Friday night in the lecture room while we watched fresh powder fall outside. There were some pretty sobering videos of people getting caught in avalanches.
Saturday morning we gathered at 9am for more theory as everyone else went out to play in 25m of fresh powder. Boo hoo!
That afternoon we did get to go out in the powder and hunt for buried beacons (avalanche casualties) and also found a little time to play in the snow while we were out there.
Today we headed into the back country to look at the snow pack to interpret the risk of an avalanche.
And learn what different snowpack layers look like.
We also learned how to conduct a search for avalanche casualties and how to dig them out efficiently. While all quite sobering it was evident that repeated practice would definitely help in keeping a level head and that taking a few moments to organise the group can save minutes of precious time to produce an efficient search while the avalanche victims may be buried and struggling to breathe.
It was really interesting, thought provoking and a bit scary. Makes you really think about the decisions you make when heading into the back country and unpatrolled areas.
A lot learned and another course passed for the CV 😉
