Petra Cliffs, in collaboration with Chauvin Guides International, instructed a Level 2 AIARE (American Institute for Avalanche Research & Education) Course over the past 4 days on Mt. Washington, NH. Instructors Marc Chauvin and Steve Charest taught the AIARE curriculum of Analyzing Snow Stability and Avalanche Hazard, which includes:
- Advancing understanding of avalanche terrain, particularly from the perspective of stability analysis.
- Discussing how the snowpack develops and metamorphoses over time; and discuss the factors that contribute to spatial variability.
- Learning standard observation guidelines and recording formats for factors that influence or indicate snow stability using the SWAG module (Snow, Weather and Avalanche Guidelines).
- Advancing understanding of avalanche release and triggering mechanisms.
- Introducing a snow stability analysis and forecasting framework.
- Improving companion rescue skills including multiple and deep burials.
The weather didn’t exactly cooperate for long days outside (rain, sleet, freezing rain), and formed a breakable crust over a layer of sleet, making for “survival” skiing the one day we were able to get out for a tour (Monday 3/7) to below the Little Headwall in Tuckerman Ravine. There, we dug test pits to evaluate the snowpack and performed rescue drills of multiple buried “victims.” The ski out on the Sherburne Trail was over an hour of the breakable crust attacking our skis, sending us to the ground occasionally, and making for some group bonding over one of the worst days of skiing any of us had ever had! Oh, did I mention that Vermont was getting up to 30″ of snow while we were getting rain & sleet?
Because of the conditions outside, our education was concentrated in the classroom, which was equally as valuable. Temperature gradients, vapor pressure, weather, snowpack metamorphism, persistent weak layers, tour planning and preparation, lapse rates, rounding, faceting, graphing snowpacks, bonding & sintering, 3-circle method… there’s more than you can imagine involved in snow science, but we were reminded to keep the big picture in mind– don’t let all of the small stuff become so important that the big picture is overlooked. And, an inherent factor in the winter sports that we do, the mountains often make the final decision– as Chauvin says, “Not all good decisions have good outcomes, and not all bad decisions have bad outcomes.” When we walk away from an excellent ski run without consequences in avalanche terrain, did we make a good decision, or just have a good outcome? It’s hard to know, but we’re being educated on how to make the best decisions given the information we can obtain.
Here are some photos of the course, and I hope to get more from other participants! Many thanks to Marc and Steve for teaching, and thanks to Pablo, Ryan, Coby, and Dan for participating in this course!
One of the tools that Steve now has is an “Avalanche Airbag” pack. As biglines.com writes: “Avalanche airbags work on the principle of inverse segregation. A flowing granular fluid under gravity (such as moving snow) will deposit the larger particles on top and the smaller particles on the bottom. The idea of the airbag is to suddenly increase the volume of the victim, thereby floating them to the top layer of the avalanche before the moving snow stops and solidifies. Provided the airbag is properly deployed in time, the chances of a complete burial are significantly reduced.” The first time we deployed the airbag was inside Petra Cliffs Climbing Center– kids all thought that it was a “rocket pack” that would shoot you up and out of the avalanche. Now that would be fun… but it would probably weigh 40 pounds!
~Andrea Charest
– indoor & outdoor climbing, caving, kayaking, sailing with the Community Sailing Center, and indoor and outdoor Ropes Courses! Because they’re minors, we like to keep our camper’s photos password protected on our Adventure Page, but if you are interested in seeing these pictures, please e-mail Andrea, andrea@petracliffs.com, to obtain the password.
