Avalanche Skills Training

With winter nearly in full swing, the snow-pack in the Rockies is now well established, but along with that is the potential for avalanche. If you're planning to spend any time in the backcountry this winter including alpine touring, snowshoeing, or even cross-country skiing on any trails which cross avalanche paths you should strongly consider taking a course to educate yourself on how to be safe out there!

There are plenty of resources out there for keeping safe in the backcountry, but the best place to start is a course such as the Avalanche Skills Training 1 (AST-1) course. There are a few different course providers, including Yamnuska Mountain Adventures, who offer courses throughout the winter. If you're already up to speed on the basics, consider AST-2, or if you're really enthusiastic you can take courses that extend beyond recreational applications such as the Canadian Avalanche Centre's (CAC) Avalanche Operations Level 1 courses.

Whether you're looking to take your first course, or looking to brush up on your knowledge and skills, we would definitely recommend considering the AST-1 course offered by Yamnuska. The course is a two-day course with one day in the classroom (either Calgary or Canmore) and the second day out in the field. 

We had an excellent instructor this past weekend in the classroom as we covered basic avalanche topics such as the formation of avalanche and the hazards involved, how to mitigate this risk by making appropriate decisions, and covering topics such as companion rescue. On the field day, we went out to Bow Summit where we practiced the use of transievers to locate buried avalanche victims,  recognizing terrain at risk for avalanche, identifying recent avalanche activity, and snow conditions in the field. When it was all said and done we even got a few turns in the 15cm of fresh snow that had fallen overnight.

Check out a few more photos from the course. 

Last but certainly not least, we'd like to thank both our instructors & Yamnuska Mountain Adventures!

If you're interested in more information on avalanche safety, check out the following links:

• Yamnuska AST-1: http://yamnuska.com/avalanche-courses/ast1/
• Canadian Avalanche Centre: http://www.avalanche.ca/cac/
• Parks Canada Avalanche Safety: http://www.pc.gc.ca/progs/np-pn/sp-ps/sec4.aspx