Topic Tag: pro 1

The ability to communicate with your partners in the field is essential, whether in a professional setting or touring in the mountains on a day off. One of the hurdles with effective communication is taking the emotion out of it.

The snow and avalanche industry has borrowed from the Airline Industry and has begun to employ Crew Resource Management (CRM). CRM is a set of training procedures for use in environments where human error can have devastating effects. Used primarily for improving safety, CRM focuses on interpersonal communication, leadership, and decision making in high consequence, high stress environments.

Successful backcountry travel means time spent studying routes before heading out into the field. The more time you spend studying the terrain you might travel through, the better you can anticipate decision-making points, places you might want to stop to evaluate the snowpack, and areas that might hold higher quality snow.

The following video offers a comprehensive look into using Google Earth and CalTopo for route planning.

Keep in mind, online mapping tools are a great resource. The slope angle shading is just an estimate of slope angle. It is essential to take measurements and assess terrain in the field. Do not rely solely on technology or the slope angle shading on these tools.

Knowing how to read maps and plan day tours is an important skill. In this short video, we will lay the foundation for map reading and resources that are useful for tour planning.

How do we use the avalanche hazard forecast, current avalanche problems, and current snow and weather observations to put a plan together?  The AAI Backcountry Checklist offers a systematic approach to a tour day. It can help us plan and execute an appropriate tour for the day.

We built this checklist because most of us do most of these things most of the time. The goal of the checklist is to help all of us do all of these things all of the time.

Does it end up taking you more time to dig a pit than you would like? Do you lose your tools in the snow? Do you struggle with cutting straight, even columns?

Digging snow pits can be time consuming, especially when you are learning. More often than not, you are not going to stop on a ski tour and dig a full profile. It is likely that you will focus on digging a test pit.

When digging a test pit (or any pit, for that matter), the pit should be placed in an area that is safe, representative and polite.

The goal of a test pit is a focused analysis. What’s the weakest layer? How much force does it take to fail? Does the failure propagate?

Watch the following video to learn more about how Don Sharaf executes a test pit.

There is a lot of teaching and talking in this video. With practice, you should be able to get a lot of good snowpack information in 5-15 minutes. You may discover an instability and experience a propagating ECT. This information may lead you to back off of a slope. Even with less conclusive results, the more you dig each day, the better understanding you gain of current stability.

REMEMBER: Stability tests are just one piece of the puzzle. Don’t make a decision based on just one snowpit or one stability test. These tests should be used in conjunction with other information. Have you seen recent avalanche activity? Has there been any cracking or collapsing? What is the season history and the current avalanche problem(s). And if there is ever any confusion with test results or how they fit in to the big picture, choose simpler terrain.

On your Pro 1, you will be expected to dig a snowpit, take temperatures every 10 cm, identify all of the layers in the pit (grain type, grain size, layer hardness), and conduct a small column stability test (ie. compression test) and a large column stability test (ie. extended column test or propagation saw test) in 60 minutes. The time starts when you are done with the majority of the excavating. We typically allow for approximately 10 minutes of digging time.

In the following video, Don Sharaf walks through his techniques for digging a full profile and executing it in the time allowed.

We are going to spend some time studying terrain and possible ski routes at the Sorcerer Lodge in Canada. The goal of this exercise is to gain familiarity with how to route plan for a new area. You will also gain familiarity with how use CalTopo and other resources. This activity is self paced. We will give you a task to complete and then will offer a video explanation on the answers we came to with each question. We have you use CalTopo and Google Earth, which are great tools. Keep in mind these online mapping tools are really useful and they are not 100% accurate. It is important to ground truth slope angle measurements that you get from online resources. In person observations overrule online measurements.

Enjoy!

Below you will find links that we cover in the introduction video and that you will need for this exercise.

https://sorcererlodge.com/terrain-overview/

https://caltopo.com/m/65B2

https://www.avalanche.ca/

http://www.wisegoat.ca/

Have you ever wondered how forecasters build their forecasts? If there is a process that helps them come to a hazard rating?

The Conceptual Model of Avalanche Hazard is a system for building a hazard forecast. It works through a variety of variables, including what avalanche problems are present and where they are located, and the likelihood and consequence of triggering an avalanche.

Dave Kikkert is going to walk you through the Conceptual Model of Avalanche Forecasting.