Conditions over the last few days were perfect for another AIARE 1 Avalanche Course. Over a foot of new snow had fallen over the week and on Friday we gathered at the AMC Highland Center in Crawford Notch to begin the 3-Day course. After a morning indoor session we headed outside and practiced companion rescue with burials at a realistic depth of 1.2 meters.

On Saturday we headed over to the west side of Mount Washington to ascend the ridge between Burt and Ammonoosuc Ravine alongside the Cog Railway.

Digging in the snow on the northwest aspects here revealed fairly uniform pencil hard slab with a lack of buried weak layers. Just on the southwest side of the ridge I was able to get very positive ski cuts along with observing some small cornices.

We thought we saw a small recent avalanche down in Ammonoosuc but it was hard to confirm from our position up on the ridge. I definitely need to add a small pair of binoculars to my kit! The weather turned pretty quickly and by 3:15 we were de-skinning and getting ready to drop a fairly sweet powder run back to the trail-head.

On Sunday we met at the very busy Pinkham Notch Visitor Center. With a forecast of “Considerable” avalanche danger and a complicated bulletin the group worked together on a trip plan for the day.

Enroute to Hermit Lake we made a quick stop to check out the snow study plot. 1.3 meters of snow on the ground, with more accumulating through-out the day on the 24 hour and storm snow boards. 5-6% density snow = fluffy greatness!

When we reached Hermit Lake USFS Snow Ranger Jeff Lane chatted with the class regarding their mission up there and the local variability that effects their forecasting operation.

After updating our weather observations and reviewing our route options from the morning the group selected Hillman’s Highway as an area we could tour through in order to complete our course goals.

Before entering into the area effected by the large D4 avalanche a few years ago we discussed how best to use the terrain to stay protected.

After traversing some ground and learning the value of a solid uphill kick turn we dropped back down below the dog-leg of Hillman’s and made some snowpack observations on a small slope, concluding our observations with an entertaining Rutschblock Test.

I actually got to use “esoteric rhetoric” in a sentence when describing how we might try to interpret our results and that word combination still gives me a chuckle for some reason.

My tour notes from the day:

5 more courses and that will be it for the 2012/2013 avalanche course season. We only have 1 spot left in this upcoming weekend’s course so if you are interested call and book it today! 800-310-4504.

You can see the other dates we have scheduled here. All 5 courses are close to full so don’t delay if you were hoping to get this course in this winter!

See you on the mountain!

Yesterday concluded this season’s AIARE 2 Course. I was super stoked to facilitate this advanced avalanche course, “Analyzing Snow Stability And Avalanche Hazard”. We had 2 EMS School Guides from Lake Placid, Matt Weich and Jack Lane, new EMS Schools North Conway guide Jeremy Devine, and 4 other snow savvy back-country travelers in attendance.

We started the course at the AMC Highland Center on Friday, and after reviewing AIARE 1 curriculum we headed out to a nearby field location to refresh and build upon our Companion Rescue skills. Emphasis was on leadership and and triage in multiple and deep burial scenarios. Recent AIARE 1 Course Instructor and fellow EMS School Guide Mike Lackman joined us to help with the afternoon session.

On Day 2 we dove into some of the complexities of mountain weather and snow-pack metamorphism. Despite chatting about temperature gradients, vapor pressure effects, and the differences between short-wave and long-rave radiation everyone stayed quite engaged… wait… what’s the difference between a layer & an interface again? 😉

That afternoon we headed out to the Marshfield Station at the base of the cog to learn about full profiles. While quite esoteric, this was the revealed snowpack on the west side of Mount Washington at 2,540 feet:

Day three started with a bit more classroom as we introduced some standardized weather and snowpack recording techniques and some new small and large column tests. We hit the trail around 11:45 and skinned up to 4,700 feet along the Cog Railway making observations along the way.

Along the way we experienced some small shooting cracks and some positive ski cutting results right alongside the Cog Railway. A few meters from “Jacob’s Ladder” at 4,750ft we dug some quick test pits to take a look at the layering up high. I didn’t get any footage/pics of the boot top powder we enjoyed on our 2,200 foot descent, but it was pretty sweet.

We returned to the classroom late afternoon to go over the PM Stability and Hazard Checklist along with how to make our observations relevant.

On our final day we met at Pinkham Notch Visitor Center where the group went through a trip planning session on their own.

Mother Nature brought the insane cold temps for our full field day, as has been the norm this season, but we managed to check out conditions on both the southern aspects of the Lion’s Head Ridge (Summer of 69 Gully, with a great layer of Graupel!) and over on the eastern aspects below Hillman’s Highway, all along gathering weather and snowpack obs as we traveled through as much avalanche terrain as we could.

During our tour we carried out many non-standardized test, hand shears, pole probing, etc., along with CT’s, ECT’s, PST’s, and a Rutshblock. Again, esoteric in nature here was my tour plan and field day:

A bit blurry, but a nice record of our day none-the-less. It was great working with these 7 folks at increasing their understanding of the avalanche phenomenon. As with every course I teach I learned more about the material, and how to try to deliver it to others, mainly through the willingness of the students to engage and challenge my delivery. I’ll be attending a AIARE 2 IRC (Instructor Refresher Course) next season, and would love to see EMS Schools provide 2 AIARE 2 courses a season, as collectively we all work at raising awareness on how to manage avalanche hazard while still getting “shred the gnar”.

Counting this weekend we only have 6 more AIARE 1 courses left this season. 2 are sold out, and the other 4 are close to sold out. If you’ve been wanting to get some formal avy training under your belt this winter this week could be your last chance to book. Please check the dates here and don’t delay!

See you on the mountain!