Basics

Avalanche Basics - What do students know?

Beginning an avalanche class can be be daunting. There is an intention and purpose to learning this material unlike other classes.

At the same time, all the folks in the classroom have drunk some of the Outdoor-Backcountry-Adventure Kool-Aid and there is an air of sizing up others: How will my skiing skills match up? What if I make a mistake? What happens if I fail the transceiver test? Will I have to prove myself as a competent backcountry person and disclose my novice tendencies?

Everyone taking an Avalanche course is a novice! And few students have the breadth of necessary skills to be considered experts in the backcountry. At least at this point.

To be prepared for the first class, read as much materials on avalanches that you can comfortably digest. Read with a notebook and write down questions that arise or points that need clarification. The abundance of information will appear overwhelming and only with a systematic process will you be able to wade through the material.

Many students begin their avalanche education wondering about the effects of rain or how to discern between a hard slab and soft slab. Many inquire about the Cone at Mt. Bachelor and why the face of it rarely slides (a documented slide occurred in October 2017!). Still others want to know which transceiver is the best for the money. These are all worthy questions and will be answered in due time through a diligent approach of grasping some fundamental concepts first.

Use the resources presented here and begin digging in. You will not grasp everything at first and some things may seem more important than others. Consider this: if you could have one skill in the winter backcountry, while traveling in avalanche terrain, what would it be? Consider it this way: if, in the future, as an expert, you are taking complete newbies into the backcountry, what do you want them to do?

I hope you said “Rescue Me”.

This set of skills is more important than others at the beginning level of avalanche education. You will walk out of the level 1 class feeling comfortable that you can find and recover a buried person.

The other stuff (stability tests, effects of weather, identifying terrain) will elude you to a large extent. At the least you will walk away knowing what you don’t fully understand.

Begin your class with this: Why are you here? What is the intent of your avalanche education?

From there, we can begin.

Enjoy the class.