Avalanche Course in the Sierra's
Hi. Since I already started the day of on a good note with a long run, I thought I'd take a time out of my morning to catch up with some recent adventures I've been wanting to share.
About a month ago I took a trip to the southern end of the Northern Sierras, in other words the Central Sierra's! I made the voyage north to complete an avalanche course. Because I intend to continue to explore back-country winter landscapes I wanted to be better able to evaluate the hazards associated with travel across snow-laden trails and mountain sides. Having successfully completed the two day course i am extremely happy I invested the time to learn about avalanche safety.
The bottom line in winter activities is - You DO NOT want to get caught in an avalanche. If this is not immediately intuitive, which I hope it is, this email will hopefully provide some amount of enlightenment.
The course consisted of two very long days, of classroom instruction and field work. Most of our time was spent outdoors, putting into practice the skills and knowledge that we reviewed in the classroom. Our timing for the course was perfect - it has snowed heavily the week before, and established just the right conditions that we were there to explore. In fact were were made aware of the sad news that a well known experienced Ski Patrol person had perished from injuries sustained after being caught in an avalanche three days earlier. This of course made the class that much more poignant.
Most of the participants in the course were members of The Outdoors Club (www.outdoorsclub.org), myself included, although none of us had previously met, so it was fun to get to know everyone. The class was taught by Kurt Wedberg, well known Alpinist and Guide/Owner of Sierra Mountaineering International (www.sierramountaineering.com), as well of two of his staff. In total there were about 18 participants in the class, which was held in the city of Bishop.
Day 1 was classroom work, which started bright and early at 7AM, and consisted of studying the science of weather, snow, snow pack formation, avalanche terrain, avalanche triggers, trip and travel planning, search and rescue equipment, and methods. After we had learned most of the theory we took a trip outside of town, up into the mountains to about 9500 ft elevation. There we simulated burials, and practiced our search and rescue techniques with our avalanche transceivers, probes and shovels - See picture. I'm the one in the orange jacket.
After the field work we return the classroom, and delved back into the science and theory of avalanche avoidance, back-country medical care, and trip planning for the following day. Day 2 was all held outdoors, in the hills surrounding Mammoth Lakes. Like the day before class started at 7AM, which made for a very early morning start, since it took about an hour to drive to Mammoth from Bishop. However, one nice thing about making the early morning drive, was watching the sun come up and watching the eastern face of the Sierras light up with a warm Golden glow - It was very beautiful.
Day 2 consisted of a back-country trek through avalanche territory, and all the knowledge we learned the day before was put into practice. In fact, we did have to a real life rescue, when a person fell into a hole in the snow pack and had to be extracted - We were fortunate that he was not hurt; the attached picture shows the about 12 ft deep pit we eventually dug.
By most accounts the trip we made was very modest, less than six miles total with about 1600 ft of elevation gain. However, we had plenty of group dynamics to contend with, even after split into three smaller groups, issues such as poor equipment, pace, and even some health issues. That said, we did manage to work through our issues and safely made our summit.
Once we were at the summit, we dug a snow pit to do snow pack study for strength and stability - We eventually determined that there was only a moderate (which is actually very high) risk of an avalanche - Of course we already knew this, and it was the reason why we were there! The most interest part of the day however came after we had completed our snow pack study, it was at that point that the instructors surprised us with a mock avalanche and tasked to prepare and complete a rescue.
For reasons that I don't recall anymore, I was elected as the leader for the group, and was responsible for coordinating the search and rescue. Although it was only a simulation, we were all nevertheless immediately charged with adrenaline and emotion as we coordinated and completed the search and rescue. As the leader, my mind and heart raced the entire time.
We eventually found and unburied all the avalanche victims, three of which survived, one which did not. Please keep in mind this was just a simulation - No one actually got hurt, but we treated it as if it were a real situation. You can imagine that the exercise turned from thrilling to morbid, before we were complete. The first rescue took about 6 minutes, the second 8 minutes, the third about 12 minutes and the fourth in about 35 minutes after forming a probe line.
Make note of the rescue times, they are critical. If I recall correctly, the survival rate for victims buried in an avalanche for more than 15 minutes drops off to virtually zero. Although bodily injuries or hypothermia are often thought of as the things that kill you in an avalanche; they are not - It's asphyxiation. Some exceptions aside, it is a well established medical fact that after 6 minutes of oxygen deprivation you will sustain irreversible, fatal brain damage. Now go back and reread our rescue times: Pretty somber if you think about it, especially when you think that the rescue consisted of about twenty trained and skilled individuals doing the rescue. [Insert you own emotional response here].
Two of the victims were wearing avalanche beacons, two were not - Want to guess which ones were found the quickest? Yup - good guess, the ones with the avalanche transceivers. Once we had all made it back down to the trail-head we did an hour long critique of the rescue. The rescue instructor had a lot of praise for the group, and said something which was a shock to most of us, me especially: He said that in his fifteen years of doing first-time, group avalanche classes, ours was the best he had ever seen, both the group as a whole and me as the leader.
This immediately floored me. His comments were thoroughly objective, and well calibrated, since he is also the June Mountain Avalanche Search and Rescue Ski Patrol Instructor, but I reflected on all the mistakes I knew I was making, even as I was making them, and thought to myself that in a real life situation, you will be extremely unlikely to have the same favorable conditions we did in our mock exercise.
These realizations of course lead me back to my bottom line conclusion of the class - "You DO NOT want to get caught in an avalanche".
Based on my experience in the class and my personal experience in the back-country, I strongly encourage you to take a similar course, if you intend to spend any time the winter back-country. If you are out and about, it is unlikely you will be able to eliminate the risks, but having this type of knowledge should allow you to make better decisions and plans.
I hope this email doesn't seem depressing, I did not intend be. In the event it is I'll end on a positive note: I love life - It's great! I hope you feel the same.
-Manny
About a month ago I took a trip to the southern end of the Northern Sierras, in other words the Central Sierra's! I made the voyage north to complete an avalanche course. Because I intend to continue to explore back-country winter landscapes I wanted to be better able to evaluate the hazards associated with travel across snow-laden trails and mountain sides. Having successfully completed the two day course i am extremely happy I invested the time to learn about avalanche safety.
The bottom line in winter activities is - You DO NOT want to get caught in an avalanche. If this is not immediately intuitive, which I hope it is, this email will hopefully provide some amount of enlightenment.
The course consisted of two very long days, of classroom instruction and field work. Most of our time was spent outdoors, putting into practice the skills and knowledge that we reviewed in the classroom. Our timing for the course was perfect - it has snowed heavily the week before, and established just the right conditions that we were there to explore. In fact were were made aware of the sad news that a well known experienced Ski Patrol person had perished from injuries sustained after being caught in an avalanche three days earlier. This of course made the class that much more poignant.
Most of the participants in the course were members of The Outdoors Club (www.outdoorsclub.org), myself included, although none of us had previously met, so it was fun to get to know everyone. The class was taught by Kurt Wedberg, well known Alpinist and Guide/Owner of Sierra Mountaineering International (www.sierramountaineering.com), as well of two of his staff. In total there were about 18 participants in the class, which was held in the city of Bishop.
Day 1 was classroom work, which started bright and early at 7AM, and consisted of studying the science of weather, snow, snow pack formation, avalanche terrain, avalanche triggers, trip and travel planning, search and rescue equipment, and methods. After we had learned most of the theory we took a trip outside of town, up into the mountains to about 9500 ft elevation. There we simulated burials, and practiced our search and rescue techniques with our avalanche transceivers, probes and shovels - See picture. I'm the one in the orange jacket.
After the field work we return the classroom, and delved back into the science and theory of avalanche avoidance, back-country medical care, and trip planning for the following day. Day 2 was all held outdoors, in the hills surrounding Mammoth Lakes. Like the day before class started at 7AM, which made for a very early morning start, since it took about an hour to drive to Mammoth from Bishop. However, one nice thing about making the early morning drive, was watching the sun come up and watching the eastern face of the Sierras light up with a warm Golden glow - It was very beautiful.
Day 2 consisted of a back-country trek through avalanche territory, and all the knowledge we learned the day before was put into practice. In fact, we did have to a real life rescue, when a person fell into a hole in the snow pack and had to be extracted - We were fortunate that he was not hurt; the attached picture shows the about 12 ft deep pit we eventually dug.
By most accounts the trip we made was very modest, less than six miles total with about 1600 ft of elevation gain. However, we had plenty of group dynamics to contend with, even after split into three smaller groups, issues such as poor equipment, pace, and even some health issues. That said, we did manage to work through our issues and safely made our summit.
Once we were at the summit, we dug a snow pit to do snow pack study for strength and stability - We eventually determined that there was only a moderate (which is actually very high) risk of an avalanche - Of course we already knew this, and it was the reason why we were there! The most interest part of the day however came after we had completed our snow pack study, it was at that point that the instructors surprised us with a mock avalanche and tasked to prepare and complete a rescue.
For reasons that I don't recall anymore, I was elected as the leader for the group, and was responsible for coordinating the search and rescue. Although it was only a simulation, we were all nevertheless immediately charged with adrenaline and emotion as we coordinated and completed the search and rescue. As the leader, my mind and heart raced the entire time.
We eventually found and unburied all the avalanche victims, three of which survived, one which did not. Please keep in mind this was just a simulation - No one actually got hurt, but we treated it as if it were a real situation. You can imagine that the exercise turned from thrilling to morbid, before we were complete. The first rescue took about 6 minutes, the second 8 minutes, the third about 12 minutes and the fourth in about 35 minutes after forming a probe line.
Make note of the rescue times, they are critical. If I recall correctly, the survival rate for victims buried in an avalanche for more than 15 minutes drops off to virtually zero. Although bodily injuries or hypothermia are often thought of as the things that kill you in an avalanche; they are not - It's asphyxiation. Some exceptions aside, it is a well established medical fact that after 6 minutes of oxygen deprivation you will sustain irreversible, fatal brain damage. Now go back and reread our rescue times: Pretty somber if you think about it, especially when you think that the rescue consisted of about twenty trained and skilled individuals doing the rescue. [Insert you own emotional response here].
Two of the victims were wearing avalanche beacons, two were not - Want to guess which ones were found the quickest? Yup - good guess, the ones with the avalanche transceivers. Once we had all made it back down to the trail-head we did an hour long critique of the rescue. The rescue instructor had a lot of praise for the group, and said something which was a shock to most of us, me especially: He said that in his fifteen years of doing first-time, group avalanche classes, ours was the best he had ever seen, both the group as a whole and me as the leader.
This immediately floored me. His comments were thoroughly objective, and well calibrated, since he is also the June Mountain Avalanche Search and Rescue Ski Patrol Instructor, but I reflected on all the mistakes I knew I was making, even as I was making them, and thought to myself that in a real life situation, you will be extremely unlikely to have the same favorable conditions we did in our mock exercise.
These realizations of course lead me back to my bottom line conclusion of the class - "You DO NOT want to get caught in an avalanche".
Based on my experience in the class and my personal experience in the back-country, I strongly encourage you to take a similar course, if you intend to spend any time the winter back-country. If you are out and about, it is unlikely you will be able to eliminate the risks, but having this type of knowledge should allow you to make better decisions and plans.
I hope this email doesn't seem depressing, I did not intend be. In the event it is I'll end on a positive note: I love life - It's great! I hope you feel the same.
-Manny
posted by Manuel Ceja @ 3:37 PM
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