Snowbasin Freeride Avalanche Workshop, Jan 26 -28

| January 17, 2014

I took this workshop last year at Snowbird and am excited to be returning this year as an instructor.  I’ll be giving two classroom presentations, teaching a ropes & knots mini clinic and partaking in all of the on-snow activities.  My first presentation should be titled “Mental Case Studies in Avalanche Stupidity” as it covers six avalanches I’ve been involved in and what I learned from them.  The second presentation is along the lines of “Defusing Steep Skiing Terrain” and covers some of the things I think about when approaching steep lines with serious avalanche consequences.   The on-snow clinic, tentatively titled “Stupid Rope Tricks” is all about how to use a minimal amount of gear – 100′ of rope and two carabiners – to increase your safety odds in steeper, non-technical terrain.

patagonia_rap
Rapping off of a snow bollard in the middle of the Southern Patagonia Ice Cap.  This will not be on the test.

The course is being put on by the Utah Avalanche Forecast Center and features other topics such as decision making, active terrain management, partner rescue and accessing snow stability.  It is tailored specifically for Big Mountain Freeride skiing/riding and many of the courses will be taught by local skiing and filming luminaries.  The cost is $175 and it is limited to 40 participants.

full_burial
A real life full burial.  Hopefully this will not be on the test either.

Rough Agenda:

Sunday,  Jan 26th – 3:00 – 4:3opm  Overview

Monday, Jan 27th – 7:15am – 6:00pm  Classroom and on-snow

Tuesday, Jan 28th – 7:30am – 5:30pm  Classroom and on-snow

For further details and to register, go to: http://utahavalanchecenter.org/classes/snowbasin-freeride-avalanche-workshop

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Category: 07 Avalanche Avoidance, Announcements, Events

About the Author ()

Andrew McLean lives in Park City, Utah and is a gear designer, writer, photographer, ski mountaineer, climber and Mountain Unicycle rider. He and Polly Samuels McLean are the parents of two very loud little girls.

Comments (2)

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  1. clay says:

    Hi Andrew- Dig your blog, especially the more instructive posts. Would be awesome if you could put some your presentation points on straightchuter for those of us who can’t make it to the workshop. The next step in my bc skiing would be helped by more decision making tools for bigger lines.

  2. Chris says:

    Ditto to Clay’s comments. I’d love to learn some of your insights, but live too far from Snowbasin to make this event happen.

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