Tag Archive for 'education'

Avalanche Avoidance – Salvation Through Education

Published on July 22, 2008 in 07 Avalanche Avoidance. 4 Comments Tags: , .
It would be ideal of avalanche education was like driver’s education, where you studied and learned about the activity before physically doing it.  But alas it is not, and some skiers go their entire lives without taking a class.  Bad idea!  A lack of avalanche education should not be considered a backcountry badge of honor.  To make matters worse, the longer a skier goes without taking a class, the less likely they are to do so.  Someone who has been skiing for fifteen years is not going to be seen dead in an Avalanche Level 1 course.
Pitting out. Like a college degree, the actual information you learn in an avalanche class is secondary to learning the terms and methodology.
Pitting out. Like a college degree, the actual information you learn in an avalanche class is secondary to learning the terms and methodology.

Avalanche education has a constantly changing curriculum that is worth keeping up on.  It is important to get in the habit of continuing education with avalanches, and the pros do it all the time through seminars, meetings and trade journals. 

More than anything, classes force you to think about avalanches, practice safe skiing, familiarize yourself with your beacon and look critically at snow.  Plus, they are often good places to meet partners with similar levels of enthusiasm and skills.

Avalanche education also helps to develop your vocabulary, which in turn is useful for deciphering avalanche forecast reports.  Learning that a “westerly front produced significant cross-loading on mid elevation ridgelines” doesn’t help you much if you have no idea what they are talking about!

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