Utah Snow and Avalanche Workshop
I know – I’ve been a slack-tart on updating StraightChuter.com and apologize profusely. We had family in town last week, plus I’ve been working on a cool little website addition that has to remain top secret until our Antarctica trip.
But, on to more important items. Taking a cue from the ISSW, the Friends of the Utah Avalanche Forecast Center have put together the Utah Snow and Avalanche Workshop (USAW) which will take place on Saturday, November 7th from 1:00 to 4:30pm at The Depot in Salt Lake City. The idea with the USAW is to present a condensed cross-section of professional avalanche presentations, and this premier event should be off the charts. Among the highlights are Larry Dunn from the National Weather Service (and an avid BC skier) talking about the new Snow Web Pages for the upcoming year, Bruce Tremper presenting a case study on the 2008/09 Little Water avalanche incident and Ian McCammon talking about critical slope angles. As an event capper, there is an afternoon social at the Blue Goose Bar at the Depot sponsored by High Angle Construction.
Ooops. According to my knowledge at the time, this slope was not suppose to slide. Back to Avy 101 for you Andrew...
Personally, I don’t think I can ever be educated enough on avalanches and if I ever find myself thinking that I’m too busy or already know whatever a class is covering… that is an indicator that I need to take the class. The science of avalanche forecasting and avoidance changes every year and you can just never know enough about it. Because of this, I’ve taken numerous Avalanche 101 classes, and while they seem basic beforehand, I always learn something in the process, hear new ideas or meet new people. To me, being a self proclaimed “Avalanche Expert” is the kiss of death. There is an infinite amount to know about why snow slides, group dynamics and backcountry safety, and seminars like this are an excellent way to stay on top of it.
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Category: Announcements
Andrew, How about you unlock the forums?
In Washington state, the Northwest Snow and Avalanche Seminar (NSAS) is about to happen for the third consecutive year. It is a similar format, including local industry professionals, and has been a great tool available to the general public. Hopefully you guys will have good luck with this event.
Hi Hacksaw – it is about time for that, eh? The previous forum was full of security holes and was immediately infested with spam and porn to the point that I couldn’t keep up on it. There are new versions available and I may have to institute a more rigorous registration policy, but I like the idea of forum way better than the commenting format in posts for general topics. It is now officially on a pink Post-it note as a To Do item.
Andrew,
If you want you can pull the heliski thread.
Halsted
Hardly! That’s the best thread in there!
I think my stance on heli skiing is often misunderstood – it’s only the PowderBirds I have an issue with, and that is mainly because of their bombing, landing on people and general destruction of urban wilderness. Same with snowmobiling – if people do it legally and don’t trash the terrain, I’m fine with it.
Andrew, its the ONLY thread in there!!!
No, I was thinking that a lot of folks got pissed-off by it. Even if they have the same thoughts and feelings as you do.
HM
Well, the only thread in the motorized access forum, but the main forum had at least, uhmm, three or four threads. ;)