AST Courses run smoothly despite COVID. Across Canada, there were a record number of AST students, over 13,000 in total. KAC ran Zoom for all classroom lessons and field sessions were held with social distancing. Normally, close to half our students come from the US, but the Canadians came through to fill the courses.

Early December surface hoar leads to Holiday season cycle. It seems like there is often a weak layer that gets established in early December. This year was no exception. A cold clear period in early December grew surface hoar.

Mid-January surface hoar leads to early February cycle. Another surface hoar layer led to an avalanche cycle in early February.

Tour to the border: I was supposed to meet up with a former AST 2 student who lives on the US side of the border, but his snowmobile broke down. Instead, I did the tour a few days later with my buddy Jim.

The Purcells! I joined a couple friends on a week-long trip to a rustic hut in the Purcells in late March.

10,000 feet! I have come close to surpassing 10,000 feet (3,000 metre) of climbing in a day. Last spring, it happened on a beautiful bluebird day with my buddy Steve Omischl.

3% to climate

Here are a few snippets of what daily life is like during our AST2+ Course at Hilda Lodge:

Sunday February 10, 2019, 10:45 a.m.: Clear skis and Grade A efficiency at Valkyr staging make for a record transfer. The group  settles in to their plush accommodations.

Sunday, 2:30 p.m.: Everyone has done 3 Companion Rescue drills, improving their search/digging time in each scenario. Time for a tour!

Sunday, 5:00 p.m.: Appetizers! Fresh Mussels!

Monday, 9:30 a.m.: Starting up the boot pack to Hilda East High Col:

 

Monday 11:00 a.m.: Avalanche! Alex ski cuts a size 1.0 avalanche on a steep convex roll. This was on the early February sun crust, which continues to be a persistent weak layer (PWL) through the rest of February and into March:

 

Monday 8:00 p.m.: The students are meeting in small groups to plan their self-guided day tomorrow.

Tuesday, 2:30 p.m.: On the way back from the Valkalla Zone:

 

Tuesday 5:30 p.m.: After a relaxing sauna and more appetizers, the group gets together for a classroom session to discuss the day’s learnings.

Wednesday 11:00 a.m.: After a surprise 20cm fresh overnight, Avalanche Danger is up to Considerable, but there is safe skiing in the Lower Norns. “Choosing the right terrain for the conditions” is the mantra:

 

Thursday 10:30 a.m.: Moderate-Strong winds have kicked up this morning, and everyone has scaled back their self-guided plans.

Friday 9:30 a.m.: Performing an Extended Column Test (ECT). This was followed by additional Companion Rescue practice. The students are really on their game:

 

Friday 12:00 p.m.: Our chef Janelle prepares a hot lunch for the group before we head out for a few more runs in the afternoon.

Friday, 2:30 p.m.: Magic in the trees:

 

Saturday 8:30 a.m.: The groups are out for their final self-guided day with sights set for a 600 metre fall line run called Burton Direct and a 500 metre line off the Norns.

Saturday 7:00 p.m.: Our final dinner together, lovingly prepared by Janelle. Final learnings and certificates of achievement follow.

Sunday 9:00 a.m.: One final group shot before the Heli arrives and we start our journey home:

 

Some comments from the participants:

Thanks for making me want to go play and be mindful in the mountains.

Discussions at the end of the day whether in the sauna or in front of the screen were super valuable.

Amazing course!

What do you think? With some dire predictions in an El Nino Winter, I think we’re doing pretty well so far. The snowpack has gone through some periods of instability, but we have also had a fair amount of Low-Moderate avalanche danger. There have been some glorious periods of sunshine, but we haven’t had the big dumps of snow…yet. El Nino has kept things fairly warm, but most mountain areas are sporting between 1.3-2.2 metres of snow. Let’s look at some pictures:

Early December, looking good!

 

AST1 Course getting some of the goods pre-catskiing-season at Big Red Cats just before Christmas.

 

Stepping into bigger terrain during Danger Rating: Moderate/Low/Low

 

Climbing up a badass couloir (500 vertical metres)!

 

Longest couloir I’ve ever climbed/skied!

 

Long-term forecast for the rest of the 2018-19 winter has warmer than normal temperatures (El Nino), but average precipitation amounts. Hoping for some nice snowfalls in February, March, and April. My grade for Winter 2018-19 so far: B+!

 

 

This blog is a copy of an article I wrote and will be published in the November 2018 Avalanche Journal, the professional journal for avalanche workers in Canada. I introduce some content from the new Avalanche Skills Training Handbook, the text for AST students starting winter 2018-19. I wrote the book with James Floyer from Avalanche Canada. I will also share a couple of the personal lessons I learned while participating in this challenging project.

Human FactorsBehaviors?

That human factors often play a role in decisions leading to avalanche fatalities is widely recognized in our field. As an avalanche educator, it has been a challenge to teach human factors in a way that has real impact on students’ decision-making. By nature humans are susceptible to falling into the heuristic traps that can lead to accidents.

Working in the field of psychology, I have learned that helping people find their areas of strength is preferable to solely focusing on their areas of weakness. With that in mind, I have incorporated positive human behaviours into the lessons I teach to AST students. (ref: 2012, “Bringing Human Factors to AST Courses”, Canadian Avalanche Journal, vol. 102.) In the new AST Handbook, we describe human factors that lead to accidents as well as positive human behaviours that help make good decisions when choosing terrain: communication, leadership, patience and discipline.

Follow the Professionals

In the professional domain, we also limit the impact of heuristic traps by following a structured approach to decision-making. For example, at the ‘Guides Meeting’, conditions are discussed and some choices about terrain are made. By tapping into the expertise of the guide team in an environment where communication is relatively easy, the planning that happens at a Guides Meeting helps reduce the chance for errors caused by human factors in the field.

Decision aids such as the Avaluator have been developed to help the recreational public avoid similar heuristic traps. In the book, we wanted to highlight the Avaluator inside a larger decision-making process that mirrors the one used by professionals. We came up with a seven-step design that is called the Daily Process. Here is an excerpt:

“Surgeons, pilots and firefighters have one particular thing in common: they use structured and systematic approaches to their tasks to reduce the chance of human error. It turns out the higher the consequence of an error, the more important these well-defined processes are.

Travel in avalanche terrain is a high-consequence undertaking and as such, we benefit greatly from a structured approach to backcountry travel. In this course, you will learn a method similar to that used by avalanche professionals, who navigate avalanche terrain on a daily basis and are continually aiming to reduce the negative effects of human behaviours.

The daily process for backcountry travel in avalanche terrain (Figure 1) includes all the steps to go through to ensure you continue to enjoy your backcountry pursuits day after day, year after year.”

Great Minds (Don’t) Think Alike

I came into this project knowing there would be some challenges in the process of collaboration. However, at times I was astonished by how difficult collaboration could be! It was a real challenge to work through the sometimes-opposing ways that James and I looked at avalanche education. Luckily there were two areas where we thought alike. We both have an eye for detail, which is important when writing a book. We also brought a sense of humour to the project by laughing at each other’s jokes (or at least pretending to)!

Conflict is BadGood

I don’t like conflict. I try to avoid it. When James and I didn’t agree about an idea for the book, I started to get a feeling in the pit of my stomach that I recognized as fear of conflict. Eventually we would find time to discuss the reasoning for our different approaches. We always found a compromise without one person feeling he had to give up his beliefs. Instead, the compromise would create a new way of looking at the issue and forge a better way to write that aspect in the book. The fear of conflict never completely went away, but I learned to trust the process. I think we created a better book because we were able to face and resolve our conflicts.

It has been my great honour to write this book with James. I hope it will inspire students to enjoy the backcountry and make good decisions using strategies similar to what is practiced in our professional community. I also want to thank the more than 1500 students who have taken avalanche courses with me over 28 years. You taught me while I taught you, and I am proud to share our collective learning.

It is almost May, and although there are still several metres of snow in the high elevations, the low elevation snow is finally melting. Mountain bike trails are opening and we are moving toward another summer in BC. But looking back, everyone is still raving about this past winter! Here are a few pictures and reflections on some of the FUN:

Lina shredding the deep at Hilda.

The winter started with a lot of promise. My first real day of touring was at Kootenay Pass with my pal Jordy in mid-November with deep powder and a good base. We bailed on our long tour due to crotch-deep trail breaking, doing laps closer to the highway. Every turn was a blinding face shot, making it difficult to see the next turn!

Then the rains came in late November, washing away half the snowpack, all the way to the mountain tops. The next snowfall initially bonded well to the rain crust. However, cold temperatures in December and limited snowfalls set up a temperature gradient that faceted the snow over the crust, leading to the first Persistent Weak Layer (PWL) of the season. Several high pressure events in December and January set up surface hoar layers that resulted in additional PWL’s. This made for a snowpack that had numerous weak layers stacked on top of each other. Even during the lulls in January snowfalls, the avalanche bulletin refused to drop below Considerable due to the ongoing danger deep in the snowpack. This low probability/high consequence scenario required disciplined route selection. During our AST2+ week at Powder Creek, we continually chose low-moderate consequence terrain, avoiding big features that had a risk of serious injury or death. But sure enough, even though we did not see any signs of avalanche activity, later in the week we triggered a small/medium size avalanche that resulted in a partial burial of one of the students. This was a very real and scary event that also highlighted why we were avoiding major consequence terrain in these Considerable Danger conditions.

Avalanche resulting in partial burial. Sliding layer: January 05 Surface Hoar down 60cm.

The skiing was fantastic in January, but most recreationists were being patient and avoiding big terrain. The storms continued into early February, getting more intense, with increased wind, and warmer temperatures. These storms led to a climax avalanche period at the end of the first week of February. Size 3-4 avalanches were coming down all over the Province. Many avalanches were overrunning their normal slide paths and taking out mature forest up to 100 years old. Although the Avalanche Danger spiked to High and Extreme during this period, it was just what the doctor ordered for the fragile snowpack. The warm snows set up a bridge over the fragile December/January layers. The big avalanches of early February tapered off, setting up for a more stable period the second half of February into March. Temperatures stayed seasonably cold, and it just kept snowing! There were periods of Considerable-High Danger during the larger snow/wind events, but also many days with Low-Moderate Danger.

Jeff dropping in. First tracks on his birthday at the Outpost. What a week!

And it kept snowing and snowing…all the way into April, well after most ski hills shut down their lifts. Thanks Ullr, you rock! Thanks also to the 87 students taking AST courses, making a new record for Kootenay Avalanche Courses.

Stable snow, good powder, and sick lines at Vista. Centre, Left, Right, between the rocks!

 

This blog was provided by Paul Hoefer. Paul spends a good portion of the winter backcountry skiing in the Kootenays. Paul was part of a very strong group of AST2+ students that took their course at Hilda Lodge in February 2018. Thanks a lot to Paul for his thoughtfulness and bravery in sharing this story. You will read below that the Avalanche Bulletin was rated Moderate for March 9. One of the factors that the bulletin did not forecast were the very strong winds encountered that day.

Eight students took the AST2+ at Powder Creek in January.  We had some interesting avalanche conditions that made route finding important.  Below are some pictures and comments from students:

The new course format is absolutely the BEST thing you could have done to improve the course!

I absolutely loved having the opportunity to self guide as it brought me out of my comfort zone and allowed me to put my skills to the test.

Time spent doing Companion Rescue was awesome and instilled more confidence in me.  I think this part of the course is essential.  I actively thought about this throughout every field excursion.

Evening sessions were bite-sized and digestible.  You built on the knowledge but continually reinforce the learnings from the previous day.  The field sessions sync with the classroom sessions.

I was impressed with the Trip Planner and Slope Specific Decision Tool.  I liked thinking about human factors and also consequences.

I think this course is so valuable and so well run!

Check out this Video, put together by one of the students, including Drone footage!