I am hosting a full day training this Sunday on transceiver skills and rescue. Currently, there aren't many people signed up and I may need to cancel or reschedule unless more people join. For those of you who have attended my evening practices, this goes beyond the skills training and onto a response scenario.
- Winifred
Could one of the reasons for a lack of more participants be that this training is the same weekend as the BC Parks Avalanche Awareness Days in Garibaldi Park? They are covering transceiver and multiple burial scenarios among other things on both Saturday and Sunday.
http://www.avalanche.ca/events/VnCWSR8AAMoKrMX6/httpwww.env.gov.bc.cabcparksexploreparkpgsgaribaldi
If you don't have enough people for this Sunday I hope you will reschedule instead of cancelling. It looks like great training with lots of skills taught and scenarios practiced.
-Lynn
Hi Lynn,
That's a good point. I will point out that the Avalanche Awareness is only for a few hours whereas the training day this Sunday covers single and multiple burial skills and moves into performing a rescue. While we won't be doing snow profile demos, I believe our training day will be very full, complete, and still won't cover everything (gear use demos is always possible on a training day: borrow someone's gear to test it out). Typically, the training that I have assisted Justin takes four days: two days to cover transceiver skills and two days to cover organized avalanche response.
The BC Parks Avalanche Awareness Days will be taking place from 11am – 2pm on January 16th and 17th, 2016 at the Red Heather Shelter in Garibaldi Park (http://www.env.gov.bc.ca/bcparks/explore/parkpgs/garibaldi/). We will do single and multiple burial transceiver tests, snow profile demos, and gear use demos. Allow 1-2 hours to get from the parking lot to Red Heather and expect winter travelling conditions. Vehicle chains are mandatory for the upper section of the Garibaldi Park Road. All ages and abilities are welcome.
I believe that another factor is the Glacier Course this weekend as well as the Backcountry Ski Intro (since the avi training is local, participants attending the intro won't have two days of long travel should they wish to attend the avi training).
Is the course fee a barrier? Perhaps. But it does support the club and provides funds to purchase club gear (such as a static safety rope for vertical courses, two sets of ice tools for ice climbing courses).
Sergei, I have run several training days over the Spring, Summer, and Fall that have been well-received. I don't see this growing vacuum, rather, I wonder whether the lack of technical trips may lie more with an unwillingness to do technical trips with people you don't know. The question I ask myself: "Do I want to rope up with someone I just met? Do we have similar risk comforts? Can they be relied upon to perform a rescue should things go seriously wrong?"
- Winifred
For any last minute attendees, the training is a go for this Sunday.
- Winifred
I encourage all members to sign-up for the training. True that this will be a full day and still we might not cover everything. However, its a very valuable tool kit to bring in the backcountry.