 Poster: A snowHead
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There was a thread somewhere asking for details of avalanche safety courses. I just got back from this so thought I'd jot down a few thoughts.
The course was offered by Chamex, a guiding company in Chamonix. The guide was Miles Smart, who is an American IFMGA guide (used to work with Doug Coombes on his steep camps I think.) By way of background, the AIARE is a non-profit organisation based in the USA which offers avalanche training etc. It's surprising that there isn't (to my knowledge anyway) a European equivalent.
My background is that I ski off piste most of the time. Sometimes with a guide/instructor, sometimes without. I have done a fair amount of avalanche safety training and read a few books on the topic. All the training has been a part of other courses to date (eg ski touring courses with Eagle Ski Club and other off piste courses) - I hadn't done something completely dedicated to avalanche safety before.
I thought the course was very good. It was pretty intensive and definitely is not for someone who wants a bit of guided off piste skiing with some avalanche safety chat thrown in. On Day 1, we did no skiing at all (admittedly no lifts were open in the Chamonix valley); day 2, we did maybe 10 turns in order to find somewhere to dig a snowpit, while Day 3 did have a decent amount of skiing. In all, classroom v field time is about 50:50.
The full syllabus is available online so I won't run through everything we did but a few thoughts from me:
- the course assumes no prior knowledge. It would be a lot of information to take in if you do have no prior knowledge.
- I regard myself as fairly experienced in this sort of stuff, but I felt the course was useful both to consolidate and revise my knowledge. I also felt like I learnt quite a lot.
- AIARE is an American organisation and there is some American bias in the content (eg continental snowpacks like you get in Colorado are pretty rare in the Alps.) To me, this is an advantage in that I don't want to restrict my backcountry skiing to the Alps; some might see this differently. Miles bridged the gap very well, being experienced in US and European conditions.
- there was a lot of emphasis on group dynamics and assessing terrain and the course did not get bogged down in the intricacies of snow science (there was some snow science but not overly technical). This seemed well balanced to me.
In terms of who else was doing it, there were 6 on the course; 3 of whom are in Chamonix for the whole season; 2 were London-based desk jockeys (me and my mate) and one of whom is a pro freerider based in Engelberg. I guess I had done as much avalanche education as anyone else on the course. Patrick, the freerider had clearly skied the most off piste, some had barely done any and all that had been done with a guide.
Hope this is interesting. Happy to answer any questions.
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Obviously A snowHead isn't a real person
Obviously A snowHead isn't a real person
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Arno, this is something i would be interested in doing, especially as i am planning some north american adventures next year,and probably would not have the time to do this whilst over there. do they run the courses all season ?? , and although "no prior knowledge" is nesscessary , what would the minumum level of skiing experience needed be to profit from this type of course .
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Well, the person's real but it's just a made up name, see?
Well, the person's real but it's just a made up name, see?
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Neilski, looks like they are running this through the season (scroll down the page a bit): www.chamex.com
you don't need to be a very good skier to do the course - it is intended to be useful for snowshoers, climbers etc as well as skiers. On my course, people were decent up to pro level but the skiing was more about team dynamics/decision making than actually skiing well. In fact, if there had been a really bad skier there, it would have added another element to the exercise in that you have to make decisions based on the abilities of the group. Probably best to speak to Chamex for more details though
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You need to Login to know who's really who.
You need to Login to know who's really who.
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Arno, cheers , i think i could add that extra dynamic to the group  seriously though would love to do this sort of course , have read all sort of books on the subject and had a couple of backcountry intro talks etc,
but as a relative newcomer to backcountry skiing , i think i am going to struggle to build the "on the snow" experience i need in the time i have to ski , so three days spent on an intensive course could be invaluable , will look into it and speak to chamex as you say, and maybe try and do an intro to touring weekend at the same time .
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Anyway, snowHeads is much more fun if you do.
Anyway, snowHeads is much more fun if you do.
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Great stuff - always good to refresh what knowledge one does have - and there is always something new to learn in snow safety.
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You'll need to Register first of course.
You'll need to Register first of course.
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Thanks Arno. I'm signed up to do this same course in January, so it's good to read a positive review.
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