CAA AvSAR Course
Some musings on the CAA’s Avalanche Search and Rescue seminar for SAR teams considering sending people.
Tag: avalanche
Situational Awareness: Sledder vs Skier
In my last post on this subject I wrote about how skiers have an advantage over sledders in that they have more opportunity to observe conditions as they travel through terrain. Today, some observations on the flip side of the …
Archived Avalanche Bulletins
Electron Microscope image of a snowflake
How to retrieve archived avalanche bulletins from the Canadian Avalanche Association
Avalanche and other hazards
The avalanche hazard is extreme in the Sea to Sky region, but the avalanche bulletin doesn’t contain is a warning about skip and fall hazard
Situational Awareness: Skier vs Sledder
Situational Awareness is a risk-management keyword that’s being used more and more often and is especially important for avalanches.
The ACC requires digital avalanche beacons
I’m a member of the Alpine Club of Canada (ACC), Vancouver Section, so I get their monthly “Alpine-E-r” newsletter. For the past several months I’ve noticed the following message in the newsletter: NEW BEACON POLICY The ACC has a new …
Beacons and Transceivers, what’s the difference
Beacon on
On May 4th I attended the Canadian Avalanche Association’s annual spring conference and continuing professional development seminar. This year’s topic was Avalanche Search and Rescue in Canada. There were some very informative presentations, but one piece of information stood out …
Helicopter Rescue Drill and Recertification
I’ve written about the rescue technique known as HETS several times. Basically it’s a technique that’s perfect for inserting and extracting rescuers and equipment from BC’s forested slopes. Where a helicopter pilot can’t hover or land, they can long line. …
Snowmobiles and Avalanches
It’s not often that one single piece of information can save your life. Most of the time, especially in the backcountry, it takes years of training and experience to evaluate conditions, your ability and the technique necessary to take on …
Avalanche Accidents and Hazard rating
Every week the Canadian Avalanche Centre produces multiple avalanche bulletins for many different regions of British Columbia. In those bulletins, they rate the avalanche danger, defined as the likelihood, size and distribution of avalanches. This weekend there were several avalanche …