Mountain Lessons

I have been wanting to take an avalanche safety course for some time now, but have always been reluctant to give up a day of skiing. I have a good base of knowledge, from years of skiing, climbing, and being in the mountains. Still, there is much to know and it's good to get a refresher from time to time.

To that end, I joined up with some friends and we had a private guided lesson from Pro Ski & Guiding, basically a majorly condensed version of Avy 1. It was a beautiful day to be hanging out and learning in the snow, especially because the backcountry skiing was horrendous (translation: we didn't miss out on a good day of skiing).

Our classroom:

Source Lake, Hemlock Peak and the Bryant Couloir

Dawn

Anne

A sizeable loose snow avalanche had come down earlier in the week following the load of rain we got on top of 2+ feet of snow. This debris field is actually quite tall, about 5 feet in places.

Thanks ladies for a great day out in the mountains. Thanks Papa B and Grandma for watching the little one while I played.